ESPA Poised to Appoint Ellner

Empire State Pride Agenda, New York's leading gay rights organization, is poised to appoint Brian Ellner as its new executive director, The New York Times's City Room Blog reports.

Ellner, who currently serves as a senior aide to schools chancellor Joe Klein and ran for Manhattan borough president in 2005, is expected to be approved by ESPA's board of directors next week. He will take over for Alan Van Capelle, who left the organization in January.

As City Room reports, he will assume leadership at a time when ESPA is trying to regroup after its most significant setback in its 20-year history, the failure last year to get a marriage equality bill out of the Democrat-controlled state senate.