EDGE on the Net

Former New York City Mayor Ed Koch, who died Feb. 1, whose outsized personality fit his city but who never fully came out as gay, leaves at best a mixed legacy on gay rights, a negative one on AIDS.

Freedom to Marry on Friday formally launched a campaign that includes 80 mayors who have pledged to push for nuptials for same-sex couples. Several of these mayors spoke at a press conference at the U.S. Conference of Mayors in Washington, D.C.

As Mayor Michael Bloomberg honored HIV/AIDS service providers at his annual World AIDS Day breakfast at Gracie Mansion, he announced proposed budget cuts to programs that help New Yorkers with the virus.

Speculation continues to swirl around whether lesbian New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn is seeking to become Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s heir apparent. Her critics have wasted no time blasting her apparent efforts to seek his support.

New York City officials on Tuesday, July 19, unveiled a lottery system designed to accommodate the crush of couples who hope to tie the knot on the day the state’s marriage equality law takes effect.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg spoke out for marriage equality on May 26. His speech was delivered at Manhattan’s Cooper Union, which was established by a prominent abolitionist.

Carl Siciliano, executive director of the Ali Forney Center, said Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s proposed budget would disproportionately affect homeless LGBT youth because it would eliminate 37 of the city’s 108 youth shelter beds.

More than 100 elected officials and activists gathered on the steps of City Hall on Tuesday, Dec. 21, to protest Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s proposal to slash funding of the city’s homeless youth programs by 50 percent.

Police arrested nine protestors who dressed as bagels outside Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s annual World AIDS Day breakfast in Brooklyn on Wednesday, Dec. 1.

Former Gay Men’s Health Crisis executive director Ana Oliveira will chair the city’s Commission for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Questioning Runaway and Homeless Youth, but the mayor’s announcement comes on the heels of budget cuts that threatened the future of the Ali Forney Center’s West Chelsea drop-in center and other programs across the five boroughs.