Andrew Cuomo with his daughters at New York Pride this weekend
It’s been a long while since I listed a “hero” on these pages, but New York Governor Andrew Cuomo definitely deserves the title. Like Tony Blair, he’s realised the magic feeling and feedback that comes with granting civil rights. A cynic who found his heart, a straight guy who went to the wall for us, someone who never gave up on bringing two sides of politics together. And a Catholic who stood up to his Church hierarchy … it’s the sort of thing they make movies and Presidential bids out of.
So here it is, my favourite columnist’s (Maureen Dowd) profile of the guy who steps up to join Gavin Newsom as the United State’s leading political advocate for equality…. Now we just need one other guy with an inspiration story to find his guts again.
Tags: Andrew Cuomo, Gavin Newsom, gay marriage New York, marriage equality New York, maureen dowd, New York Times, same sex marriage New York, Tony Blair
Its not quite coming out of “no-where” as Brasil’s Supreme Court unanimously agreed last May that same sex couple’s deserved access to civil unions, just like their heterosexual counterparts.
In Brasil there have been two paths to having a relationship recognized by the government, one being marriage and the other, civil unions. Gays have just been afforded access to civil unions, but in reality, they accessed marriage rights as well. This is because within the policy legislating civil unions it indicates that a couple can petition for their union to be converted to a marriage. As you would imagine this is happening more and more in Brasil but not all union conversions get press. And now, it seems that some judges are allowing for marriage directly, as it would be an inevitable action. From what I can tell three have taken place this way.
This is a very exciting time for same sex marriage and gay rights in Brasil.