Rudy Giuliani on Civil Rights Former Mayor of New York City; Republican Candidate for 2000 Senate (NY)

Photos of him in drag emphasized pro-gay-rights stance

Giuliani's defects, from a conservative point of view, were readily apparent. He was pro-choice, pro-gay right, pro-gun control. He was thrice married, and had carried on a public affair with wife number three while going through a messy divorce from wife number two. When the latter, Donna Hanover, kicked him out of Gracie Mansion, he cohabited with two gay men. There were pictures all over the Internet of him in drag--face painted in rouge, head adorned with a blond wig, shoulders draped in a feather boa--from a New York variety show.

Comfortable with trying to reach voters in Spanish

A: This is a country that is built around the English language. If you want to become a citizen, you should demonstrate your facility with English. If you know other languages, that is a wonderful thing. If we have substantial portions of populations that know other languages, I’m very comfortable trying to reach them in both English and in Spanish.

No Marriage Amendment needed now, but maybe if DOMA fails

A: I do not believe under the state that presently exists, with the Defense of Marriage Act and basically one state that has by judicial fiat created same-sex marriage--I don’t think we need a constitutional amendment at this point. If a lot of states start to do that--5 or 6 states--then we should have a constitutional amendment.

Supports domestic partnerships, but not same-sex marriage

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROMNEY: He is pro-choice and pro-gay marriage and anti-gun, and that’s a tough combination in a Republican primary.
(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMNEY: That was very early in the process, in March. He wasn’t a candidate yet. I think I have a better perspective on his views now.

GIULIANI: The reality is that I support the Second Amendment. I clearly believe that marriage should be between a man and a woman, although I did support domestic partnerships and still do, a contractual relationship. And [we should] put our emphasis on reducing abortions & increasing the number of adoptions

Don’t change gays-in-military policy in time of war

A: This is not the time to deal with disruptive issues like this. Back in 1994 we went through this and it created a tremendous amount of disruption. In time of war, in a time where we’re trying to deal with this transition to a new kind of warfare that we have to be fighting--and we haven’t gotten all the way there yet, we need a hybrid army, we need to look at nation-building as part of what we have to teach our military--I don’t think this would be the right time to raise these issues. And I think we should rely on the judgment of our commanders in a situation like this. They know what’s disruptive and what’s not. And at a time of war, you don’t make fundamental changes like this.

1990s: Arrested hundreds of unlicensed art vendors

But another arrest & confiscation wave had started in 1995, when the Giuliani administration declared that only 51 vendors could sell near the Metropolitan Museum and in tourist-infused areas of the city’s park system. Those 51 would be chosen by a lottery & receive licenses, and anyone vending without one would be considered a lawbreaker.

Such policies inspired legal challenges based on First Amendment arguments. As time went on, the administration’s attempts to stifle “free speech” became more frequent, more obvious, & more obnoxious to New Yorkers. By the time the mayor left office, the city had litigated--unsuccessfully in nearly every case--two dozen free speech challenges, more than under any previous administration.

1990s: City jobs cuts fell disproportionately on black staff

Big city political machines tend always to be ethnic-based. That’s why the Irish dominate the Fire and Police Departments, and Italians can be found in large numbers in the Sanitation and Building Departments, and Jews hold sway at the Corporation Council and the Board of Education.

As blacks began to move into the upper reaches of the civil service in the 1960s, they found the doors to these departmental fiefdoms effectively barred. So they migrated to the human resources departments, [and by Giuliani’s term] had risen to the upper reaches.

Giuliani spared no sympathy for those on the receiving end of his cuts. He heard only a whine when one spoke of “racial justice.”

Opposed Pres. Bush’s ban on gay marriage

Pro gay rights

Anti-Catholic art is disgusting; appoints decency council

“I think what they did is disgusting, it’s outrageous,” Giuliani said, adding that anti-Catholicism “is accepted in our city and in our society.” Giuliani is appointing a task force “that can set decency standards for those institutions that are using the taxpayers’ money.“

In 1999, the museum’s ”Sensation“ show featured an elephant dung-embellished Virgin Mary. The mayor froze the museum’s annual $7.2 million city subsidy, then sued in state court to evict the museum. A judge ruled that the city had violated the First Amendment and restored the funding. This time, Giuliani said he would go all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, whose decisions he said are based on ”showing decency and respect for religion.“

Brooklyn Museum closed due to lease rules, not censorship

A: The museum’s lease puts me in the middle of this whether I want to be or not. It says the mayor has to approve closing down the museum. And the mayor has to approve when this publicly funded museum starts to charge money. It’s supposed to be free. And they’re charging $9.00. So, I have to make a decision as the mayor to agree to closing down the museum for this purpose. And I don’t agree. I think this exhibit beyond even the desecration of the Virgin Mary is a horrible exhibit. There’s a pedophile that is glorified with the fingerprints of the children that the pedophile attacked. There are pigs in formaldehyde that are dissected. If you want to do this privately, you have every right to do it. This is not a matter of suppression. But here you’re taking hard-earned taxpayer dollars -about $12 million of it - and using it to subsidize this project.

Free speech for private expression, not publicly-funded art

A: It does - if you want to pay for it with your own money. Taxpayer dollars shouldn’t. support religion. We shouldn’t support vicious attacks on religion either. If they did it on private property, I would equally oppose it. I would speak out against it because I think it’s disgusting. But I would have to - and I would - provide the police, provide the pavement, provide all the things that the First Amendment requires.

Q: Suppose, instead of a portrait of the Virgin Mary, splattered with excrement, it was a portrait of Martin Luther King.

A: I don’t think the museum ever would have done it. The museum board would have been too sensitive to the concerns of the minority of people that would be offended by this.. Catholic bashing goes down a little easier than some of the other things that might be done.

No taxpayer dollars for offensive art

Extended all city benefits to same-sex couples

Dismantled affirmative action program for NYC contracts

Supports affirmative action