Pride 2008 - A Photojournal
July 1, 2008
As a member of the LGBT community myself, I’ve always loved marching in the Heritage of Pride Parade and this year - despite the rain - was no exception. Part of what made last Sunday’s celebration so special was that Governor David Paterson marched with us. No sitting Governor in New York State’s history has ever marched in the Pride Parade.
Here’s a short photo diary of the day.
Gay and Lesbian Independent Democrats (GLID) President Colin Casey and I pose next to the rockin’ GLID float during our multiple-hour line-up on West 54th Street.
My friend John Reddy, who is running for Manhattan Surrogate and some of his supporters and family.
My Chief of Staff, Eliyanna Kaiser, and her wife, Danielle DeCerbo who works for the New York City Council, hold up their Marriage Equality New York (MENY) t-shirt. They’ve actually been together 4 years, but Eliyanna got confused by the fill-in-the-blanks on the shirt and wrote in how many years they’ve been married. Aren’t they cute?
I spent most of the march with the Stonewall Democrats of New York City, a club I’ve been a member of for many years. Here I am with some of our fabulous Board Members.
Here I am with my friend and colleague, and one of New York City’s greatest LGBT heroes, State Senator Tom Duane, and a phalanx of his New York City staff.
My good friends, Maureen Bobrovnicky and Randi Anderson.
National Stonewall member and GLID member, Jon Winkleman is one of the hardest-working LGBT activists in New York City. He told me he has a big box of the amazing Hillary/Pride shirts like the one he’s wearing, so if you are interested let him know!
Stonewall board member, Aubrey Lees and I actually get along very well. But we put on a show for the camera after Eliyanna demanded that we not just pose and smile.
The moment - and I do mean the moment- that it was our turn to start marching down Fifth Avenue one of the most angry-sounding thunderstorms, complete with lightening and booming thunder came pouring down on us. But LGBT pride will not be rained on and we marched on!
GENDA activist extraordinaire, Melissa Sklarz, and Manhattan Community Board 2 Chair, Brad Holyman, try to keep dry under an umbrella.
The Stonewall Democrats marching down Fifth Avenue.
Then the sun came out and rain went away! Here is Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer and I, now almost dry, somewhere in the West 30s on Fifth Avenue.
Finally, I don’t know this mother or her son, but they told me I could take their photo for the blog and I really wanted others to see it. This is what the Pride march is all about - family.
Huge Victory for Same-Sex Couples Married in Other Jurisdictions
June 12, 2008
Saturday June 14th, join me and Marriage Equality New York at 2:00 pm at City Hall, for a historic 5th anniversary celebration of legal same-sex marriage in Canada.
Last year, I was proud to be part of history and vote in favor of same-sex marriage when the bill was passed by the New York State Assembly. While there is a long way to go until same-sex couples can legally marry in New York (the New York State Senate must also pass the bill before the Governor can sign it into law), step by step we are coming closer to marriage equality.
The right to marry is a basic human right. Last month, the lesbian, gay, and bisexual caucus of the New York State Legislature (myself, Assembly Members Daniel O’Donnell, Deborah Glick, and Matt Titone, and State Senator Tom Duane) wrote to Governor Paterson asking him to take another important step forward and use his executive powers to ensure that state agencies recognize same-sex marriages from other jurisdictions (same-sex couples can legally marry in Canada, Belgium, Spain, South Africa, Massachusetts - and soon - California). We wrote this letter after the landmark Martinez v. County of Monroe decision made it clear earlier this year that New York must recognize these out of jurisdiction marriages. In Martinez, a public employee challenged a decision denying her right to extend benefits to her wife, and won.
After the court case was won, we realized that either married couples would have to challenge non-conforming agencies one by one or the state could choose to follow the law and make these changes operationalized throughout the entire state voluntarily. Luckily, Governor Paterson is a great friend to the LGBT community and had already been contemplating these issues himself. His directive was announced in the press a few days after our letter was sent. Here is a New York Times article that gives further background for those who are interested.
This change will have an enormously important and positive impact on these married couples’ lives. There are literally thousands of rights that have been denied to them, from joint income tax filing to the right to add a spouse on a rent regulated lease to inheriting a hunting license if a spouse dies. Governor Paterson deserves all our thanks for this simple yet powerful directive, we are all enhanced as citizens whenever human rights victories are won.
If you have questions about what this means for you and your family, the Empire State Pride Agenda has an excellent resource page on their website to explain what this means for same-sex couples.
**Update 6/14/2008*** The MENY event at City Hall was a beatuiful event, with dozens of couples who were married in Canada and a representative from the Canadian consulate. Pictured below, my Chief of Staff, Eliyanna Kaiser (center), and her wife Danielle DeCerbo (left) hold their giant British Columbia marriage certificate at the event.
Photo by Jeremy Wilson.
Kellner Legislation to Create MTA Riders Council for People with Disabilities Passes Assembly!
May 13, 2008
I am very proud to announce that my bill to create an MTA Riders Council for People with Disabilities passed the Assembly today. Below is the press release from just two days ago announcing this bill (and another related bill’s) introduction. Assembly Member Linda Rosenthal was quick with the cellphone camera and snapped me some photographic evidence of the bill’s debut to the big board in Assembly Chambers moments before its passage (Thanks, Linda!)
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For Immediate Release: May 10, 2008
IMPROVING MTA ACCESS FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES
New York City — Assembly Member Micah Z. Kellner, State Senator Thomas K. Duane, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, Assembly Member Michele Titus, Chair of the Assembly Taskforce on People with Disabilities, and Assembly Member Linda B. Rosenthal, were joined today by advocates representing thousands of New Yorkers with disabilities to announce a package of bills that have been introduced in the New York State legislature to reform the way that the MTA responds to the needs of transit riders with disabilities.
The first bill (A.10734-A/S.7817) creates the MTA Riders Council for People with Disabilities, a 15-member appointed council will be geographically diverse representing riders who use NYC Transit, the Long Island Rail Road, and Metro North systems. The Council will have a non-voting seat on the MTA Board and will monitor all aspects of the MTA and make recommendations as to how to improve services. The Assembly is expected to take up this bill on Monday. The second bill (A.10420/S.7348) requires daily inspections of elevators, escalators, bus lifts, and other accessibility features in MTA facilities and establishes documentation requirements and oversight for their repair.
“The MTA has been failing the disabled community when it comes to meeting our transportation needs,” said Assembly Member Micah Kellner, who has cerebral palsy. “In 2007, I requested documents for eight elevators in ADA-compliant passenger stations to better understand how the MTA maintains features like elevators. What I found was an unacceptable number of outages, repeated breakdowns in the same station for the same problem, a disturbing lack of paper record-keeping, and a poor track record of fixing problems quickly. This is no small matter. When an escalator, elevator, or wheelchair lift is inoperable it means that a person with a disability is stranded.”
“The list of reasons why these changes are necessary is endless. For example, even the new, improved subway announcements – let alone the old garbled ones – are hard for the hearing impaired to understand,” said Senator Tom Duane. “Platform gaps on the LIRR threaten the safety of the visually impaired and wheelchair users. The recent closure of station agent booths in the subways has only worsened the situation for disabled riders who are able to overcome other obstacles to access that system, and these are only a few of the problems. The MTA needs to hear from people with disabilities and learn from their experiences. The best way to do this is to correct the lack of representation of people with disabilities on the board of the MTA itself.”
“For years, the MTA’s failure to carry out mandated inspections, as required by the building code, left frail and disabled riders in a situation resembling Russian Roulette,” said Borough President Scott Stringer. I believe the agency’s new leadership wants to make the system safe and reliable for people with disabilities – and this legislation will provide a framework for doing that. I urge the swift passage of both bills.” In 2006, Borough President Stringer released his report, The State of Repairs, which found that 74% of all elevators in ADA-compliant stations did not receive their mandated annual inspection and that the average elevator in an ADA-compliant station was out for 11 days.
“Seldom a day goes by where we do not receive a phone call or email message from someone who has had a negative experience with the MTA.,” says Lawrence Carter-Long, the Director of Advocacy of Disabilities Network of NYC. ” A breakdown in, or lack of transportation options for people with disabilities affects every other area of our lives – if you can’t get to or from your residence, place of business, or health care provider, your quality of life is diminished. Rather than solve the transportation problems faced by New Yorkers with disabilities, the MTA seems more inclined to add to them. These bills provide a necessary and overdue remedy the MTA has been unwilling to provide on its own.”
“We believe holding the MTA to greater accountability on elevator and escalator repairs as well as the creation of a MTA Riders Council for People with Disabilities can only improve the accessibility of NYC Transit and assure riders with disabilities that it is safe to ride the subways,” said Carr Massi, President of Disabled in Action of Metropolitan New York.
“BCID has been requesting a seat at the MTA table as a representative of the community of people with disabilities for many years,” said Marvin Wasserman, Executive Director of Brooklyn Center for Independence of the Disabled (BCID). “The passage of this legislation will guarantee full representation from the whole community of people with disabilities, not just a select few working within the community.”
“Appropriate access for people with disabilities is a civil right and a human right. It is time the ADA [Americans with Disabilities Act] applied to mass transit,” said Janice Schacter, Chair of the Hearing Access Program (a consortium of the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, the League for the Hard of Hearing, and Hearing Loss Association of America).
“Hearing directly from people with disabilities through the proposed MTA Riders Council for People with Disabilities is a needed reform. The MTA needs to address the problems of accessibility, signage, and staff training to make transportation in NYC truly available to all,” said Nancy D. Miller, Executive Director of VISIONS/Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired.
“Access to public transportation is critical for people with disabilities to live fruitful and productive lives and it is essential that public transportation is accessible, reliable, and safe all the time. We appreciate the efforts of Assemblyman Kellner and Senator Duane in support of the needs of NYC citizens with disabilities,” said Susan Constantino, President and CEO of Cerebral Palsy Associations of New York State.
“Guide Dog Users of New York is primarily eager to have consistent tactile edge markings at all subway stations. These small raised domes warn blind and visually-impaired people when they are nearing the platform edge and can save lives,” said David De Porte, President of Guide Dog Users of New York.
“We strongly support the quick enactment of both bills. An MTA Riders Council for People with Disabilities will give our community direct and sustained input to the MTA Board of Directors about making its entire system more friendly to wheelchair users and other aging and disabled passengers. Making subway elevator and escalator maintenance a higher priority is essential and long overdue. There is zero access to the subway system for our wheelchair-using members if elevators are always broken,” said Terence J. Moakley, spokesperson for the United Spinal Association.
“The NYC Chapter of the National MS Society fully supports legislation to create the MTA Riders Council for people with disabilities. Our members experience a variety of challenges using mass transit, including inaccessible subway stations, non-working elevators, inadequate signage, and dangerously large gaps between platforms and trains. As a result of these problems, people living with MS often cannot get to work or visit their families. It is crucial that people with disabilities have a voice on the MTA,” said Robin Einbinder, Executive Vice president of Programs and Services at the NYC Chapter of the National MS Society.
“We have long called for the MTA to increase elevator/escalator inspection, repairs and maintenance, as well as requiring a higher degree of accountability. We believe they also need to improve their communication with riders. Many passengers with disabilities refuse to use the subways because they are fearful of being stuck when an elevator/escalator is out of service,” said Edith M. Prentiss of the 504 Democratic Club.
“When people with disabilities believe they are able to travel safely and expediently on the subways, this saves the City and the MTA money. Both of these initiatives will help to increase the number of wheelchair users who ride buses and trains with confidence, thereby decreasing reliance on Access-A-Ride,” said Joe Rapporport of the Taxis For All Campaign.
“Elevator and escalator outages rank near the top among the myriad of barriers faced by persons with disabilities when attempting to use our mass transit system,” said Michael Harris, Executive Director of the Disabled Riders Coalition. “Sadly, the MTA has historically failed to recognize that we are fare-paying customers and deserve the same consideration as our non-disabled peers. Not only will this legislation force the MTA to address the issues of elevator and escalator maintenance, more importantly it will finally give riders with disabilities a seat at the table. I look forward to being in Albany on Monday where I hope to watch the Assembly pass this important legislation.”
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