NEW YORK BOSTON |#Popular: Irish Celebrity Gossip Irish in US Politics Irish Festivals Irish Roots Irish Entertainment Offbeat Irish

Home Page > Blogs > News blogs > People and Politics > Can Christine Quinn keep Gays and Irish Catholics happy in her run for NY mayor?-- Her outreach to Catholics and holding on to her core gay vote is a major multitask

People and Politics by Patrick Roberts

Can Christine Quinn keep Gays and Irish Catholics happy in her run for NY mayor?-- Her outreach to Catholics and holding on to her core gay vote is a major multitask

Posted on Wednesday, April 25, 2012 at 08:14 AM

Larger Text

E-mail

29 Comments

RSS

Archives

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn Credit: International Business Times, Connor Adams Sheets

Being both gay and Irish in New York is a difficult role for City Council Speaker Christine Quinn.

Now the runaway favorite to be the next mayor, the 46-year-old will have major issues on both her ethnicity and her sexuality to resolve.

Ever since the St.Patrick’s Parade fracas involving the rights of gays to march, gays and Irish have often been at loggerheads.

One can certainly expect that outspoken Cardinal Timothy Dolan will keep his distance from Quinn over the next year and tip his red hat towards whoever her opponent is.

Dolan manages to disguise his iron fist inside a velvet glove and bask in positive media coverage of his attractive qualities of wit and humor.

But make no bones about it, he is doctrinaire on the issues such as gays in the St.Patrick’s Day Parade, not to mention in Gracie Mansion, the mayor’s residence, and he will look with a jaundiced eye on Quinn.

Quinn will have to face the thorny issue of whether she will walk in the St Patrick's Parade in 2013 and salute Dolan at the Fifth Avenue Cathedral of St.Patrick..

As Speaker she has refused to march, preferring instead the small inclusive parade in Queens instead.

Starting next March when the election campaign will be underway, Quinn will have to face a difficult decision.
-------------------

The top ten scariest monsters and demons from Celtic myth - PHOTOS

-------------------

Current mayor Michael Bloomberg has cut the baby in half and marched or spoken at both parades.

Quinn, so far, has not done that, but it might be a savvy political move to do that come St.Pat’s 2013.

To do so would be to send a message of equality to Irish Catholics too that she understands that there is a deeply held faith and devoutness there that she can relate to.

She is hardly likely to lose gay support as a result and she would certainly find such a move would be well received in the Irish redoubts in Queens and the Bronx where she needs to win.

Of course, her tactics on the parade may well be decided by who her ultimate opponent will be.

In the Democratic primary she will likely not face another Irish Catholic but if she runs up against Ray Kelly, the NYPD Commissioner, in the general, then that is a very different matter indeed.

Kelly is being love bombed by the GOP right now who see him as their savior.

Kelly will be seeking the Giuliani coalition of outer borough ethnic Catholics to ensure his victory.

In order to reach into that group, Quinn will have to make serious gestures in their direction and marching in next year's parade may be a deeply symbolic and important step.

Quinn takes Manhattan against all comers but it is the outer boroughs where the potential Kelly favoring voters reside, where she will have to seek a decent percentage.

All of which makes for a fascinating race ahead in 2013.

Quinn’s task may look like a mission impossible; keep Gays and Irish Catholics happy, but her hopes of winning City Hall may depend on it.

E-mail

29 comments

Previous Page 2 of 2 pages

handsome68 | Apr 25, 2012, 02:57 PM EDT

Living as I do in the West Village of New York City, I would not give this woman the time of day if she asked. A pro-life advocate who is also anti-NYU's expansion, I think she has alienated a significant number of the electorate. However, hypocrisy, and such, has never stopped stupid people like she is, from getting elected. Still, I think she has too much baggage, a lot of which stinks, to get elected mayor.

Report abuse

Gearoid4 | Apr 25, 2012, 02:10 PM EDT

I think that Christine Quinn should get into office as N.Y. mayor on the basis of her personal character and ability and not on a association with any particular lobby. @ByTheBay, Immigration has been an all too present reality throughout Irish history for the past 500 years or more. To dismiss someone born abroad with Irish parents/grandparents as non-Irish displays a breathtaking ignorance of Irish history and culture. She has the right to be Irish under the citizenship rules which practically all countries in our western democracies recognize in respect of their own citizens e.g Germany.

Report abuse

el rubio | Apr 25, 2012, 12:52 PM EDT

rugbyplayer, Quinn's biggest adversary in 2013 (I will not use the term 'enemy', anyone who was in the city on 9/11 would know who our true 'enemies' are) is not Cardinal Dolan. Rather it is the city's black and Hispanic power brokers, the Harlem clubhouse, Sharpton, Barron and company; plus the white liberals who are mad at her for being a Bloomberg yes-lady. The Democratic nomine will not be Christine Quinn, she has alienated enough of the party's left wing base and its minority voters. Keep in mind that blacks and Hispanics make up the bulk of the Democratic primary vote, along with the aforementioned white liberals. Irish Catholics not so much, not anymore anyway. Bill Thompson or Scott Stringer will most likely be the Dem nomine, or else Ruben Diaz Jr. or Adolfo Carrion if they decide to enter the race. Like it or not, New York City politics is still based very much on ethnicity and culture, particularly in the Democratic party. There is a reason that a Democratic mayor hasn't sat in Gracie mansion since 1993.

Report abuse

Bythebay | Apr 25, 2012, 12:19 PM EDT

jamieLM, then Mr. Roberts needs to correct his incorrect Irish reference. It does not refer to Ireland.

Report abuse

PhlutiePhan | Apr 25, 2012, 12:09 PM EDT

Christine Quinn stands for everything that T Dolan as a representative of the Catholic Church is against. The Church is patriarchal and discriminatory in the recesses of Ms. Quinn's brain as well as that of her hero OB.

Report abuse

rugbyplayer | Apr 25, 2012, 11:54 AM EDT

No doubt, Quinn's biggest enemy will be pompous and arrogant New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan who thinks he can deliver a "Catholic vote" to the politician of his choice (a Republican,anti-Gay, anti-choice candidate, etc.). Let's see how this will play out.

Report abuse

francisquinn | Apr 25, 2012, 11:05 AM EDT

This year we will get rid of BO...and next year CQ...she shoudl stay in the closet and BO should show the real BO....a BIG LIBERAL...

Report abuse

jamieLM | Apr 25, 2012, 11:04 AM EDT

Anyone with an iota of intelligence should be able to figure out that Mr. Roberts is writing about American Catholics with Irish ancestry, since this column is about a NYC election. We Americans all got it. @ manhattan @ hyattsville @ donnymoss - well said and you all make good points.

Report abuse

manhattan | Apr 25, 2012, 10:46 AM EDT

Christine Quinn should be elected for her ability to run New York city and not her sexuality. Think of all the male politicians that have had terrible scandals involving women. Ms. Quinn i'm sure has more morals and brains then all those who use her lesbianism against her. It will be a great day when someone who is gay is respected for the good person they are. If she is Mayor and marches and the Cardinal turns his back on her as he did to that great Irish patriot Michael Flannery so be it the parade will go on without him.

Report abuse

hyattsville | Apr 25, 2012, 10:43 AM EDT

I think you could change your headline to 'Can ANYONE keep all Gays and Irish Catholics happy' and the answer would be 'Nope, not possible' but Quinn actually stands a better chance than most of achieving that. In my opinion that is!

Report abuse

donnymoss | Apr 25, 2012, 10:30 AM EDT

It's too late for Quinn to keep the gay community happy. Too many of us are aware of her actual record: overturning term limits against the will of NYers who voted twice to keep them; allocating millions of dollars to fake charities and then doling them out in exchange for political favors (the slush fund scandal); stripping the City Council of the democratic process by using discretionary funds and bonuses to control votes; killing bills in committee that have a veto-proof majority of supporters; blocking virtually every human rights and animal protection bill introduced in the City Council while declaring publicly to be an advocate; being exposed for using City employees to campaign for her in the 2009 election. Voters need to look beyond a candidate's identity to his or her actual record.

Report abuse

Bythebay | Apr 25, 2012, 10:29 AM EDT

She's NOT Irish, has nothing to do with Ireland.

Report abuse

Bythebay | Apr 25, 2012, 10:28 AM EDT

So New York you're supporting candidates on the basis of nationality and not on ability or what's best for New York. Typical.

Report abuse

STEVENSTAR | Apr 25, 2012, 10:15 AM EDT

IM AN IRISH CATHOLIC .. WHAT HAS SHE GOT TO DO WITH ME??? I LIVE IN IRELAND , SHE IS AMERICAN THE HEADING SHOULD BE ABOUT AMERICAN GAY PEOPLE AND AMERICAN CATHOLICS .. LEAVE US IRISH OUT OF IT .. I NEVER EVEN HEARD OF THIS WOMAN AND I WOULD THINK NO ONE IN IRELAND EVEN HEARD OF HER ...

Report abuse

Previous Page 2 of 2 pages