Well look at the parade here - someday New York will look like the Mardi Gras year around. But as J B Stoner said, thank God for Aids and this is what they promote for our children? Note this one candidate sill bashes the Boy Scouts but keep in mind the Supreme Court said the Boy Scouts could boot out homosexuals ....let them form their own groups. So much for New York Candidates groveling at the feet of Gay Pride Flag - the Rainbow...... Communists Unite - but it was said the people were cheering for their present Mayor and we see the salad bowl, once called the melting pot as the scum runneth over. New York New York what a wonderful town.....dying soon of the great plague. If Nile Encephalitis does not get them, HIV and AIDS will.....guess nobody with any self respect wants to run for the Mayor of New York City anymore? Saba �Job Market Post a Job Real Estate Personals All Classifieds�Quick News NYT Front Page Arts Business Health International National New York Region Obituaries Politics Science Sports Technology Weather Corrections Special: AIDS at 20�Editorials / Op-Ed Readers' Opinions�Automobiles Books Cartoons Crossword/Games Job Market Living Magazine Movies Photos Real Estate Travel Week in Review Special: Summer Living �Boston.com College Times Learning Network New York Today NYT Store �Archives E-Cards & More Help Center Media Kit NYT Mobile Our Advertisers�Home Delivery Customer ServiceReview Profile E-Mail Options Log Out Text Version Welcome, saba22�� Sign Up for Newsletters� | �Log Out �� Go to Advanced Search June 25, 2001 A Parade Underscores Candidates' Unity on Gay Issues By ERIC LIPTON and SARAH KERSHAW (NYT) The Rev. James Speer tended to the thirsty at Sunday's gay pride parade in Manhattan, which provided a stage for New York City's six mayoral candidates. The race, the candidates and the battle for City Hall. Go to Feature Join a Discussion on Gay Pride: The Fight for Civil Rights Join a Discussion on Events in New York City Join a Discussion on the Mayoral Race Ozier Muhammad/The New York Times While many marched, others, above, rode motorcycles. Three dozen couples held a same-sex wedding celebration at the parade, in which one man came dressed as a lavender poodle. he six men vying to take over City Hall each reached to embrace the rainbow flag yesterday, as the Democratic and Republican mayoral candidates joined in the annual celebration of gay pride that once again turned a large swath of Midtown and Lower Manhattan into a pulsating, gyrating party. Armed with banners and megaphones and flanked by gay supporters, the candidates did their best to distinguish themselves. But it was not just the throngs of marchers in short shorts or others festooned in wigs, feathers and sequins � one man was even dressed as a lavender poodle � that made it difficult for the candidates to stand out. It is that the main mayoral candidates in the field, particularly the Democrats, agree on most of the gay issues facing the city today. "There is not a single candidate who can be described as not good on our issues," said Matt Foreman, executive director of the Empire State Pride Agenda, a gay rights organization. "In other parts of the country, the positions taken here would be extremely unpopular, if not deadly at the polls." Comptroller Alan G. Hevesi, Public Advocate Mark Green, City Council Speaker Peter F. Vallone and Fernando Ferrer, the Bronx borough president, each support providing health benefits to domestic partners of city workers and employees of city contractors. Those four candidates, as well as the Republican candidates, Herman Badillo and Michael Bloomberg, support laws that prohibit discrimination against homosexuals and oppose the Boy Scouts of America's ban on openly gay leaders or scouts. The similarities, especially among the Democrats, forced the candidates to emphasize the depth of their enthusiasm for gay causes. "It's a matter of the intensity of involvement on a thousand different issues," said Mr. Hevesi, who won the coveted endorsement this year from the city's Gay and Lesbian Independent Democrats group, and marched yesterday with City Councilwoman Christine Quinn and State Senator Thomas K. Duane, who are openly gay. Mr. Green noted that he has the support of James Dale, the gay former Boy Scout leader from New Jersey whose case against the Scouts went to the United States Supreme Court, as well as other prominent gay and lesbian advocates. "One thing is your positions, another is your outspokeness," Mr. Green said. Mr. Ferrer, who marched with Councilman Philip Reed and Councilwoman Margarita L�pez, who are openly gay, said quite plainly: "It's a matter of `Will we tolerate any discrimination or none?� I say none." Mr. Vallone found himself closer to the two Republican mayoral candidates on at least one issue that is important to some in the gay community: the push to legalize gay marriage. Mr. Vallone and Mr. Badillo oppose gay marriages, while Mr. Bloomberg has not taken a firm position. Mr. Vallone said the issue is irrelevant in the mayor's race, given that it would not be decided at the city level. He is also the only of the four Democrats this year to march in the St. Patrick's Day Parade, where gay groups are banned. To counter questions about his stand on these issues, he pointed to the millions of dollars in support included in city budgets in recent years for gay-oriented groups like Lesbian and Gay Community Services Center, with whom he marched. Mr. Bloomberg, meanwhile, who like Mr. Vallone, carried a rainbow flag as he made his way down Fifth Avenue, also took pains to establish his credentials in the gay community. Last week, Mr. Bloomberg gave an interview to journalists with gay- oriented newspapers and magazines in anticipation of the parade. He declared that "all discrimination is wrong, period." But Mr. Bloomberg tiptoed around some other touchy issues. Regarding gay marriage, he said, "I don't think it's the government's business to tell anybody who they should be married to or who they can marry, period." And while he had implied earlier that he supported extending domestic partnership benefits to employees of city contractors, he said yesterday, "I don't think the city should insist that all its suppliers have domestic partner benefits." The billionaire businessman seemed to struggle at times to keep up with his marching partner yesterday, Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani. As the mayor shook hands and posed for pictures, members of Mr. Bloomberg's entourage urged spectators to shake his hand and chant, "We like Mike." But response was tepid, as many in the crowd instead cheered and applauded the mayor. 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