RE-ELECTED: All LGBT House Members

The 2014 midterms were not a total disaster, at least for the six openly LGBT members of the US House. Rep. Mark Takano (D-CA), Rep. Jared Polis* (D-CO), Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-NY), Rep Mark Pocan (D-WI), Rep David Cicilline (D-RI), and Rep. Kysten Sinema (D-AZ) all retained their seats today. 

Openly gay US House candidates who lost their bids today include Oklahoma state Sen. Al McCaffrey, Texas military veteran Louie Minor, North Carolina American Idol finalist Clay Aiken, former Massachusetts GOP legislator Richard Tisei, and New York investment banker Sean Eldridge, the husband of Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes.

The House bid of scandal-plagued homocon Carl DeMaio is too close to call at this writing.

*Not pictured.

NEW YORK: US Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney Marries Partner Of 22 Years

Via CBS New York:

Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney is now a married man. The openly gay New York congressman wed his longtime partner, Randy Gene Florke, at the Church of St. Mary-in-the-Highlands in Cold Spring. Florke proposed in December after the youngest of their three children wrote to Santa wishing for her parents to be married. The 47-year-old Maloney represents the lower Hudson Valley region. Maloney is the state’s first openly gay member of Congress and one of two members of Congress married to a same-sex partner.

Half Of Congress Files DOMA Brief

Almost half of the sitting members of Congress today filed a joint Supreme Court brief in the support of the overturn of DOMA. Via press release:

Today, Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Ranking Constitution Subcommittee Member Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) in the House, and Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) in the Senate, along with House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD), Ranking House Judiciary Member John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI), Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), and Assistant Senate Majority Leader Dick Durbin (D-IL), are filing an amicus brief in the United States Supreme Court in U.S. v. Edith Schlain Windsor, a landmark challenge to Section 3 of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).  Section 3 defines marriage for purposes of federal law as “only a legal union between one man and one woman,” excluding same-sex couples from all marriage-based federal responsibilities and rights.  A total of 172 Members of the House and 40 Members of the Senate – including LGBT Equality Caucus Co-Chairs Jared Polis (D-CO), David Cicilline (D-RI), Sean Patrick Maloney (D-NY), Mark Pocan (D-WI), Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), and Mark Takano (D-CA), as well as Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) – signed onto the brief.

These 212 Members decided to participate as amici in this case because they want the Supreme Court to hear the full story from Congress, and to explain why they believe that Section 3 of DOMA is unconstitutional.  They disagree with the arguments being made by lawyers hired to defend DOMA in court by the House Majority following the divided 3-2 vote of the House Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group (BLAG).  The amicus brief filed today makes clear that BLAG does not speak for Congress, and that many members believe that Section 3 should be struck down because there simply is no legitimate federal interest in denying married same-sex couples the legal security, rights and responsibilities that federal law provides to all other married couples.  As the brief explains: “DOMA imposes a sweeping and unjustifiable federal disability on married same-sex couples.”

Hit the link for the full list of signees.

Photos Of The Week

 

Via Buzzfeed, above are two of the new gay members of the U.S House being sworn in with their partners by their side. TOP PHOTO: Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, right, and his partner, Randy Florke, along with their children. BOTTOM PHOTO: Rep. Mark Pocan, right, and his husband, Philip Frank.

Sean Patrick Maloney WINS House Seat

Openly gay former Clinton White House staffer Sean Patrick Maloney has won his U.S. House bid against first-term teabagger Rep. Nan Hayworth. The hits keep coming!

New From Sean Patrick Maloney

Sean Patrick Maloney is the openly gay U.S. House candidate from upstate New York.

NEW YORK: Sean Maloney Wins Primary

Openly gay candidate Sean Patrick Maloney won yesterday's Democratic primary for the U.S. House.

With most of the votes counted at 11:30 p.m., Maloney had won 48.3 percent of the votes cast in the four counties that will make up New York's newly redrawn 18th Congressional District starting next year. Westchester County cardiologist Richard Becker came in second with 32.5 percent. Maloney, a former aide to President Bill Clinton and Govs. Eliot Spitzer and David Paterson, joined the race in March and quickly upended it by collecting big campaign donations and winning a slew of union endorsements. He emphasized his White House experience in a flurry of mailings and got the former president to record a robocall supporting him.

Maloney will face freshman Rep. Nan Hayworth in November.

NEW YORK: Openly Gay Former Aide To Gov. Eliot Spitzer To Run For Congress

Sean Patrick Maloney, the openly gay former aide to New York governors Spitzer and Paterson, has announced his intent to run for Congress. The Advocate reports that Maloney wants the seat being vacated by retiring Democratic Rep. Maurice Hinchey, whose district includes Binghamton and Poughkeepsie.

RELATED: Longtime JMG readers may recall that we closely followed Maloney's 2006 bid for New York Attorney General, where he placed third behind winner (and present governor) Andrew Cuomo. Six years ago Maloney grabbed our attention with this campaign quote: "I'm tired of relying on straight politicians. No one would say to an African-American, 'Don't run; a white guy knows this stuff better than you.' This is a hostage mentality. We've got the numbers and the resources to push the arc of history towards justice."

CORRECTION: The Advocate has updated their story:

An earlier version of this story identified the seat that Maloney may be in contention for was the one that was vacated by Congressman Maurice Hinchey, who represents parts of lower New York state including Binghamton and Poughkeepsie. Due to redistricting, the area has been overhauled to create a new Congressional distr

Maloney Quits Paterson Office

Last week openly gay politico Sean Patrick Maloney resigned his job as First Deputy Secretary with NY Gov. David Paterson.

Maloney, an aide to disgraced New York Governor Eliot Spitzer who continued to work for Governor David Paterson, resigned his post as first deputy secretary on December 9. The New York Post reported that Maloney had the title of "special counsel" to Spitzer, "allowing him to invoke attorney-client privilege to avoid testifying to investigators probing the scandal" surrounding the use of the State Police to investigate former Republican Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno. As the newspaper noted, Maloney survived a scandal that took down four Spitzer aides. Paterson called Maloney "a trusted adviser and friend," but the Post reported that "the governor had told associates in recent weeks that he had lost confidence in Maloney," who was an unsuccessful out gay candidate for New York attorney general in 2006.

(Via - Gay City News)

NGLTF's New York Leadership Awards

Last night Aaron and I attended the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force's New York Leadership Awards at the new New York Times building, where although the honorees of the evening were filmmaker John Waters, Gov. David Paterson, and the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber Of Commerce, the night was really one long tearful goodbye to outgoing Task Force Executive Director Matt Foreman.

BELOW: The evening kicked off with a two-song performance by Debbie Harry and Miss Guy. The second number was a great cover of Ace Frehley's New York Groove. I'll have a video clip of the performance up later today. BELOW: After accepting his award from Debbie Harry, who spoke about her role in Hairspray, John Waters launched into what has easily got to be one of the most raunchy speeches ever given at the podium of a gay rights event, touching on glory holes, back rooms, muff diving, and shrimping. It was classic John Waters. Waters also amusingly spoke about (paraphrasing here) reverse assimilation, saying instead of blending in with straights, we should work to make them gayer.BELOW: I ran into activist Brendan Fay and filmmaker Gréta Olafsdóttir, director of The Brandon Teena Story, who were there to film Gov. Paterson. I was so happy to be able to personally congratulate Brendan on he and his partner's recent public relations triumph over the president of Poland.BELOW: When the Task Force invited David Paterson to the awards, he was still Lt. Governor, so with the budget deadline looming in Albany, the governor was unable to attend. Accepting for Paterson was his openly gay First Deputy Secretary Sean Patrick Maloney, who you may recall ran for Attorney General of New York in 2006. Maloney introduced a hilarious video message from Paterson, which opened with: "Help! If you are seeing this video, please call the FBI or Interpol as I'm strapped to this chair with a gun to my head until we finish the budget!" If David Paterson wasn't a politician, he'd have a career in stand-up. BELOW: Empire State Pride Agenda Executive Director Alan Van Capelle and Task Force Board of Directors Co-Chair Mark Sexy Sexton, both of whom lauded Matt Foreman's legacy.
BELOW: Downtown scenesters Kenny Kenny and Patrick McDonald added flash to the room of power suits.BELOW: Matt Foreman and myself. While Matt leaves an enormous legacy of LGBT activism in New York, he will undoubtedly continue his trailblazing work at the Haas Fund, where he will oversee the largest grant program for LGBT rights outside of gay organizations. From the podium, Matt recognized his partner of 18 years, Frank De Leon, and spoke tearfully and eloquently about the battles both won and lost during his time at the helm at the Task Force. Speaking to critics who complain of "mission creep" in LGBT orgs, Foreman avowed that abortion rights are a gay issue and that racism is a gay issue and he pledged that after his departure the Task Force will continue to work with a broad coalition of progressive groups towards fairness and equality.In all, it was an inspiring evening, just being in the presence of so many people who have devoted their lives to LGBT equality. Aaron and I left feeling newly energized for the fight. On a personal note, while Matt Foreman's departure surely leaves a (temporary) void in an organization that has fought loudly and fiercely for all our LGBT brothers and sisters, I'm confident that his star will only continue to rise. I'm proud to call Matt Foreman my friend.