The apple doesn’t fall far from the Diaz family tree
Can Rachel Maddow save our media from its Orwellian decline?
advertisement
advertisement
|
By Allen Roskoff
Friday, June 20, 2008
For one last week, I’m spreadin’ some love around in honor of LGBT Pride—then I’ll go right back exposing the Schumers, Clintons, Koches, Weinsteins, Gentiles, anti-nightlife crusaders, self-promoters and lobbyists. Read the first two installments here and here. Happy Pride!
Alan Fleishman
A Park Slope Democratic District Leader and state committee member from Brooklyn, Alan is a power broker throughout the city. He served three city comptrollers for a total of 18 years. Alan is responsible for the city comptroller’s LGBT Directory of Resources and Services, one of the best resources for our community. Over the years Alan has put himself on the firing line, often at the risk of his career. In 1998, when Geraldine Ferraro and Charles Schumer both ran for U.S. Senate, Fleishman publicly denounced Ferraro for refusing to vote in favor of decriminalizing sodomy in Washington, D.C. and Schumer for voting for DOMA (the so-called “Defense of Marriage Act”). In the 2004 presidential race, Alan jumped ship from Howard Dean's sinking candidacy and helped secure Lambda Independent Democrats endorsement for John Kerry. Though I supported Doctor Death (a doctor who favors the death penalty—please), I now regret it, as his failure to stand with our community as DNC Chair is reprehensible. Alan’s battle with former Brooklyn County Leader Clarence Norman and present boss Vito Lopez is legendary. Due in no small part to Fleishman's gutsy organizing, both Surrogate Judges in Kings County are now independent of the Brooklyn machine and Yvette Clarke sits in Congress. Not only because Alan has stood up to political bosses, U.S. senators, governors and Manhattan lobbyists but also for his extraordinary wit and political acumen, it is only appropriate to recognize him here.
Eliyanna Kaiser
When she worked for Assemblymember Dick Gottfried from 2003 to 2007, Gottfried introduced the Marriage Equality Bill and led the fight for the bill in the Assembly. Eliyanna now serves as Chief of Staff and Legislative Director to the Upper East Side's openly bisexual Assemblymember, Micah Kellner. I also love that Eliyanna is the executive editor of a four-year-old quarterly publication called $pread Magazine, which is produced by and for sex workers and those that care about their rights (www.spreadmagazine.org). $pread is Eliyanna’s great labor of love, and advocating for sex worker rights is deeply important to her. Certainly this is a cutting-edge LGBT issue as there are many LGBT sex workers in the industry. Most recently, Eliyanna helped co-found a new non-profit organization called Sex Work Awareness (SWA), which seeks to provide media skills training for sex workers and work with community organizations to educate the public about them. Eliyanna is repulsed by so-called feminists who claim to speak for sex workers and declare them all victims but who do not listen to what sex workers have to say for themselves or what kinds of policy changes they want to see as workers and members of society. Particularly, she has a problem with people who purposefully blur the lines between trafficking and voluntary prostitution. Good for you, Eliyanna—these are positions that I have held since the early 1970s.
Michael Colosi
Michael wears several political hats. He is treasurer of the Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club (I am the president), and he co-chairs the board of governors of the Stonewall Democratic Club of New York. He put in thousands of hours in opposition to death penalty cases as well as other progressive causes. In 1994, Michael hosted the first fundraiser ever for what became the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network. There is not a major Democratic candidate running who does not seek out Michael’s support and advice. In 2005, he was one of then-mayoral wannabe Anthony Weiner’s top gay supporters. This time around, he is right up front again. Before entering a race, Colosi first asks who is the most progressive candidate. Michael asks candidates the tough questions and is not only there for the photo ops. He knows when to fundraise or not, whom to say yes to and whom to say no to. This makes his endorsements all the more valuable and valued. Michael is nobody’s fool. My prediction: He will be a future office holder himself.
Steve Ashkinazy
Steve Ashkinazy became active in the Gay Rights Movement in 1970, joining the Gay Activists Alliance, the country’s first militant gay rights organization. In 1973, Steve was one of the founding members of the NGLTF. In 1979, he was a founder of the Hetrick-Martin Institute. In 1985, he set up HMI’s Harvey Milk High School, the world's first gay high school, and continued on as its director for the next seven years. In 1979, six police officers beat Steve badly during protests when the movie “Cruising” was filming in the West Village. He eventually won a lawsuit against the city. It was the first time that a plaintiff won a police brutality case because it was caught on videotape. (This was more than a decade before Rodney King). As a longtime member of Community Board 2, Steve is particularly concerned about the disappearance of the visible LGBT presence in the Village. I believe some of the intensity and vitriol against nightlife on CB2 is directed against us. Why would someone who hates nightlife move to the Village? Not to mention the hypocrisy of the opposition. I have personally seen Elaine C. Young, one of CB2’s most anti-nightlife members, so drunk that she has to be carried unto her elevator. Why hasn’t she demanded the Board pull the liquor license of the bar that serves her inebriated self? Steve is one of the few gay activists who were around at the very beginning of the movement, who continues to stay active and relevant, and who gives instead of taking from the community.
Ed Koch
Oops, I forgot, he is not gay. He is not a closet case. And neither was Roy Cohn.
For the sake of transparency, I want to disclose that of the 12 people I have written about as part of this Good List, I have done professional consulting for one, Lynn Schulman. You can read the complete list on nyblade.com.
Allen Roskoff is a longtime gay rights activist and co-author and lobbyist for the nation’s first gay civil rights bill. He is now president of the citywide Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club. He can be reached at aroskoff@aol.com.
|
