National Geographic

Gay City News reports that NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn visited Albany yesterday to personally lobby GOP state Senators on same-sex marriage.

“Today I’ve been spending time talking to Republican senators,” Bloomberg said. “I’ve been reminding them marriage equality is entirely consistent with the GOP’s core values of promoting limited government and individual liberty.” Bloomberg said Senate Republicans — who ultimately get to decide whether a bill hits the floor for a vote — were Tuesday’s focus, but did not close the door on lobbying undecided Democrats, such as Joseph Addabbo and Shirley Huntley of Queens and Carl Kruger from Brooklyn. “If Chris [Quinn] or anyone else thinks it’s useful for me to call or visit, I am certainly not reticent to tell you what I believe or what I think is right,” said Bloomberg, who finished his day by meeting with Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos.

Last week openly gay Assemblyman Daniel O'Donnell introduced a marriage equality bill to his chamber. The Assembly has approved same-sex marriage three times in years past.

Yesterday firebrand Rep. Anthony Weiner made it all but official that he intends to run for mayor of New York City in 2013. Weiner ran for mayor in 2009 but dropped out early after Michael Bloomberg announced his intent to pursue a third term.

"I have a passing interest in the management of New York," Weiner said in one of his many asides during a much-hyped speech about health care reform - a favorite of liberals. "Hey, newsflash, I'm interested," added Weiner, who ran in 2005 and was chased away by Mayor Bloomberg's bankroll in 2009. "It would be exceedingly coy of me, especially in this town, to present that I'm not interested in being mayor," he added.

It's expected that both Clintons will be powerful allies in Weiner's campaign. Last summer Bill Clinton officiated at Weiner's wedding to Hillary's top aide, Huma Abedin. Weiner's strongest challenger will likely be openly gay City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who herself might be mayor today had her boss not decided that term limits were only for the little people.

RELATED: Bloomberg spent a record-shattering $102M of his own money in 2009, an eye-bugging $174 per vote, but still only won by five points despite the relatively pitiful $8M spent by his Democratic opponent. That's how pissed people were about his upending of term limits.

In a move that some say may signal a renewed push for marriage equality, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has hired Eric Bottcher to fill the newly created cabinet post of Special Assistant for Community Affairs. Previously, the openly gay Bottcher served as NYC Council Speaker Christine Quinn's LGBT community liaison. The NY Daily News weighs on what Bottcher's appointment may mean.

The historically liberal Cuomo has to walk a tightrope on gay marriage: If he pushes it ahead of economic issues in the current climate, he could develop an "Obama Problem" of the kind that forced the President's course correction from a focus on health care reform to "jobs, jobs, jobs." On the other hand, the new governor risks angering his left-leaning base if he allows a civil rights issue like this one to languish indefinitely. Ross Levi, executive director of the Empire State Pride Agenda, argues there is "a clear and credible path" to legalizing same-sex marriage as soon as this year. Levi points to polls showing New Yorkers increasingly supportive of legalization and a study by former city Controller Bill Thompson that says the lack of legal gay marriage costs New York money. The economic impact argument may influence some moderate or conservative lawmakers who are socially squeamish about gays marrying, he says.
What exact role Bottcher - whose statewide work won't be limited to LGBT issues - and Cuomo play in this battle remains to be seen.

Wonderful news for the homeless LGBT kids of New York City. This morning NYC Council Speaker Christine Quinn announced that city funding to the Ali Forney Center has been completely restored!

Ali Forney Center executive director Carl Siciliano:

This is wonderful news for the homeless youth of our City, particularly for homeless LGBT youth who would be disproportionately hurt by the proposed cuts. I am profoundly grateful to City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and the Council Assistant Majority Leader and Youth Services Committee Chair Lewis Fidler for their strong and dedicated leadership in seeking to have these cuts restored. Thousands of homeless youth have been protected by their compassionate leadership.

I am also deeply grateful to many members of the broader LGBT community who stood up and demanded that our most vulnerable youth be protected from these cuts. Many, many people called, wrote, and e-mailed the Mayor's office and expressed their concern and outrage. I do not think that the Mayor, in proposing the cuts, anticipated the depth of the commitment of the LGBT Community to protecting our youth who have been thrown out to the streets, and I am deeply moved by the caring that our Community revealed in fighting the cuts. I want to especially thank David Mixner, Mike Lavers and Joe Jervis for their efforts in bringing the harmfulness of the cuts to the attention of the LGBT Community.

Thanks to everybody in the JMG community for their emails to the mayor and the City Council!