➤ RBG RIP, from p.3
Ruth Bader Ginsburg made history
as both an advocate and a
Justice, striking down barriers not
only for women but also for LGBTQ
people and for others who for too
long have been denied equal justice
under the law.
“Throughout her entire legal
career, including her 27 years on
the Supreme Court, Justice Ginsburg
fought for the rights of those
on the margins. From her time as
a lawyer with the ACLU Women’s
Rights Project to her years on the
Supreme Court, Justice Ginsburg
spoke with a clear and strong voice
against inequality and gender discrimination.
A long-standing ally
of the LGBTQ community, her
unwavering support, both on and
off the bench, was a testament to
her commitment to equality for all
people.
“We at Lambda Legal are devastated
tonight. We have lost a friend,
a hero, a champion with the passing
of Justice Ginsburg. This physically
tiny woman has left an enormous
legacy in the fi ght for justice
and a huge hole in our hearts. We
pledge to carry on our piece of the
fi ght she so valiantly led in her
eight decades on this planet in her
memory until equal justice under
the law is a reality for everyone in
this nation.”
WIth Trump and the Republican
Senate poised to attempt to
put a new justice on the court with
just weeks until the election that
will decide whether the president
will get a second term — Majority
Leader Mitch McConnell wasted
no time saying, “President Trump’s
nominee will receive a vote on the
fl oor of the United States Senate”
— a political donnybrook is already
unfolding.
In 2016, when Justice Antonin
Scalia died suddenly early in the
year, McConnell asserted that in
the fi nal year of a presidential term
the decision on who will sit on the
court should be left to the voters
in November — refusing even to
hold hearings on President Barack
Obama’s nomination of Judge Merrick
Garland, who like Ginsburg
sat on the DC Court of Appeals.
Now McConnell claims the situation
is different since both the
White House and the Senate are in
the hands of the same party, unlike
in 2016 when power was divided.
Whether the Democrats can
make the case to Americans that
such sophistry is a hypocritical
and naked power grab remains to
be seen.
It’s little surprise that Ginsburg
was such an early and staunch
ally to the LGBTQ community
on the high court. As a professor
at Rutgers University Law School
from 1963 to 1972, she co-founded
Women’s Rights Law Reporter, the
fi rst law journal in the US to focus
exclusively on women’s rights.
As general counsel at the ACLU’s
Women’s Rights Project, Ginsburg
argued six gender discrimination
cases before the Supreme Court,
winning fi ve. In 1971, the court’s
Reed v. Reed decision extended the
equal protection guarantees of the
14th Amendment to women.
In a statement from the ACLU,
its executive director, Anthony D.
Romero, emphasized Ginsburg’s
achievements on women’s rights,
writing, “During the 1970s, Ginsburg
led the ACLU in a host of important
legal battles, many before
the Supreme Court, that established
the foundation for the current
legal prohibitions against sex
discrimination in this country and
helped lay the groundwork for future
women’s rights advocacy. By
1974, the Women’s Rights Project
and ACLU affi liates had participated
in over 300 sex discrimination
cases; between 1969 and 1980, the
ACLU participated in 66 percent of
gender discrimination cases decided
by the Supreme Court.”
Governor Andrew Cuomo also
paid tribute to a daughter of New
York, writing, “New York’s heart
breaks with the passing of Justice
Ruth Bader Ginsberg. She was a
daughter of Brooklyn and the embodiment
of all that it means to
be New York tough — yet her life
was a testament that tough does
not preclude acting with respect,
grace, and dignity. I know I speak
for the entire family of New York
when I say we are absolutely devastated
by this loss.
“As an advocate, litigator, professor,
and judge, Justice Ginsburg
was an unparalleled voice for our
better angels and a singular force
for equality and justice throughout
her extraordinary career. In an era
when women like her were asked
why they were ‘taking the place
of a man,’ she fought tirelessly to
ensure our country lived up to its
founding ideals, especially for all
those marginalized by the status
quo — from women and communities
of color, to the disabled and the
LGBTQ community.”
Scalia, who was a fi erce ideological
warrior with Ginsburg, but to
the puzzlement of many, a close
personal friend — they and their
spouses often spent New Year’s Eve
together — said of her, “She became
the leading (and very successful)
litigator on behalf of women’s
rights—the Thurgood Marshall of
that cause, so to speak.” Marshall,
who served on the Supreme Court
from 1967 until 1991, had earlier
been chief counsel at the NAACP
Legal Defense and Educational
Fund, a post in which he won the
landmark 1954 Brown v. Board
of Education case that found that
separate schools were “inherently
unequal.”
➤ TIFFANY CABÁN, from p.7
reforms on cash bail and parole,
among other issues.
Cabán’s insurgent campaign for
DA ultimately drew national attention
and infl uential endorsements
from prominent members of Congress
such as Representative Alexandria
Ocasio-Cortez of the Bronx
and Queens, Vermont Senator Bernie
Sanders, and Massachusetts
Senator Elizabeth Warren.
Some of the same Queens lawmakers
who backed her last year
were again standing by her side
as she kicked off her bid for City
Council. She was joined by State
Senators Jessica Ramos and Mike
Gianaris, out gay Councilmember
Jimmy Van Bramer, out gay
District Leader Zachariah Boyer,
District Leader Shawna Morlock,
and Assembly candidate Jessica
González-Rojas, who won her
Democratic primary race earlier
this summer.
“If the COVID-19 pandemic has
made anything clear, it’s that now,
more than ever, we need progressive
leaders in City Council that
aren’t afraid to stand up to the
status quo,” Van Bramer said in
a written statement. “From the
time I met Tiffany, I was inspired
by her dedication to fi ght for our
most vulnerable populations and
impressed by her innovative ways
of fi nding solutions to complex issues.
She is a true emblem of what
it means to put people over politics.
Today, I am proud to offer my support
as she takes this fi ght to the
City Council!”
Ramos also offered words of
support Cabán, and praised her
willingness to bring new ideas to
the table.
“Growing up in Astoria wasn’t
easy, and it’s become harder for
working families over time and
throughout this pandemic,” Ramos
said in a written statement.
“I trust Tiffany to make the right
decisions and to bring our communities
together in the pursuit of
transformational justice.”
Although she lost her bid for DA
by just 60 votes, election maps of
the 2019 Democratic primary for
Queens district attorney showed
that Cabán easily carried her own
City Council district and dominated
western Queens overall, which
gives her an early advantage in a
crowded City Council race that
also includes another out LGBTQ
candidate: former Stonewall Democratic
Club of New York City president
Rod Townsend.
According to the New York City
Campaign Finance Board, Jaime-
Faye Bean, Leonardo Bullaro,
Jesse A. Cerrotti, Edwin DeJesus,
Evie Hantzopoulos, Felicia Kalan,
and Nicholas Roloson have also
fi led to run in the same district.
On September 9, Townsend,
who told Gay City News earier this
year that he welcomes competition,
turned to Twitter to chime in on
Cabán’s entrance in the race, writing,
“2021 will present a wonderful
array of LGBTQ+ candidates,
some running in the same district.
Remember, we aren’t running
against each other; we’re running
for offi ce to serve the districts and
the city we love.”
Townsend was responding to
a tweet posted by out LGBTQ
Manhattan City Council Candidate
Marti Gould Cummings,
who acknowledged Townsend and
Cabán’s presence in the race when
they stressed that voters who support
both of those candidates can
utilize rank-choice voting, which
has been implemented in New York
City.
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