Gov. Andrew Cuomo says NY will always be 'home' for LGBTQ community

by Sara Ritsch
Staff Writer
And Morgan Allen
Journalism Intern

Andrew Cuomo, Governor of New York, said Tuesday July 26, that New York will always be “home” for LGBTQ individuals. New York is the home of the Stonewall Riots, the first monumental movement of the LGBT fight, and Cuomo says the state wants to "empower and protect LGBT people of all backgrounds and across all facets of our lives."

Under Cuomo, New York became the first in the nation to order an executive action to ban conversion therapy. He also boycotted states that support bigotry, such as Indiana and North Carolina, wanting to stand shoulder to shoulder with the LGBT community. During the 2011 marriage equality battle in New York, he framed the issue in terms that even skeptics and opponents could understand.

“You cannot be for justice for some without supporting justice for everybody,” he said.
When he took the stage Tuesday at the Democratic LGBT Caucus meeting, he began by saying, “we have to find commonalities instead of finding differences.”

Cuomo went on to discuss the ethic of culture, insisting that it has to be founded on “non-judgmentalism [sic].” He discussed LGBT efforts in New York such as Stonewall, where gay Americans first stood up against discrimination.

“Marriage equality was the first time we really debated equality as equality. Remember where we were. The argument with civil unions was, you have all the legal rights of marriage it’s just not called marriage - but we don’t want almost marriage, we want marriage!” Cuomo said.
“The point wasn’t about marriage, it was about equality and being offered same options for all Americans."

New York went on to become one of the first big states to pass the Marriage Equality Act in June 2011. Cuomo insisted that the people of the state of New York said it was the right thing to do, and that is why they have the law today.

The Governor also addressed transgender New Yorkers and their adversaries.

"If you are against discriminating against transgender people that’s what our gender legislation is all about.” Cuomo said.
“When we couldn’t get legislation to pass I said, 'I don’t care if they pass it, I’m going to set an executive order to make them pass it anyway!"

He issued the state wide anti-discrimination act prohibiting harassment and discrimination on the basis of gender identity, transgender status or gender dysphoria in October of 2015.

In June of 2016, President Barack Obama declared that the Stonewall Inn would be a designated National Monument. Cuomo is happy with the decision. “I’m proud to be the state that after Orlando said we're going to build a monument in front of Stonewall,” he said.
“That was not just a terrorist attack, that was a terror attack on gay Americans and that requires us to stand up and say we have no tolerance whatsoever."

Cuomo wants all Americans to raise the bar higher than ever before to end AIDS as an epidemic
“We can do it – Hillary Clinton can make it a reality,” he said, endorsing Clinton as the Democratic nominee.

He ended his speech by reminding the LGBT community of their home in the state of New York.
“New York is champion for the LGBTQ community – you have a home, and your movement's home is the great state of New York.”

Copyright The Gayly 7/26/2016 @ 4:31 p.m. CDT