The Bravest Individual.

Go to any gay bar in the US right now and ask my gay and lesbian brethren “who is Mike Jones?” and I bet most could correctly answer that he is the gay former massage therapist/male escort/connection to the drug community who won the election for those of us favoring blue over red. (heavy sigh) Now, ask that same group “Who is Christine Quinn” and watch the puzzled looks you get.

Christine Quinn is the second most-powerful politician in New York City. Mayor Bloomberg, of course, being the most powerful. Christine Quinn is the first female speaker of New York City’s City Council. She is also the first gay person to hold this position of power. She’s an articulate red head who sounds like my Brooklyn cousins. And she’s a hero of mine.

Quinn is also the first speaker of the city council not to march in New York’s St. Patrick’s Day parade in decades. And why? Because the parade’s organizers will not let anything or anyone "outwardly gay" be a part of the parade. A court decided that this was OK several years ago. Quinn fought it again last year. And lost. It's that Freedom of Speech thing, no doubt. Quinn does not think this is OK and she has accepted the invitation from the city of Dublin (the one in Ireland, not Ohio) and will wear on her green jacket a NYC pin and a rainbow pin. Guess which one of those pins would be forbidden to wear in the NYC parade?

I caught an episode of PBS’s “In the Life” that featured Quinn on iTunes (you can download the video-podcast for free) and watching her in action was a breath of fresh air. Almost enough to make me think running for local office would be a good idea. At one point during the podcast Quinn stops a hearing during a city council meeting to inform her colleagues that when one is talking others should respect that position and not make noises or other disrespectful audibles.

While I do think his Warhol-anointed 15 minutes are pretty much over, I don’t blame Mike Jones for his celebrity. Why is it that he is famous worldwide and Quinn is an unknown outside of NYC and Dublin? I guess for the same reason that American Idol contestants sell so many records? For the same reason we eat Doritos? Because it’s ready-packaged and easy. Our world is mostly not ready packaged and easy, which is why I’m glad Quinn is holding down the fort in my hometown.