Giuliani Breaking Wedding Promise to Gay Pals?
When Rudy Giuliani was embroiled in divorce proceedings ten years ago, he was taken in by a gay couple who provided the then-mayor of New York City respite and a home. In exchange for their kindness, Giuliani reportedly made a promise: If marriage equality ever came to New York State, he told the couple, he would officiate at their wedding.
In 2001, the first legal same-sex weddings in America were still years away, and the idea of New York's gay and lesbian families being able to marry may have seemed like a far-off, even improbable, notion. But in 2004, Massachusetts led the was as the first state in the union to extend marriage parity to all -- and last week, a decade after Giuliani made his promise to Howard Koeppel and Mark Hsiao, New York finally caught up, becoming the eighth state to extend marriage parity to same-sex couples.
(California was number 6, but families there saw that right rescinded after six months when anti-gay initiative Proposition 8 was narrowly approved at the ballot box; Maine was seventh, but a similar voter referendum in 2009 repealed that state's marriage equality law before it could take effect.)
Now that the time has come, thought, Giuliani is reportedly showing reluctance to make good, the New York Post reported in June 29.
"I asked if he would marry us," Koeppel, who has been with Hsiao for 20 years, told the tabloid. "He said, 'Howard, I don't ever do anything that's not legal. If it becomes legal in New York, you'll be one of the first ones I would marry.' "
Strictly speaking, that might be true, but Giuliani's promise won't count for much if he never presides over a same-sex marriage at all. Koeppel began phoning his old friend the former mayor as lawmakers in Albany were subjecting the state -- and the country -- to a nail-biting week of terse expectation. Giuliani has not returned those calls, however.
Neither did Giuliani's spokesperson return calls placed by the Post, the article said.
"It seems like a lot of people he was close to become persona non grata," Koeppel told the Post.
"Koeppel and Hsiao got married in Connecticut in 2009, a ceremony Koeppel would like to repeat here with Giuliani officiating," the Post recounted. "Mayors of New York City retain the right to conduct weddings even after leaving office."
The gay millionaire whose car dealership in the New York City borough of Queens is one of the largest in New York City lives in Midtown with Hsiao. Koeppel is nearly two decades older than Hsiao. He has been a supporter of gay causes, particularly the Empire State Pride Agenda, the state's main lobbying arm. Koeppel is also a prominent local Republican, who donates to candidates.
He was a big backer of Giuliani's two terms as mayor and was a driving force in his unsuccessful bid for the GOP presidential nomination back in 2008. (Giuliani had previously tempted the state party by indicating that he would run against Hilary Clinton in her bid for U.S. senator, but then dropped out, citing prostate cancer.)
Giuliani responded with an RSVP to an invitation to attend the Connecticut ceremony, but then was a no-show, ABC News reported on June 29.
Koeppel seemed at a loss to understand the broken promise. "He doesn't usually say things just to make you feel good," Koeppel said of his old pal. "He's straight as an arrow."
The article noted that Giuliani has long said he did not support marriage equality, though he did believe same-sex couples ought to have access to the protections afforded by civil unions. But Koeppel didn't think that moral qualms were the root of the issue, saying, "He wouldn't be married three times if he was holier than thou."
Giuliani is also famous for having public appearances in drag, at New York Inner Circle press dinners and while appearing on Saturday Night Live. On one occasion, Giuliani turned a drag appearance into a politically themed jest, saying he was "a Republican pretending to be a Democrat pretending to be a Republican."
A political consultant offered his interpretation, the Post reported.
"[Presiding at the wedding] would be a sign he's no longer interested in running [as a Republican] for president -- ever," said Scott Levenson.
The idea that the 67-year-old Giuliani might run for president is not outside the realm of the probable. Indeed, ABC News noted that he might enter the race for next year's election, and is scheduled to be in New Hampshire later this month.
Officiating at a same-sex wedding would likely overshadow his accomplishments as New York's mayor, ABC News noted, and destroy "whatever chance he might have of winning the Republican nomination."