Community Corner

Faction of Quinn's LGBT Constituents Say Will Not Support Her Run for Mayor

Some claim the persistent opposition to Quinn's candidacy is the fallout of her tenure representing Chelsea and Greenwich Village

A group of LGBT activists plan to not support mayoral hopeful Christine Quinn, reported the Wall Street Journal.  

If elected, Quinn would make history as New York's first woman mayor and first openly gay mayor.  

However, a smaller faction of her constituents, joined by a few activists and celebrities, ardently are working against her-- in part because of her 14-year tenure as City Councilwoman representing Chelsea and Greenwich Village, where they claim some of her positions have alienated her base.  

Although they applaud her strong early positions on gay marriage and other gay rights issues, they say they have witnessed a splintering in her positions on other key issues they find to be too centrist. And they are bothered by her alliance with Mayor Michael Bloomberg.  

Kenneth Sherrill, a Hunter College political science professor who studies the habits of gay voters, said the opposition in the gay community to Quinn comes partly from a group of progressive activists who are somewhat on the left of the Democratic Party.    

Gay voters, he added, "are not and never have been single-issue voters."


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