Rudy Giuliani
Giuliani: A "Gay Leader"?
What was most striking about this week's televised presidential forum on gay rights issues wasn't who showed up -- Sen. Hillary Clinton, Sen. Barack Obama, former senator John Edwards -- but who didn't.
Missing in action were all the Republican candidates, who declined invitations to the event.
Not even Rudy Giuliani was there, and as mayor of New York City he championed a bill giving same-sex couples equal rights under the law. He's dressed up as a Rockette. He's marched in gay pride parades. At the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks, when his then-wife Donna Hanover kicked him out of Gracie Mansion, he slept in a spare bedroom of an apartment belonging to his two gay friends.
Hours before the televised gay rights forum, a YouTube video titled "Gays for Giuliani: 'A Gay Leader'" made the rounds on some prominent blogs. Less than a minute long, the video features two gay men thanking Giuliani for everything he's done for gays. With the theme song of "The West Wing" playing in the background, Giuliani is quoted telling Fox News: "I'm in favor of civil unions." It's done very tongue-in-cheek, and it could hurt Giuliani, who leads the Republican field in the latest Washington Post/ABC News poll, especially among conservatives.
As of 12 a.m. Friday the video -- created by Ryan Davis, a 25-year-old gay New Yorker -- has been viewed more than 16,200 times.
-- Jose Antonio Vargas
Posted at 3:32 PM ET on Aug 10, 2007
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Rudy Giuliani
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Posted by: ca90046 | August 16, 2007 7:35 PM
That's about the only genuinely human thing I've heard about this guy...nice to see the hubris peeled away a bit to catch a glimpse of the whacko underneath the costume...
Posted by: Jerryvov | August 10, 2007 6:08 PM
Because even moderate and liberal Republicans know that they would have no chance of getting the nomination if they supported any gay rights at all.
I wonder why any moderate or liberal Republican continues to remain part of a party that doesn't believe in equal rights for all. If the only reason you are still a Republican is because you are a fiscal conservative, why not switch allegiance? I did. It wasn't easy for this lifelong Republican to switch sides because more important than anything else to me are that all Americans are viewed and treated equally regardless of gender, race, or sexual orientation and that we have freedom of religion with no one religion telling me how to live my life. It will be easier to champion the concepts of fiscal conservatism in a party that fundamentally embraces the equality values than the other way around.
Posted by: femalenick | August 10, 2007 5:38 PM
The comments to this entry are closed.
Huffington Post Blogger Ryan Davis a.k.a. Ryan J. Davis made up the "Gays for Giuliani" campaign, according The ADVOCATE. The article called Ryan Davis's ad a fake PSA that was intended as a criticism of Giuliani's recent flip-flopping on gay rights issues. Yet on Ryan's Huffington Post Blog, it does not seem fake. If it is fake then why does Ryan solicit campaign contributions through a PAYPAL account?
It is interesting that "Gays For Giuliani" is registered to fellow Huffington Post blogger Michael Rogers.
If it is a joke, it is one thing.
If it is free political expression, it is his First Amendment Right.
But does that give Ryan Davis (Ryan J. Davis) the freedom to solicit funds through a PAYPAL account? How can he do this without following Federal Campaign Laws? And why does the LGBT for the most part find Ryan's actions so amusing?
Perhaps I laughed at first because it reminded me of the final season of "Will & Grace", but now (like the last season of "Will & Grace") I do not believe it is a joking matter.