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Gay Tycoons' Meet-And-Greet With Ted Cruz Backfires For All Involved
By
Nathan Tempey
Published Apr 26, 2015
Modified Apr 27, 2015
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By
Nathan Tempey
Published Apr 26, 2015
Modified Apr 27, 2015
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The gay hoteliers who hosted a dinner for Republican presidential hopeful and anti-gay-marriage advocate Sen. Ted Cruz are facing a boycott campaign.
The Monday dinner, hosted by Fire Island Pines Establishments and Out NYC Hotel owners Ian Reisner and Mati Weiderpass, and reported on by the New York Times, prompted the formation of a group vowing to hit the pair in their wallets by organizing a boycott of their gay-friendly guesthouses. The meeting in the Central Park South penthouse was not a fundraiser (the organizers described it as a "fireside chat") but it was enough to seriously piss off gay-rights activists. A Facebook page promoting the boycott campaign had over 8,000 likes by Sunday afternoon.
On Friday, Ian Reisner issued a statement in response to the outcry on Facebook:
I was given the opportunity to have a candid conversation with Senator Ted Cruz on why he should rethink his view on gay marriage. We also spoke about where he stood on issues including the state of Israel and national security, which are the only places where we share common ground.
Cruz has said that marriage being a heterosexual-only thing is "ordained by God," but at the dinner he said simply that it should be left to states to figure out. When pressed by those present, he said that he would love his daughter the same if he learned she was gay.
The swanky apartment where the dinner took place was the site of a 23-year-old Brooklynite's fatal overdose during a party last year, and the meeting raised eyebrows in conservative circles, too.
Cruz campaign spokesman Rick Tyler told the Washington Examiner, which dwells at length on the circumstances of the overdose, that the meeting location was not a wise choice, in retrospect. "I would say, knowing what we know now about the setting, I think we would have chosen a different venue," he told the conservative news website.
Cruz, in a followup statement to the site, sought to downplay the controversy by questioning the Times's editorial judgement and implying that the media is being divisive, not the politicians seeking to deny people equal access to a major, privilege-conferring institution:
A conservative Republican who is willing to meet with individuals who do not agree on marriage and who loves his daughters unconditionally may not reflect the caricature of conservatives promoted by the left, but it's hardly newsworthy.
Of course, there is a long tradition of politicians trying to dictate what journalists should and shouldn't write about, and it tends not to work out the way they would like.
Tagged
2016 presidential campaign
gay rights
Ian Reisner
Mati Weiderpass
ted cruz
Nathan Tempey
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