when good (gay) politics go bad

Here is just a snippet of a larger article, Rudy Giuliani Takes the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Approach to LGBT Issues

Who knew he was such a huge LGBT flip-flopper?

As hard-hitting and contentious as his hometown, Mayor Giuliani incited complicated feelings among New York’s LGBT community beginning from his earliest days in office in 1994. On the one hand, he marched in Pride parades, welcomed the Gay Games, repeatedly dressed in drag and shared the home of two gay friends during his bitter, high-profile divorce from second wife, Donna Hanover, who learned about his plan to break up with her via a press conference. Classy. He also supported statewide hate crimes legislation that included sexual orientation and helped pass the city’s groundbreaking 1998 domestic partnership law. However, he could be heavy-handed in his famous attempts to improve the quality of life around town, such as his enforcement of long dormant, Prohibition-era cabaret laws that limited dancing in public spaces and harmed the city’s gay and lesbian nightlife community. They did not call him “Ghouliani” for nothing, after all.

Giuliani, who trails the more conservative former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney in fundraising, seems inclined to hide his lavender-leaning associations in order to win the Republican nomination. Recently, he has abandoned his previous enthusiasm for civil unions, although he remains opposed, at least for now, to a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. He supports federal hate crimes legislation and employment non-discrimination measures that include sexual orientation, although it remains unclear whether he believes transgender individuals should also be protected in these areas. His position on LGBT adoption rights is unconfirmed, and where openly gay members of the military are concerned, he says he does not think the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy should be revisited during wartime. His campaign did not return a call placed yesterday to clarify his positions. Go figure.