LESBIAN TO RUN FOR NEW YORK MAYOR

Christine Quinn, the openly gay Speaker of the New York City Council, has officially announced her historic bid for the position of Mayor of New York City.

Quinn (46) made the announcement via a video posted online.

“I want to make sure that New York remains what it was when my grandparents came here a hundred years ago: a place where, with good, honest work, you could lift your family into the middle class,” said Quinn in a statement.

“With the right leadership, I know that New York can continue to be a beacon for the rest of the world: a home for the middle class, and for all of those people working hard every day to get there,” she said.

The Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the largest LGBT rights group in the US, has endorsed Quinn’s bid.

It noted “her unrivalled record and experience leading the city” and highlighted “her leadership in negotiating on-time and balanced budgets, reducing wasteful government spending, and preventing teacher layoffs and firehouse closings”.

The organisation added that throughout her career Quinn has also fought to end bias-motivated violence against LGBT New Yorkers and has worked to secure and protect funding for HIV/AIDS services in the city.

Quinn married her long-time partner Kim Catullo in May 19, 2012. If she were to win the mayoral contest she would become the first gay person and the first woman to head up New York City.

It’s widely acknowledged that Quinn has a very good chance to secure the position. In 2007, the New York Post named her the third-most powerful woman in New York, after Hillary Rodham Clinton and Diane Sawyer.

Watch Quinn’s announcement video below.