But damn St. Vincent’s Hospital and its anti-gay, anti-choice evil ways!
What our black leaders have in common with Mugabe (more than you think).
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By Allen Roskoff
Friday, May 09, 2008
I recently visited WeHo (that is West Hollywood for you one coasters) to attend a fundraiser for my friend Jeffrey Prang. On April 21, Jeff was sworn-in for his third term as Mayor of West Hollywood. I originally meet Jeff in Philadelphia 10 years ago at the conference of Lesbian and Gay Elected and Appointed Government Officials. We became friends immediately. The yearly events were a total waste of time but at least I made a friend.
WeHo has five city council members and they rotate stints as mayor. Three of the sitting members are gay: Jeff Prang, a smart hard working liberal; John Heilman, a captivating progressive whose many years of service has helped keep WeHo the dynamic city it is; and John Duran, whose commitment to gay activism helps keep WeHo gay. They’re joined by straight colleagues Abbe Land, a dynamite energetic woman, and Sal Guariello, an elderly man with years of service to the city.
I noticed a few attractive medical marijuana storefronts in the city. Use of marijuana is extremely helpful in reducing pain for those suffering from diseases such as AIDS and cancer and is legal in the State of California. Nevertheless, the property owners put themselves at risk by taking a stand on this issue against the feds, who keep coming in and closing them down.
Can you imagine New York allowing sick people access to medical marijuana? Law and order freak Police Commissioner Ray Kelly is too busy increasing arrests against pot smokers and filling up our jails with people arrested for this victimless so-called crime. Our jails are filled with young African Americans who have committed no crime other then to light up. I can hear Bloomberg answering a question on this matter, “The law is the law, and we must not allow New Yorkers to break the law.”
In 2006, West Hollywood adopted a resolution instructing the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (which polices WeHo under contract so the community does not need its own police department) not to target adults who possess small amounts of marijuana or smoke it in private. Although the resolution does not carry the full weight of law, it serves to direct L.A. County Sheriff Lee Baca as to how the city of nearly 40,000 people wants its laws enforced. The resolution was introduced by Councilman John Duran and passed by a 4-0 vote. To date, the Sheriff’s Department has respected the resolution.
In 2007 alone, the NYPD under Ray Kelly made 39,700 misdemeanor arrests for the possession of small amounts of marijuana. A report released last month at the New York Civil Liberties Union found that the NYPD arrested nearly 400,000 people on that charge between 1997 and 2007, a tenfold increase from the previous decade. This is Kelly’s crusade and, given the disproportionate demographics of those arrested, is really just a front for a racist agenda.
On that issue, I recommend reading Nat Hentoff’s piece in the May 7 issue of The Village Voice titled “The NYPD’s Secret Crusade Against Marijuana Furthers a Racist Agenda.” Where is our City Council directing the police? The City Council has oversight over the NYPD, but with this Council’s leadership essentially serving as no more than an extension of the mayor’s office, one should not expect much.
WeHo shows progressive leadership in respect to another timely controversy. Mayor Prang is now working on a resolution to grant sanctuary to victims of the Armed Services Stop-loss policy.
Stop-loss is a policy used by the U.S. military to keep soldiers and reservists from leaving the military, forcing them to continue serving beyond the dates on which their tours of duty are supposed to end. It has been used on more than 50,000 members of the armed forces since the war in Iraq began. Currently, stop-loss is being used to extend the duty of 12,500 troops. Reuters reports that the measure is being used to apply to units about to be deployed to Afghanistan or Iraq.
Though mostly symbolic, the WeHo resolution would send a message to the world that the military’s stop-loss policy is wrong, unconscionable and deadly. It also highlights the insanity of the Iraq war.
It is hard to imagine the New York City Council taking such a stand. In a body where Speaker Christine Quinn has initiated the Pledge of Allegiance before each council meeting, this would seem dead on arrival.
It pleases me to no end to know that the WeHo City Council, a legislative body with a majority of gay members, has adopted such a progressive agenda. If only we could say the same in New York City.
Allen Roskoff is a longtime gay rights activist and co-author and lobbyist for the nation’s first gay civil rights bill. He is now president of the citywide Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club. He can be reached at aroskoff@aol.com. And you can read about his date with Bea Arther here.
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