Heard something today about the de Blasio campaign that I found very disturbinng...

[markpkessinger]

Last edited Mon Sep 9, 2013, 01:56 PM - Edit history (1)

I have been impressed by Bill De Blasio in the NYC mayoral primary, and intend to vote for him. But I heard something today about the way his campaign is operating that, if true, is very disturbing, and I'm not exactly sure what to make of it.

A friend of mine who lives in Bayridge, Brooklyn, a neighborhood that is predominantly Italian-American and Republican (or at least, very conservative Democrats), told me that in his neighborhood, and in the few other neighborhoods in the city that are predominantly conservative, that the de Blasio campaign has been really playing up the angle of his wife being a 'former lesbian.' (For those who might not be familiar with the details, de Blasio is married to an African-American woman whom he met when both worked in the administration of Mayor David Dinkins, and who considered herself to be a lesbian at the time. They have been married for 20 years, and have two biracial children.) Here is what my friend had to say:

You should come to the outer boros where the "former lesbian" is being used as the ABQ meme with the "See, all they need is a good f----" I realize no politician can control what supporters say, but out here (where the Conservative Party is based) it can be pretty ugly. And the DeBlasio people **relating** that history only encourages the hatefulness. . . . (I)t's damned ugly, and I'm not happy the DeBlasio people are exploiting it under the circumstance. It's just stirring up mud.

It's not a matter of concealing -- it is a matter of bringing it up again and again around this (all GOP neighborhood) of Brooklyn -- that's just nasty politics on the part of DeBlasio's people. Playing on the worst instincts of the worst people is simply beyond the pale.As a sometime journalist, I AM charmed by the use of his son with the afro in a race where racist "Stop and Frisk" is an issue. But the constant "former lesbian" references playing on nasty heterosexual male porn fantasies is certainly reaches for the "Vote for Cuomo instaed of the homo" era, which I thought NYC had gotten over at some point (maybe out of sheer embarrassment?).

If De Blasio's people are, in fact, doing this as my friend suggests, then the campaign should be called out on it in the strongest possible terms. If it is happening on the part of supporters, without the explicit knowledge and/or approval of the campaign or the candidate, then it needs to be brought to the candidate's attention, and the candidate should affirmatively disavow such talk.

(FYI -- my friend's reference to, "Vote for Cuomo, not the homo," is a reference to the 1977 mayoral campaign, in which the Mario Cuomo campaign, running a primary campaign against Ed Koch, put up posters around the city with that slogan. Definitely NOT one of Cuomo's finer moments.)

[markpkessinger]

1. kick

[cali]

2. sounds like nasty gossip to me.

has any member of the de blasio campaign "played up" his wife having been a lesbian? where's the evidence of that? Did your friend name any specific member of the campaign who is purportedly engaged in this?

Frankly, I think what your friend had to say is puzzling. It seems ridiculous to me that the de blasio campaign would be trying to win over conservatives by emphasizing his wife having once been a lesbian?

It sounds like bullshit.

[markpkessinger]

3. I think you may be right, Cali

My friend seems to be carrying water for Christine Quinn -- and that would explain a lot.

[cali]

7. oh boy. that sure would explain it.

If your friend is a supporter of Quinn's, I wouldn't give this another thought.

[polichick]

4. Sounds like desperation on the part of an opponent?

[Tanuki]

5. Out of curiosity, who is "your friend" supporting in the race? n/t

[Tanuki]

6. I see that you were answering this just as I was posting it. Thx.

[pnwmom]

8. That's the opposite of the impression I got. My impression is that his opponents

were trying to hurt him by unveiling his wife as a former lesbian, and he refuses to be ashamed about that.

[haele]

12. Former Lesbian? Doesn't that mean she's bisexual? Who cares?

I'm confused. Everyone I know that had Significant Others of different genders depending on which relationship being referenced was pretty much bisexual.
I think it's more of a situation that they're trying to link the wife to her prior relationships in a way of smearing the candidate.
Who cares what the wife's prior relationships were? It's like, who cares what her high-school job was, or what her grade-point average in college was.

Unless she was out rolling Sailors on payday, was in witness protection from the Mob or a drug cartel, or she destroyed all her former lover's/spouse's property and lives, and emptied their bank accounts on the way out as part of breaking up with them, it's no business of anyone other than her husband (or wife).
What, she was supposed to be a virgin before she got married? Like the wives of other NY mayoral candidates were?


Haele

[pnwmom]

13. It's his wife who, when she was younger, came out as a lesbian, and she's the one who would know.

Don't you think? And she's not calling herself bi.

There's no rule about this kind of thing, but lesbians and gay men can have different ideas about this. Lesbians are more likely than gay men to believe that orientation is "fluid" and can change over the course of a lifetime.

Also, my father had partners of both genders; first my mother for decades and then another man for almost as long. But he never said he was bi. He identified as gay.

[geek tragedy]

9. Every candidate is going to have supporters who play dirty to help him.

At every level of politics.

Would it surprise me that there's unenlightened stuff going on in Bay Ridge w/r/t the election?

I'd be surprised if there weren't.

[HappyMe]

10. It's just nasty, crappy gossip.

Probably put out by an opponent that is trailing far behind in the polls.

[alcibiades_mystery]

11. You forgot to mention the Giuliani campaign's "rhyming bash" in both his races with Dinkins

"Fuck the moolie, vote for Giuli."

Heard all over white working class Queens at the time of both campaigns.

[JI7]

14. it is odd they don't say she is bisexual rather than former lesbian

[pnwmom]

15. No, it isn't. She calls herself a woman who used to be a lesbian, and says she believes

orientation is "fluid." But she doesn't call herself bi.

Doesn't she get to decide how she identifies?

[JI7]

16. yeah, she can call her herself what she wants, but what you describe is what bisexual means

[pnwmom]

17. Not necessarily. When given the chance, she has avoided the label. So why should anyone else

apply it to her?

http://www.essence.com/2013/05/09/politicians-wife-chirlane-mccray


ESSENCE: So how did you go from being a lesbian to falling in love with a man?
McCRAY: By putting aside the assumptions I had about the form and package my love would come in. By letting myself be as free as I felt when I went natural.

ESSENCE: Still, was it strange being with a man, after so long?
McCRAY: I came out at 17. I hadn't really dated any men. I thought, Whoa, what is this? But I also didn't think, Oh, now I'm attracted to men. I was attracted to Bill. He felt like the perfect person for me. For two people who look so different, we have a lot in common. We are a very conventional, unconventional couple.

ESSENCE: How did you tell Bill about your past?
McCRAY: Other people told him in the beginning. Then at some point I gave him the article and said, "Look, this is who I am and you should read this." It shook him up. But he didn't show it. He was cool about it.

ESSENCE: Do you consider yourself bisexual?
McCRAY: I am more than just a label. Why are people so driven to labeling where we fall on the sexual spectrum? Labels put people in boxes, and those boxes are shaped like coffins. Finding the right person can be so hard that often, when a person finally finds someone she or he is comfortable with, she or he just makes it work. As my friend Vanessa says, "It's not whom you love; it's that you love."