By:PAUL SCHINDLER
01/23/2009
On January 23, upstate US Representative Kirsten Gillibrand was named to fill Hillary Clinton's Senate seat.
In her first press conference as senator-designate, US Congresswomen Kirsten Gillibrand was quite clear.
"I will advocate for marriage equality and for women's rights," she said, in remarks delivered after Governor David Paterson announced her selection at a January 23 Albany press conference in which a host of Democratic luminaries - and former GOP Senator Alfonse D'Amato - joined them on the dais.
For LGBT advocates keeping tabs, Gillibrand's unprompted mention of equal marriage rights for gay and lesbian couples may have come as something of a surprise. The Democratic representative from New York's 20th congressional district since her election in 2006, Gillibrand had previously voiced support only for civil unions.
According to the scorecard from the Human Rights Campaign, Gillibrand achieved an 80 percent rating in the 2007-8 session of Congress. That rating is strong, but in fact no other Democrat in the New York House delegation had a rating that low.
She supported hate crimes legislation, co-sponsored the version of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act that included transgender protections, voted for the version that went to the floor with those protections stripped out, and opposed an effort to block the District of Columbia from funding clean needle exchange programs.
Gillibrand was penalized in her HRC rating by failing to co-sponsor the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell and the passage of the Early Treatment for HIV Act, the Uniting American Families Act allowing the foreign same-sex partners of Americans to immigrate on the same terms as foreign spouses, and a bill treating domestic partner benefits the same as spousal benefits for federal tax purposes.
Clinton, in the last session of Congress, scored a 95 with HRC, and Chuck Schumer, the state's senior senator, earned a perfect 100, though the Senate and House are scored on different rosters of issues.
The first public indication that Gillibrand's position had evolved to support for full equality came in a press statement released early on Friday, the day her appointment was announced, from the Empire State Pride Agenda, New York's LGBT lobbying group.
Recounting a telephone conversation he had the previous evening with Gillibrand, Alan Van Capelle, ESPA's executive director, said, in the release, "After talking to Kirsten Gillibrand, I am very happy to say that New York is poised to have its first US senator who supports marriage equality for same-sex couples. She also supports the full repeal of the federal DOMA (Defense of Marriage Act) law, repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell (DADT), and passage of legislation outlawing discrimination against transgender people."
Gillibrand won her seat in Congress by defeating four-term incumbent Republican John E. Sweeney in a race that earned her a reputation as a hard-charging political newcomer. The 20th congressional district runs north along the Hudson River from Dutchess County through Columbia County, Albany, Saratoga Springs, and as far as Essex County, and west to Delaware County on the Pennsylvania border.
In her 2006 race, Gillibrand benefited from enthusiastic campaigning by both Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, whose Senate seat she will now occupy, and the former president. Gillibrand worked in the Clinton administration as a special counsel to Housing and Urban Development Secretary Andrew Cuomo, New York's attorney general, who had widely been considered the chief rival to Caroline Kennedy for the Senate appointment.
Gillibrand's support for repeal of both DOMA and Don't Ask, Don't Tell squares with pledges made by President Barack Obama during the fall campaign and reiterated on the new White House website posted at noon on Inauguration Day.
The new senator's advocacy for marriage equality may have less immediate impact in Washington, but is a significant advance here in New York. Neither Clinton nor Schumer support equal marriage rights, though Paterson and Cuomo, the two other statewide elected officials, do. Gillibrand's new posture on the issue, then, may create a floor for statewide elected officials, at least Democrats, going forward.
Despite Gillibrand's assurances to the Pride Agenda, Van Capelle, in a second statement issued after Paterson made his announcement, clearly aimed to drive home the community's commitment to remain vigilant about follow-through. "Actions always speak louder than words, and in that spirit, we look forward to working with her on the issues that the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community cares so much about," he said.
Joe Solmonese, HRC's president, released a statement saying, "Governor Paterson's pick of Representative Kirsten Gillibrand is a step forward for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community as she brings with her a strong record of support and understanding."
The new senator's position on marriage equality was not the focus of press attention at her introductory press conference. Instead, there was considerable interest in her 100 percent rating from the National Rifle Association, a distinction that likely puts her out of step with New Yorkers statewide, certainly with residents of the New York City metropolitan area, and specifically with Schumer, her new senior colleague.
The Brooklyn Democrat, whose face makes good copy for NRA dartboards, took the occasion of the Albany press conference to highlight his differences with Gillibrand on the issue, concluding with the prediction that she would come around -- delivered in a tone the new senator could reasonably have considered patronizing.
Gillibrand was later asked about the prospect that Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy -- a Long Island Democrat who first ran for office after her husband was slain on the Long Island Railroad by a random shooter who terrorized a train car full of evening commuters -- might mount a primary challenge in 2010. The senator-designate insisted she was only interested in protecting the rights of hunters and was prepared to work with gun control advocates.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has joined Schumer as one of the nation's leading gun control advocates, released a statement about Gillibrand's appointment, saying, "I have a strong disagreement with one area of her record as a member of Congress: illegal guns. She has actively opposed the efforts of New York City, and cities around the state and nation, to enact commonsense measures that keep illegal guns out of the hands of criminals. For instance, she has co-sponsored legislation to deny key data cities and police need to track illegal gun criminals, as well as to tie the hands of the ATF and to protect dealers who sell guns illegally."
In the wake of the criticism of her views on gun control, the new senator has talked about "broadening" views on this issue as well as immigration. To date, she has advocated a get-tough approach toward undocumented immigrations, including penalizing cities like New York that refuse to enforce harsh federal policies and requiring documentation for access to public services such as subsidized housing.
Gillibrand has scrambled to assure Latino and other immigrant community leaders that she is open to revisiting her past stances, and one day after she marched in Chinatown's February 1 New Year's parade, John Liu, New York's first elected Asian-American city councilmember and a candidate for public advocate, lauded her for having "now demonstrated a better understanding" of the issue.
Still,Jonathan Tasini, who challenged Hillary Clinton in the 2006 Democratic Senate primary, released a statement scorching Gillibrand for her position on guns, terming her a "caretaker appointment," and calling for a real Democrat to emerge by 2010.
Published reports and knowledgeable sources Gay City News contacted indicate that the final runner-up for the seat Gillibrand won was Randi Weingarten, an out lesbian and longtime teachers union chief in New York City who know heads the American Federation of Teachers.
©GayCityNews 2009
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