The interwebs have been buzzing for the last week with the news that Texas U.S. Senator (and Republican presidential candidate) Ted Cruz attended an event hosted by two prominent openly gay hoteliers in New York City last week and in that setting seemed to tone down his virulently anti-gay rhetoric.
The New York Times broke the story of the event hosted by millionaires Mati Weiderpass and Ian Reisner and negative reaction from LGBT activists was swift.
A Facebook page calling for a boycott of The Out NYC Hotel and other properties owned by Weiderpass and Reisner had almost 7,000 likes Saturday afternoon, and at least two events have already been canceled at their properties. A protest rally is scheduled for Monday evening outside the Out NYC.
On Saturday morning, the New York City Gay Men’s Chorus abruptly canceled its annual spring fundraiser, scheduled for later in the day at Out NYC. While the chorus did not explicitly cite the controversy or the Cruz meeting, it said it “made the decision because we want to be 100% clear in our support for the LGBTQ community.”Initially the two released statements clarifying that the event was NOT a fundraiser for Cruz and that they thought that the meeting was important for dialogue. However, today's Queer Quote is from the apology posted by Reisner to Facebook in the last twenty-four hours:
"I am shaken to my bones by the e-mails, texts, postings and phone calls of the past few days. I made a terrible mistake. I was ignorant, naive and much too quick in accepting a request to co-host a dinner with Cruz at my home without taking the time to completely understand all of his positions on gay rights. I've spent the past 24 hours reviewing videos of Cruz' statements on gay marriage and I am shocked and angry. I sincerely apologize for hurting the gay community and so many of our friends, family, allies, customers and employees. I will try my best to make up for my poor judgement. Again, I am deeply sorry."They really thought that having a private meeting with a Republican presidential candidate who does not believe in fundamental rights for LGBT people would not be a problem? Or maybe they thought that no one would find out about it? Either way it will be very interesting to see how the GOP candidates for president negotiate their way through the minefield of LGBT equality in the next few days, especially, and all the way up to the 2016 election.
Hat/tip to Wonkette
