Bloomberg and Gay Marriage

New York's moderate Republican mayor Michael Bloomberg found himself in a bind last week when a state court judge found for five homosexual couples who had been denied marriage licenses in the city.

Bloomberg pondered for a bit before deciding that the best response was a mixed response: The mayor announced his support for gay marriage and that his city attorneys would be appealing the decision.

Meat-Eating Leftist has declared Mayor Bloomberg the Jackass of the Week, but I have to disagree. Not because it isn't a jackass thing to do, but because it's time that state legislatures stood up and took this issue on front and center.

What are Bloomberg's options here? Let it stand and listen to conservatives talk about evil activist judges and overreaching city officials, or appeal it and punt it back to the courts. From a queer perspective, I would rather that licenses not be issued if they're only going to be withdrawn a few months down the road, as happened in California (props to Gavin Newsome though--I applaud his first-in-the-nation stand last year).

Bloomberg, like the rest of us, watched this play out once already. He's right to be in favor of gay marriage and he's right to force the courts to settle it for New York, and he's right to tell the state legislature to get on this now. The real jackasses are in Albany, holding their fingers to wind and praying that the spotlight doesn't land on them any time soon.