Seeking to fluff his sagging reelection campaign, Gov. Cuomo exploits AIDS epidemic for votes

PUBLISHED : SUN, 29 JUN 2014, 07:52 PM
UPDATED : MON, 30 JUN 2014, 12:10 PM

It's been 25 years since Andrew Cuomo led the charge on an AIDS initiative.

RELATED Cuomo Plan Seeks to End New York’s AIDS Epidemic (The New York Times)

Gov. Cuomo is paying for the stepped up fight against AIDS by having first made radical cuts to Medicaid and and by hospital closings. This week-end, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced plans to end the AIDS epidemic in New York State by the year 2020. How nice of him to revisit the AIDS crisis after a 25 year sabbatical. The last time Andrew Cuomo spearheaded an AIDS initiative was in 1989, when he led the charge to build a segregated health facility for people with AIDS. This was at a time when there was a rise in AIDS phobia, and it seemed like putting people with AIDS into isolation or in sub-par health facility situations was another form of reactionary discrimination. It's difficult to know how much money Gov. Cuomo is dedicating to his plan to end AIDS. In an article in The New York Times, the Cuomo administration said $5 million has been set aside from Medicaid and the state's AIDS Institute. But according to information on the Housing Works Web site, the Cuomo administration proposed to cut $12 million from the AIDS Institute in the new budget. Ooops ! It's great that Gov. Cuomo wants to join with healthcare activists to end the AIDS epidemic. But, the last time Gov. Cuomo made healthcare promises, he promised to save hospitals in Brooklyn. But then he let Long Island College Hospital close down. Ooops ! Besides people with AIDS, people of color have been calling on Gov. Cuomo to do the right thing on healthcare. As a gay man, I'd love nothing more than to see an end to the AIDS epidemic. Why Gov. Cuomo's plan is coming 25 years too late, and why he's paying for it by closing more and more Brooklyn hospitals is not clear. What is clear is that Gov. Cuomo's announcement was timed for today's Gay Pride Parade, giving the governor an opportunity to hand-out all these campaign-looking signs to parade supporters to hold up for the cameras. How thoughtful. He must be looking for votes. But I wonder how many lives could have been saved if decades ago "LGBT for Cuomo" were the campaign signs being used, instead of "Vote for Cuomo, not the Homo."

Gays Without Borders rally at Serbian Mission

American LGBT Activists Rally In NYC; Express Solidarity With Serbian LGBT Community In Advance of 2010 Pride Parade In Belgrade.

October 8 (New York, NY) -- American gay activists rallied in New York City to support LGBT Serbians on the same day that the Serbian Orthodox Church denounced Sunday's gay pride parade in Belgrade, Serbia. A photograph of the activists Michael Petrelis and Andy Humm can be found on the NY Mobile News blog.

Gay Serbian organisations are set to mount their first LGBT Pride March in Belgrade on Sunday, October 10, amidst threats from right-wing anti-gay groups, which have prevented the Serbian LGBT community and allies from marching in past years. The purpose of today's demonstration outside the Serbian Mission was to raise international awareness of the threats of violence and intolerance being expressed in the days leading up to Sunday's gay pride parade.

Over a dozen activists turned out for the New York demonstration, which was sponsored by Gays Without Borders, among other groups. Mr. Petrelis was joined by Brendan Fay and another activist in New York ; together, the three activists were escorted inside the Serbian Mission, and the three activists delivered written communications to consular officials of the Serbian Mission. The remaining activists, meanwhile, were not allowed to enter the Serbian Mission, and no cameras were allowed to be carried inside. One of the letters delivered to consular officials expressed the activists' support of the gay Serbian parade participants, and that letter was signed by LGBT leaders from 23 countries around the world, according to Mr. Petrelis.

Now that it has applied to join the European Union, the government of Serbia must justify its qualifications and, among other things, account for its human rights record.

In 2009, the gay pride parade in Belgrade had to be called off after extremist groups threatened violence ; in response to the threats, the Serbian government could not guarantee the safety and security of parade participants.

The gay pride parade to be held on Sunday will only be the second time that such a parade takes place in Belgrade. In 2001, the first gay pride parade ended with a violent outbreak between police and parade participants.

NYPD gay entrapment lawsuit update

City Fails in Bid to Block Porn Bust Suit ; Judge rules Robert Pinter’s allegations, if proved, show no probable cause for arrest -- Gay City News

"A federal judge Tuesday refused to toss out a gay Manhattan man's malicious-prosecution suit against the city, saying the NYPD's actions in arresting him appeared 'unsettling and inappropriate,' " The New York Daily News reported.

Mr. Pinter had been arrested in 2008 under a systematic and organised progam by NYPD that targeted sex shoppes ; by early 2009, community backlash to the entrapment arrests had begun to culminate in protests ; one such protest took place near New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's Upper East Side townhouse. The mayor oversees and is ultimately accountable for the actions by the NYPD.

The NYPD have to end their systematic, organised, and targeted discrimination against the GLBT community. And the mayor has to do something about it, he can, you know? So, let's see him put his money where his MOUTH is.

Mayor Bloomberg is responsible for appealing a 2005 court ruling that favoured marriage equality ; meanwhile, Bloombo Dicto marches in Gay Pride Parades ; meanwhile, Bloombo Dicto recruited homophobic Deputy Mayor Stephen Goldsmith, who refused to acknowledge Gay Pride in Indianapolis ; meanwhile, GLBT politicians still align themselves with this two-timing mayor.

By 2009, Bloombo Dicto was again courting the GLBT vote by supporting marriage equality, but this time GLBT voters had begun to wise up. It is high time for more voters to take Mayor Bloomberg, and his enablers, to political divorce court.