It's about Money....

I just saw this post about LGBT supporters of Michael Bloomberg and it got me thinking. I'm gay, Bloomberg has been generally good on gay issues I suppose. Why am I not supporting him? The reason I'm not supporting him is class. It goes beyond sexual orientation, race, religion, any of the dividing lines we like to rail about. My solidarity is going to be with the poor woman (for argument sake lets say she happens to be straight) fighting to keep her apartment while a rich (let's say he's gay) developer is trying to evict her. This is a hypothetical of course, but it illustrates one of the places identity politics breaks down.

Bloomberg might be cool with gays and lesbians but he's shown shocking indifference to the struggles lower income people of every orientation face every day. This is an uncomfortable truth the wine and cheese liberals in Manhattan don't always want to deal with. I've seen my neighborhood transformed from a vital incubator of creativity to a warehouse for students with rich parents and investment bankers.

Bloomberg has appointed the most anti-tenant Rent Guidelines Board since the creation of that board, approving an 8.5% rent hike (the largest in 20 years) in 2008.

People are holding on for dear life in this city and we have a Mayor who symbolizes the worst instincts of predatory capitalism, greenlighting a deal several years ago for Tischman-Speyer to force thousands of people out of their homes in Stuyvessant Town.

Bloombergs cynical politics extend to his campaigning for Joe Lieberman (who right now is trying to block health reform that would save thousands of lives a year). It goes on and on. He wouldn't even endorse Obama last year.

Bloomberg recently campaigned with Rudy Giuliani and stood by while Giuliani fanned racial and class resentments. That was just too much. He has allied himself with the most reactionary forces in our community.

I haven't even mentioned the obscene spending, the buying off of non profits, the continuation of Giuliani's punitive food stamp and welfare policies.

These are not issues on the radar of the wealthy gay elite, but they matter to people struggling to make ends meet. There's something so sad about all this. Even in the midst of an economic catastrophe, so many of us continue to worship at the altar of wealth and power.

We live in a society where a huge percentage of our citizens face daily humiliations because of their economic status. I see little evidence Michael Bloomberg has any understanding of this or any desire to fight for the dignity of people who can't afford to buy a luxury condo on a lower east side block that used to be an actual neighborhood.

Oh but he supports LGBT rights? So does Thompson. I'll be voting for Bill Thompson on Tuesday.