EDITORIAL – NYC’s Council speaker gay, female

Christine Quinn is openly lesbian. She is also the new speaker of the New York City Council,… Christine Quinn is openly lesbian. She is also the new speaker of the New York City Council, which makes her the second most powerful political leader in the city. Not only is she the first homosexual to occupy the position, but she is also the first woman.

Refreshingly, her election was not met with loud protests or homophobic bad-mouthing because of her sexual identity or gender. Instead, she seems to be widely supported by New Yorkers of every political, religious and ideological stripe. No councilmembers voted against her.

Democratic Orthodox Jewish Councilman Simcha Felder lent his support to Quinn, and Catholic priest Father Francis Shannon gave the invocation at her City Hall election ceremony. She has been working as a city councilwoman for the past six years, and many of her fellow councilmembers, gay and straight, credit her effectiveness in leading meetings and building coalitions, her media savvy and her likeability for with giving her the edge over her main competitors.

As speaker, Quinn is essentially the head liaison between New York City’s citizens and its government.

Councilman Charles Barron, D-Brooklyn, seems to be one of the only people unhappy with the election results. The only councilmember to abstain from voting in the election, he criticized not Quinn, but the process by which she was elected.

In a time when the news is full of cronyism and pay-for-play scandals in the political arena, it seems all too rare for a person to be elected solely on merit. Though a person’s sexual orientation does not impact his or her ability to do a job any more than hair color or race, there are still many elected officials and business leaders who feel the need to keep their homosexuality private in order to succeed.

Hopefully, Quinn’s victory signifies a turning point. Certainly, it sets the bar just that much higher for cities across the country that wish to appear not just to have a diverse population, but also to embrace all members of that population equally.

Quinn is still a long way away from being legally able to marry her partner, but the fact that she was elected to such a powerful position is reassuring. Perhaps this country is slowly edging toward a time when it is a person’s qualifications for her job that matter, instead of her personal preferences.

In her acceptance speech, Quinn said, “I am incredibly proud that in the most diverse city in the world, that diversity is seen as a strength – not an impediment.”

She has every reason to be proud.