New York attorney general Andrew Cuomo said Thursday that he wants to be the governor who makes “equality a reality” in his state.
Cuomo, the Democratic nominee for governor, spoke in Manhattan during the reception before the fall dinner of the Empire State Pride Agenda, the statewide LGBT lobbying group. His brief remarks, which included a denunciation of the agenda of his Republican opponent, Carl Paladino, set the tone for an evening focused on the upcoming elections under the pall of recent LGBT youth suicides and a brutal gang-related hate crime in the Bronx.
“Let me be clear,” said Cuomo, who has not yet been endorsed by the Pride Agenda. “I don't want to be the governor who just proposes marriage equality. I don't want to be the governor who lobbies for marriage equality. I don't want to be the governor who fights for marriage equality. I want to be the governor who signs the law that makes equality a reality in the state of New York.”
Cuomo also took the opportunity to condemn the “extremist” agenda represented by Carl Paladino, who last weekend said that children should not be “brainwashed” into believing homosexuality is acceptable, and criticized the attorney general for taking his daughters to the gay pride parade.
“Make no mistake,” said Cuomo. “We are looking at an extremist political agenda on the other side of this election.”
The premier gay political event of the season in New York, the dinner drew some 1,200 attendees to mingle with elected officials across the city and state, while raising $1 million, according to organizers. Actress Sarah Jessica Parker and Bravo’s Andy Cohen hosted the event.
New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg spoke and pledged to help continue the fight for safe schools and marriage equality, while Gov. David Paterson, in his final appearance before the dinner as governor, continued the attack against Paladino. The governor said the Buffalo businessman’s lips were “dripping with words of homophobia and hypocrisy,” and criticized Paladino for waiting days to talk about the suicide of Rutgers University student Tyler Clementi and the antigay hate attack and torture against a man and two teenagers in the Bronx.
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