Andrew Cuomo's had a good first year as governor. A budget passed on time, marriage equality (he doesn't call it "gay marriage") and very high approval ratings have all contributed to murmurs of a Cuomo 2016 Presidential run (maybe against Governor Christie in a Hudson River Showdown?!).
But it was a long road for Cuomo, who the tabloids had previously dubbed the "Prince Of Darkness"--a failed campaign, a divorce from a Kennedy, and the pressure of living up to his father's legacy.
GQ sat down with the "nation's most popular governor" and talked to him about the journey--joining his Dad's political staff at 23, marching in the pride parade after the passage of marriage equality, and whether Sandra Lee teaches him how to make "semi-homemade" spaghetti sauce.
Some highlights:
GQ: And you got the [marriage equality] activists to work together—
Andrew Cuomo: Yeah. Because they were a fractured group. But I mean, you look at the injustice of the issue. [switches voices, mimicking the opposition] "You can't get married if you're gay." Why? "Well, because you're gay." And? "And, well, you can't make babies." That's the argument. Oh, really? So then we should change the law to say, "Only people who can and want to make babies can get married." So an infertile man can't. A woman who can't, she can't get married. People who don't want to make a baby, they can't get married. So let's change the law so it says, "Only people who can and will make babies." "Well, we don't want to do that. You can get married if you don't want to make a baby or if you can't--except if you're gay!" There's no logic.
GQ: Do you in some ways see gay marriage as similar to your dad's anti-death-penalty cause?Andrew Cuomo: I said that at an event recently. He was there, and I said, "This is a continuation of a legacy that I learned from Mario Cuomo as a progressive pioneer. And it's his fight on the death penalty, his fight on a woman's right to choose, that he paid a tremendous price for, [such as] opposition by the Catholic Church and a lot of church groups." There's a straight line that connects those issues. You can connect death penalty to the choice issue to marriage equality.
GQ: Did [Food Network star and Cuomo's girlfriend, Sandra Lee] teach you how to make spaghetti sauce "semi-homemade"?
Andrew Cuomo: I make my own sauce my own way. She can make her sauce.
For the whole GQ article, go here.