No Gay Bombshells in N.Y. Debate

Following more than a week of conversation about the homophobic comments of New York gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino and a series of high-profile antigay hate crimes, little of the seven-way gubernatorial debate Monday night touched on gay rights issues, and even those moments brought few sparks.

Only the final question of the debate focused directly on the subject. Candidates were asked to say whether they supported marriage equality with a one-word “yes” or “no” reply. As expected, Paladino answered no, Democratic nominee Andrew Cuomo answered yes, along with four third-party candidates including former madam Kristin Davis, and one candidate, New York City council member Charles Barron, said that his Freedom Party had yet to take a position.

An unusual reply came from Jimmy McMillan of the single-issue Rent Is Too Damn High Party, who enthusiastically expressed his support for unlimited personal freedom by saying, “If you want to marry a shoe, I’ll marry it.”

The last question aside, the first televised gubernatorial debate, held at Hofstra University on Long Island, mainly covered well-worn terrain such as the economy, education, and the environment, in a format that lent itself more to barroom one-liners than the "Broadway show" predicted by Paladino’s campaign manager moments before it began. The volatile Republican nominee seemed almost subdued, while Cuomo, the attorney general, looked every bit the front-runner, a position enhanced by the occasional salvo from third-party opponents.

The format — seven candidates in a 90-minute time frame — discouraged conversations of substance and new revelations, let alone epic gaffes along the lines of what Paladino said earlier this month about children being “brainwashed” into thinking homosexuality was an “equally valid or successful option.” At one point, Cuomo referred to education inequity as the “civil rights issue of our time,” a potentially awkward phrasing given that he said the same about marriage equality last week to a roomful of gay activists at the Empire State Pride Agenda fall dinner.