Bloomberg will officiate a gay wedding for his adviser
By Virginia SmithJuly 8th, 2011, 2:30 pmComments (8)
Now that same-sex marriage is actually legal in New York, lawmakers are rolling out the red carpet to make newly eligible-for-marriage couples feel welcome. On the heels of the news that state offices will stay open on Sunday, July 24 to honor the first day the marriage-equality bill goes into effect, Michael Bloomberg has announced that he'll officiate the wedding of his chief policy adviser, John Feinblatt, to his longtime partner, John Mintz.
The couple hadn't actually been engaged, but after the passage of the bill Bloomberg came up with the idea himself, and Mintz said, "John and the mayor popped the question." The couple, pictured above with their two daughters and Mayor Bloomberg, will be married at Gracie Mansion, and had previously held off traveling out-of-state for a legal marriage. "Our relationship is about New York, choosing to raise our kids here is about New York, our jobs are about New York," said Feinblatt.
Bloomberg has only presided over two weddings in the past, one for his own daughter and one for his predecessor, Rudy Giuliani. "John and Jonathan are two of the smartest and hardest-working people in our administration,” he said, “This just felt like the best way for me to say thank you." And thus, we have a winner for feel-good story of the week.
Commentarium (8 Comments)
can officiate his own?
Why call it a gay wedding? Why not call it a wedding?
Because the fact that it is a same-sex wedding is news, just as the story is news that Giuliani is apparently going back on his promise to preside over the same-sex wedding of the couple who took him in after Donna threw him out.
Moops - this is coming out of nowhere, and not particularly in response to this comment here, but I want you to know I really like your comments you leave. I scan the comment sections and always read your comments when I see you have posted.
Also, ProfRobert is like the magical anti-serum to Publius. Yay, ProfRobert!
As long as there are no trans-fats or excess sodium, I'm sure Bloomberg will be OK.
Why is it that he decides (correctly, imo) that it's none of the state's business if two homosexual marry but he can prevent restaurants from allowing smoking, salt and trans-fats?
Because unlike gay marriage, secondhand smoke, excess salt and trans-fats are legitimate health and safety concerns for the general public. Think of it as preventative health care.
Trans-sexuals yes, trans-fats no!
You have that backwards -- his position is that it *is* the state's business to permit two consenting adults to marry regardless of their gender. Marriage has been repeatedly recognized as a fundamental right, and denial of it based on gender is a violation of equal protection. Regulation of what a business sells (salt, transfat, drugs, etc.) or the environment in which it operates (smoke-free, compliant with health, fire and building codes, etc.) does not infringe on any fundamental right nor does it deny equal protection of the laws to any group; in other words, it is within the acceptable police powers of the state. Now, you can certainly argue that it's a bad policy -- I disagree, but it's a legitimate argument -- but restaurant regulation is of a different kind than the denial of marriage equality.
Now you say something