Gay Marriage Traitor Monserrate Eyes Return to Albany
Ex-state senator, councilmember hopes to overcome troubled past with Assembly run
BY MATT TRACY
Hiram Monserrate, a former
state senator who
betrayed the LGBTQ
community with his
vote against same-sex marriage
rights in 2009, is vying to return to
the State Legislature a decade after
he was expelled from the body and
subsequently sentenced to prison.
The New York Daily News fi rst
reported in November of last year
that Monserrate had fi led to run for
State Assembly, likely against Jeffrion
L. Aubry in Queens’ 35th Assembly
District, which encompasses
Elmhurst, East Elmhurst, and
parts of North Corona. Prior to his
election to the Senate, Monserrate
served on the City Council from
2002 through 2008. Phone calls
to a number associated with Monserrate
were not answered and he
could not be reached for comment
for this story.
Monserrate, 52, fi rst watched
his political career go up in fl ames
in 2009 when he was found guilty
of misdemeanor assault a year after
he slashed his girlfriend in the
face with glass and dragged her
through a lobby. He was kicked out
of the State Senate the next year,
but that wouldn’t be the end of his
troubles: He would later get slapped
with a two-year prison sentence in
2012 for misusing city cash during
his time as a councilmember.
Since he was kicked out of the
State Legislature, Monserrate has
repeatedly sought to regain his political
footing. He immediately —
and unsuccessfully — ran in the
➤BLOOMBERG, from p.18
rights law, and did not directly respond
to the video.
“Mike understands that the
transgender community has been
under attack for decades and the
advance of rights has not been
equal Mike is running to defeat
Donald Trump and reverse
the many policies he has implemented
that attack the rights of
the transgender community,” the
Hiram Monserrate has been obsessed with running for offi ce since he was kicked out of the State Senate
and sent to prison.
special election for the seat he was
thrown out of in 2010 before running
a failed campaign for State
Assembly that same year. After he
was freed from prison, he couldn’t
resist running for something yet
again — this time for Democratic
district leader, and lost yet again.
Like clockwork, he ran another
failed bid — for City Council in
2017 — but went on to become
elected district leader in 2018, a
position he currently holds.
Monserrate has managed to beef
up his war chest in recent months.
Campaign fi nance data fi led
with the state shows he raked in
campaign said in a written statement.
The comments were unearthed
days after he unveiled, in a highly
planned press call, an LGBTQ
platform that mostly mirrored the
plans released by his rivals chasing
the Democratic nomination.
Bloomberg’s campaign received
stinging criticism from the audience
at a Stonewall Democratic
Club of New York City endorsement
meeting on January 22
WIKIMEDIA COMMONS/ MATT RYAN
$68,772 in the two-month period
between November of last year and
January of this year. Billionaire
real estate investor Alexander Rovt
and Tatiana Rybak of MAK Realty
in Florida both chipped in $5,000,
the Flushing-based Zhiging Social
Daycare Corp. contributed $2,000,
and Ditmars Boulevard Block Association
President Frank Taylor
donated $1,500.
When he fi rst launched his political
career, Monserrate voiced support
for LGBTQ rights causes, only
to later backtrack on his pledge
to vote for marriage equality. In
his years on the City Council, he
when club members grilled his
surrogate about the former mayor’s
record on issues such as policing
and same-sex marriage,
where his record began with his
appeal of a favorable 2005 court
ruling from a Manhattan Supreme
Court judge.
Like Bloomberg’s comments at
Oxford, some of those questions
touched on issues related to class
— such as when he smothered
the Occupy Wall Street protests
POLITICS
turned up at LGBTQ-related events
and was, for example, among three
members of the Council to introduce
a resolution asking Congress
and then-President George Bush
to repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. But
that gay-friendly front evaporated
instantly when he voted against
same-sex marriage in December of
2009, prompting the LGBTQ community
to mobilize against him and
encourage a primary challenger.
The need to challenge him became
moot when he was expelled early
in 2010, though activists worked
hard to ensure that he did not win
the subsequent special election.
It is not clear where Monserrate
stands on marriage these days —
or any other LGBTQ issue — but
it should be noted that he was not
alone in his reluctance to support
marriage equality during the four
years the Legislature formally considered
the issue prior to its fi nal
passage in 2011. There are several
Democratic elected offi cials currently
holding offi ce who opposed
marriage rights during their time
in the State Legislature, including
Assemblymembers Marcos Crespo
of the Bronx and Steven Cymbrowitz
of Brooklyn. Bronx Borough
President Ruben Diaz, Jr., and his
father, City Councilmember Ruben
Diaz, Sr., were in the Assembly and
Senate, respectively, when they
voted “no.” Bronx Councilmember
Vanessa Gibson was listed as “absent”
for the fi nal marriage vote
in 2011, after having voted “no”
in 2009. Assembly Speaker Carl
Heastie voted “yes” in 2011, but in
earlier years had voted “no.”
by driving protestors out of Zuccotti
Park in 2011. And newly unearthed
tapes of 2015 comments
he made defending his stop and
frisk record are also causing a
stir.
Bloomberg, who entered the
race very late, has gained impressively
in recent polls, but still has
signifi cant ground to make up
because he is skipping out on the
fi rst four states in the race for the
Democratic nomination.
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