In the beginning of January, New York City politics took a turn for the gay, I mean, better. Christine Callaghan Quinn was elected to the position of Speaker of the City Council, being the first out lesbian/gay politician (and the first Irish person) to hold the position. The New York Times January 4 piece, “Speaker, Doer and Symbol in Top City Council Job,” portrays her favorably, reminding us that Quinn was one of the few politicians who openly opposed the west side stadium project. It seems like things are looking bright for New York’s LGBTQ communities, especially when you see the photo of Quinn hugging a tiny, joyous old lady, one of Quinn’s supporters, on the cover of the Times.

But, there are a couple of major issues that Winnie Hu fails to mention in the borderline-fluffy article, including that several of the politicians who showed support in the press for Quinn’s success as Speaker, fought or are fighting the gay rights bill and/or the Equal Benefits Law. Hu basically says that even though Bloomberg is trying to thwart that whole domestic partner health benefits thing, they agree on keeping the ban on smoking in bars. Oh, tit for tat.

Dan Janison’s Newsday’s piece “Quinn’s turn to return favors” however, does a fabulous job of reducing a meaningful moment into a clichéd mockery. When Quinn cried tears of joy during her first address as speaker, Janison had the lack of respect and the cheesiness to say, “She's here, she shed a tear and most everyone's used to it.” I guess he just doesn’t quite get the profundity of a gay person being promoted to top government ranking in our nation’s biggest city despite the rise of the Christian right and gays not yet being afforded equal rights. He’s also tacky enough to lead this piece reminding us that seven years ago a councilwoman accused Quinn of lying about being gay for political advancement.

Kudos to Gotham Gazette for posting Andy Humm’s “Civil Rights” piece in which he reminds us“[W]hile the elevation of the first woman and the first gay person to what many call ‘the second most powerful office in New York’ (after only the mayor) is certainly a breakthrough, it is also a reminder that this city has lagged behind others in advancing both women and gay issues and candidates.” Humm points out that we shouldn’t be so proud of how progressive we are (the NY Times piece’s self-congratulatory tone), when only 16 of our 51 City Council members are women and Quinn is the only openly gay member.