[NYer]

For those who are not aware, Rosie O'Donnell's brother, Daniel, an "openly gay" man, was elected to the NYS legislature in 2002. Here is THAT story.

Election 2002

New York State Legislature

O'Donnell a First in State Assembly

By Noel T. Pangilinan

Nov. 6 -- When Daniel O'Donnell won the the 69th State Assembly seat yesterday, he became the first openly gay man to be elected to the State legislature.

But O'Donnell, 41, a Democrat, was quick to point out that he is not the "first open gay" but the "first openly gay man" to occupy a seat in the Assembly. Democrat Deborah Glick, a six-term Assemblymember representing the 66tth Assembly District, was the first openly gay politician to win a seat.

Garnering 82 percent of the the votes, O'Donnell won handily over Republican Kalman Sporn, Independent Ari Goodman and Green Party's Ronald MacKinnon for the right to represent the 69th District, which covers Manhattan Valley, Upper West Side and Morningside Heights. From a pedestrian point of view, O'Donnell's neighborhood spans from 85th to 125th Street.

For O'Donnell, his victory at the polls proved that being gay is no longer a political risk. "Being gay should not make or break one's election," he said O'Donnell.

Outgoing Assemblymember Edward Sullivan, a Democrat who has represented the 69th Assembly District for the past 26 years but opted not to run this year, agreed that being gay is no longer a significant factor in American politics.

"Being gay is not a liability in this community, it is not a liability in America, in general," said Sullivan, who had endorsed O'Donnell's bid since the Democratic Primary in September. "Every family in America has a member or a relative who's gay. It's no big deal."

But Sullivan said O'Donnell is not the first gay man to be elected to the State Assembly. "There are gays and there have been gays in the Assembly. The difference is that Daniel (O'Donnell) is the first to acknowledge it publicly.

"If the estimate is that 10 percent of the population is gay, then it follows that 10 percent of teachers are gay, 10 percent of doctors are gay. I wouldn't be surprised if 10 percent of Assemblymembers are gay," Sullivan added.

For his part, O'Donnell said that he did not see any reason why he should not acknowledge his sexual orientation. "It's part of who I am, it defines a portion of my life. And also a candidate has to let the public know who his or her spouse is, who their children are, and what his or her campaign platform is. That's part of the full disclosure of the election campaign."

O'Donnell said who has lived with his partner for 22 years. His younger sister, TV and movie star Rosie O'Donnell, recently acknowledged that she is a lesbian.

[NYer]

* * * * *

Daniel O'Donnell (Dem/Wor), a public interest lawyer, is a founding member of the New York City chapter of Citizen Action. O'Donnell, who attended George Washington University and CUNY Law School, is also a member of the Morning Side Heights Historic District Committee, and community board 9. Her ran for the State Assembly in 1998.

[MHGinTN]

IF there were any doubts as to why the seditious democrats are playing obstructionism with Bush's special judge nominees (non-liberal persons who could be on a fast track for SCOTUS nominations), this judicial activism that stamps deviancy as mainstream, seeking to create social engineered change in this nation, should end the speculation. The democrats are screaming, leftist, extremists societal engineers, and judges creating law via judicial fiat are their stealth tool to mutate this Republic to the left of a leftist liberal sty.

[ArGee]

There will be several people who will visit this thread to tell us it's none of government's business who has sex with whom.

There will be several who will tell us it is unreasonable to deny to some (gays) what others (straights) can have.

There will be several who will tell us that heterosexuals do all the same things that homosexuals do - it's only a difference of who they do it with.

And there will be several who will tell us it doesn't really matter whether people are born gay as long as they don't harm anyone else.

And when the documentation is supplied to show an agenda since the late 1980s to cause us to think in precisely these terms, those same people will laugh at the idea of a gay agenda.

We have been led like sheep. Now we get to find out whether we have been led to a shearing, or to a slaughter.

Shalom.

[freetradenotfree]

First woman approved as head of Massachusetts high court
BOSTON (AP) — Justice Margaret Marshall was elevated to chief justice of Massachusetts' highest court Wednesday, becoming the first woman to head the nation's oldest appellate court.

Ms. Marshall, a former chief counsel at Harvard University, overcame charges of anti-Catholic bias to win a 6-3 confirmation vote by the Governor's Council, which votes on nominations by the governor.

"1 follow in the footsteps of giants," Ms. Marshall said. "1 do so with humility, and with a deep commitment to the rule of law."

Ms. Marshall, 55, a native of South Africa,

was appointed an associate justice of the Supreme Judicial Court in 1996. She was at Harvard at the time and had previously been in private practice.

Her nomination to head the 307-year-old court was marred when Cardinal Bernard Law raised concerns that she harbored anti-Catholic bias.

Law, who heads the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston, wrote last month to Gov. Paul Cellucci and said Ms. Marshall was "open to serious charges of anti-Catholicism."

He cited an incident in which Ms. Marshall, while at Harvard, chastised a professor who had used university stationery for a personal note with an anti-abortion message.

Catholic groups also feared she could not be impartial on abortion cases because she once served on an abortion clinic's board of trustees. Ms. Marshall denied her personal views would affect her role as jurist.

Law later retracted his complaint after speaking with Ms. Marshall, who is Protestant. "She gave me her assurance that she was not anti-Catholic," he said, "and I have absolutely no reason to not accept her word on that."

Is Justice Margaret Marshall a U.S Citizens?