Flashback: Rudy Said He Would Personally Marry His Gay Roommates

From the New York Times, 8/4/01:

For the past two months Rudolph Giuliani has been coming home at night to one of the happiest marriages in New York.

That's how long the mayor, in flight from his own marital wreckage at Gracie Mansion, has been a frequent sleepover guest at the home of Howard Koeppel and his partner, Mark Hsiao. Mr. Koeppel, who is 64, is a Queens car dealer who has been both a close friend and prodigious fund-raiser of Mr. Giuliani's since 1989. The 41-year-old Mr. Hsiao is a Juilliard-trained pianist who works at the city's Department of Cultural Affairs. They've been together almost 10 years -- are registered with the city as domestic partners -- and in happier times for the Giuliani marriage, double-dated with the mayor and Donna Hanover on New Year's Eve. Now they are doting hosts to Mr. Giuliani as he juggles his raucous divorce, his recovery from prostate cancer treatments, his waning months in office, his romance with Judith Nathan, his post-public-life future and, last but hardly least, his search for an affordable Manhattan apartment rental of his own.

The mayor's progressive record on gay civil rights notwithstanding, he has not endorsed same-sex marriage. But, says Mr. Koeppel, ''He did tell us that if they ever legalized gay marriages, we would be the first one he would do.'' Mr. Koeppel and Mr. Hsiao are in favor of the right to marry -- which, among other things, would give gay couples the same protections as heterosexual couples in legal and fiscal matters ranging from immigration and adoption rights to veterans' and Social Security benefits.

Comments

[barrycourage]

AAAHHHHH!

Feel that cold wind?

It comes from the spinning revolving doors of Mittler's and Giuliani's posturing.

At this rate, the energy these two generate with their position changes could eliminate any need for foreign oil.

May they run for the presidency forever.

[LightningJoe]

...And stay through the break to see what pretzellations the NRC gets into, when they try to wrap themselves -- and the flag -- around Rudy's flounced derrier...

Last I heard there were more than a few disgruntled rapturists ready to split the stable as well.

But seriously now, we've all got to rally 'round and help Rudy out of this jam... I got it- He can say yes, I (godly charity) love gays as I love all of god's misguided children, the more misguided the better, if only they could get abortions I'd love them more-

No, that's not it. Try: but I DID buy them radios, you want I should TEST them all first? No, that's another scandal. How 'bout I thought I was gay, before I thought I was straight- No, there's a copywrite on that construction.

On no! Has the day arrived when someone will go to Larry Craig for advice on not quitting? Craig has his foaming jaws clamped firmly on the NRC's ankle already, but that means there's one ankle left for Rudy.

-------------
Kill your TV, and free your mind.

[LuridLight]

Julie Anus.

[barrycourage]

http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/youare

[THEUNHEARDVOICE]

WHITE MEN ARE FUCKING GAY!!!!!!!!!JOHN WAYNE AND RONALD REAGAN WOULD SAY HE'S A SICK'O

[barrycourage]

Knock Knock.

Twoshort, is that you? You aren't wearing a different sock. It's a pair of "nude" panty hose. You're about as transparent as it gets.
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Evangelicals Talk Of Boycotting The GOP

THEUNHEARDVOICE:

I beleive in God!Just don't pratice what we read in the bible!I beleive in God!I just hate anyone who doesn't look like me!I believe in God!I just can't help hating Black People!I beleive i'm going to heaven!I'm White And God Has Love For Us and know other.I beleive in God!Poverty isn't a concern for godly people just killing innocent women and children over in iraq for oil.W.M.D MY ASS!!WHERE IS OSAMA BEN?

posted 10/21/2007 at 13:43:19
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Good post! Twoshort, glad to see you still know all about the Christofascists' hypocrisy.

Now there aren't any black people who are religious hypocrites, are there? And there aren't any white people who aren't racist and live by the spirit and ethics of organized religions, are there? And of course there aren't any white people who agree with your politics, especially on this blog, right?

Sexual orientation is immutable, just like skin color. If someone said, "BLACK MEN ARE SO FUCKING RETARDED!!!!!!!!" you would be screaming and calling every civil rights group in the U.S.A.

Don't use my sexual orientation as a put-down. I would never do that with race--ever!

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

[cuthbertallgood]

Racist and homophobic in one brief post! Your mama must be so proud.
And fyi, both the Duke and Dutch had lots of gay friends. They were in showbiz you know. For decades. Says it all.

[rras]

So what, Rock Hudson would have loved him.

[wmbear]

AT LAST! RUDIA GOES MAINSTREAM­!...

Sort of. So, you've got to wonder what Giuliani's evangelical fans (assuming he still has any) think about his cross-dres­sing....

[cardtosser]

Will the Republic survive gay marriage?

I really can't see this as a pressing issue of our federal government. Consitutional amendments have traditionally been used to provide greater freedom of citizens, with the notable exception of the 18th, the prohibition of alcohol. That prohibition was a significant failure.

Defining marriage, or any other social contract, doesn't seem like the point of the Constitution.

[GenericBlogger]

One by one the Grand Old Party is giving way to the Gay Old Party.

[barrycourage]

It has taken them quite a while to come out.

Society has become more liberal since Lincoln and J. Edgar Hoover. Much easier to be out. Wish Lincoln could have lived to enjoy the options we have now.

Good ole J. Edgar had more dresses than Nancy Reagan and Jackie O. combined.

People in J. Edgar's circle who are still around say Linda Tripp is the spittin' image of him at cocktail parties.

[LightningJoe]

They've pretty much BEEN out, but downplaying the press of it for the folks back home.

I'd chortle at the overdue irony, but I'm old on that- The real entertainment is in what the evangelicals are doing with it, as they struggle to keep ignoring the personal morals of their "chosen" (for them) leaders.

Being gay is not a moral failing. What comes up short is the open acknowlegement of that fact, and WHY they want to stay in the closet. Because that gives the man's measure. If that measure is reported in inches, it's a sure bet he's not "standing tall."

I think the NRC has the lead in this because they ARE super-repr­esentation­ally gay. I think that being wedged in a closet regarding something so basic as one's sexuality requires so much self-and-o­ther-decep­tion, that deception becomes a way of life, a way of thought.

Combine that with the "gay" penchant for expensive hobbies and vacations, and you have a prescription for a closeted-gay rich club.

Look out at the world long enough through a crack in a closet door, and deception becomes like breathing- You can't stop even when you want to.

[barrycourage]

A "gay" penchant for expensive hobbies and vacations?

You mean like selling stuff on Ebay and a day trip to a local beach once a year?

But I'm not rich, in the closet, or a member of the GOP.

So my "penchant" wouldn't match your stereotype on other grounds.

[MPeter]

Get to know yer gurl:

A search of Chinatown donors yesterday by The Post found several bogus addresses and some contributions to Hillary Rodham Clinton that raised eyebrows. Shin K. Cheng is listed twice in federal records for giving $1,000 donations to Clinton's campaign on April 17. But the address recorded on campaign reports is a clinic for sexually transmitted diseases, hemorrhoids and skin disease. No one at the address knew of a Shin K. Cheng.
Another donation came from a Shih Kan Chang on Canal Street. But the address listed is a shop that sells knock-off watches and other pirated goods. The sales clerk there did not know the donor.
Hsiao Yen Wang, a cook in Chinatown, is listed as giving Clinton $1,000 on April 13. Contacted yesterday, she told The Post she had written a check. But it was on behalf of a man named David Guo, president of the Fujian American Cuisine Council, and Wang told The Post that Guo had repaid her for the $1,000 contribution.
In addition, yesterday's search by The Post also turned up several $1,000 donations from Chinatown that were made by cooks, dishwashers, a cashier and a college student.
The findings closely match a report yesterday by the Los Angeles Times that found a huge number of Chinatown donations from donors listing bogus addresses or in amounts unlikely, given the donor's occupation­.”

[SeconLine]

Rudy isn't being hypocritical.

Just arrogant.

Howard Koeppell is mega-wealthy. Rudy would do anything for the mega-wealthy.

It's not gay or straight.

It's all about money.

[theblueAmerican]

I love that picture of Rudy in drag. Underneath that picture should be the words " Your Commander-In-Chief"

[barrycourage]

"Your Commander-In Chiffon" would be more accurate.

[PeteBogs]

does that picture mean that, if elected, Rudy will sing "Happy Birthday, Mr. President" to himself?

[JettFuel]

The gay folks of New York City must feel bamboozeled.

This shows the man to be a follower and not a leader.

jack jett

[Heyman]

These clowns will say anything to become another NeoCLOWN.

[barrycourage]

Rudy and Mittler are twins.

Both of them supported and then screwed their gay constituencies.

Do these two spinning revolving doors make anyone else dizzy?

[djg55555]

Rudy seems tormented by this issue. Hmmmm.

[turningpoint]

Flashback: Rudy Said He Would Personally Marry His Gay Roommates

They owe a thanks to the barfly bitch for saving them.

[supergranny]

The Gay Marriage Issue has got to be perhaps the most irrelevant issue of our time. Any politician that wastes time on this is a fool. This has now become a national embarassment. WHO GIVES A FLYING F*CK ABOUT THIS ISSUE ANYWAY? To hell with the dumbos that still think this has anything to do with our country's reality and future!

[JohnJames]

Maybe the millions of gay Anmericans give a flying f@ck about it? Not to mention the millions of Repubs who can't keep their noses out of other people's lives.

[JaneC]

It matters to millions of gay couples with families and property who are being robbed of the same basic rights the rest of us enjoy on a daily basis. It matters to them indeed.

[rektruax]

I have to agree with supergranny here...

I've always felt big brother should get out of the peoples personal relationships business. That goes for everyone straight and gay alike.

My love for my partner doesn't need the endorsement of governments I don't respect, or fictitious god myths. All that's left is the legal crap.

[transendentilist]

Absolutely correct granny. I have talked to a couple of gay friends, and they told me they don't really care that much about being sanctioned by the church. They are smart enough to realize that they can have a civil union, and get all the advantages of a married couple.
What does the church and the government have to do with love?

[cuthbertallgood]

Ok. The discussion about gay marriage in politics has zero to do with church sanction. The government can not tell a chruch to sanction or not saction anything.
If the government stops discriminating in marriage law, churches will still be free to perform or not perform any ceremonies of any kind, just as they are now.
Right now there are churches that perform gay marriages, it is the government that does not recognize them.
The only way for the right wingers to stop gay weddings in churches or stop gay handfasting from being called 'marriage' would be to institute unconstitutional laws restricting the practice of religion. Dictating that chruches can not have gay weddings is the only way to stop that part, which goes on now.
I could get married to my partner in a church this weekend, with a minister and full choir. There is no law against it but the government still won't recognize it.
In a way the government discriminates against the denominations and congregations that perform these ceremonies by refusing to give legal backing as they do to other marriage ceremonies.
No one is trying to make chruches sanction anything. That would be Unconstitutional. We want legal marriage from the civil government, which is what all marriage is anyway, although some are augmented with a ritual or a ceremony. The church part does not make the Union legal. The civil part does.
Many seem confused and think marriages are not legal unless there is a religious cermoney or that religious cermonies for gay people are not already leagal and happening. Churches can do whatever they want, freedom o' religion and all.

[barrycourage]

Tranny,

Well this gay friend disagrees with you, rekkie, and supergranny (who doesn't know which of her grandkids is gay--yet.

Admittedly, I can see how most people would think Bush's WW III is a priority now.

But gay marriage is still a major civil rights issue. And it issue isn't about the church. Organized religions can sanction what they want. It is about civil marriage and equal protection. And tax breaks and health insurance and probate and medical powers of attorney and real estate...

So a few states in the Northeast have afforded varying degrees of civil marriage rights protection to gay couples. And only one of them, truly, on paper at least, achieves true equality.

The issue isn't your personal situation or the self-centered opinions of your few gay friends.

It's about second class citizenship in most of this country.

[Tobias F.]

"What does the church and the government have to do with love?"

Indeed. Gays and lesbians don't need the sanctioning of a church.

But if your gay friends think they can get all the government-granted advantages of marriage by having a civil union, they are sorely mistaken.

[dolphinlikr]

Wait until you see the movies of Donald Trump with his face buried in Trudi's fake breasts! That will make the religious right absolutely dyspeptic!!

[transendentilist]

Thank you for using the word dyspeptic. One rarely sees it these days.