The NY State Supreme Court judge's ruling that gay marriage was okay is proving to be a huge problem for Mayor Bloomberg. After announcing that the city would appeal the decision, the Mayor opened himself to attack from all corners: From liberals who noted that he has supported rights for gays before; from conservatives who think he's too liberal; from potential mayoral opponents, who say he's flip-flopping; from the gay and lesbian community, who think he's being a coward. At various public appearances on Saturday, the Mayor was booed. His reasoniong for appealing the decision is because he wants to avoid the "confusion" that San Francisco eventually had, when higher courts said the gay marriage licenses issued were not legal (or valid - you get the idea). The NY Times notes that this issue will test the Mayor's political mettle; the article also offers that the Mayor is between a rock and a hard place, as he's "being asked to appeal a decision that he agrees with essentially," as the Mayor's press secretary said.
This isn't the first time the Mayor has been accused of having schizophrenic ideas about gay marriage; Gothamist just thinks it's kind of weak to fall under the "we want to avoid the confusion learned from SF" excuse, because the mayor clearly believes in supporting gay rights - he's just worried about his supposed Republican base and Governor Pataki. Too bad this issue is turning up in an election year - Gothamist has a feeling that Mayor Bloomberg might have done something interesting if this came up next year.
And check out the heated debate about gay marriage from our readers.
