Quinn Stays Confident on N.Y. Marriage

New York City council speaker Christine Quinn chatted with The Advocate last week about the prospects for the marriage equality bill in the state senate and reasserted her confidence of a positive outcome despite the current impasse over the budget deficit.

Quinn, fresh off an official visit to Northern Ireland during which she met with gay rights leaders in Belfast, said her frequent contact with advocates in Albany, including state senator Tom Duane, the gay man sponsoring the bill, offers strong reason to be "optimistic."

"All of the feedback I'm hearing from Tom Duane and all of the folks who are working up there is very, very positive," Quinn said. "I want to be very clear about that. I'm getting constant regular updates. I feel very optimistic about the situation and more and more optimistic every day, to be honest."

Gov. David Paterson called lawmakers to a special session in mid November primarily to address the $3.1 billion budget deficit, but he also placed the marriage equality bill on the agenda. Assembly members have already passed the bill twice, and recently, leaders in the Democratic-controlled state senate pledged to take their first vote on the bill before the end of the year.

Quinn cited that public commitment in her remarks to The Advocate.

"There is a clear and firm commitment that there will be a vote before the end of the year," she said. "And I don't think anyone thinks that won't be honored. Obviously, things are in a bit of a holding pattern, but not because of gay marriage. I think there is the sense that nothing is going to happen on marriage until they're able to break through the logjam on the budget."

The lesbian speaker has emerged as one of the most outspoken and personal advocates of marriage equality since Paterson introduced the bill this past spring. In speeches, she frequently challenges opponents to "look me in the eye" and say that she and her partner do not deserve equal rights.

Quinn also discussed details of her recent trip to Northern Ireland, which included delivering the keynote speech at the Aisling Awards in Belfast November 19 and a "thrilling" meeting with local LGBT groups including the Rainbow Project, Lesbian Advocacy Services Initiative, Lesbian Line, and Gay and Lesbian Youth Northern Ireland.

The advocates' concerns ranged from general questions about how to become more involved in the political process to specific problems related to the area's modern history of interreligious violence, according to Quinn.

"It was part Victory Fund, part like an old-time Queer Nation meeting, and in part like organizing a meeting that was going to take to the streets, with some people going to city council to testify," Quinn said. "They seemed to be trying to find a way to diversify their efforts to effect change."