Gay activist Allen Roskoff, with whom we spoke earlier this year, has some harsh words for New York Senators Hillary Clinton and Chuck Schumer:

It is way past time that our community start holding accountable the U.S. Senators from New York: Hillary Clinton and Charles Schumer. As New York State is on the verge of reaching marriage equality, it is a disgrace that both our U.S. senators still oppose our right to marry. While some people may like to bask in the sunlight of the razzle-dazzle Clinton and the powerful but boring Schumer, they do so at the expense of full recognition of our relationships.

Unless the senators change their positions and support marriage equality by Valentine’s Day, Feb. 14, 2009, I am calling on the LGBT community, including all the political clubs in New York, to declare the senators unwelcome to our support.

Well, that's ample time, but we're not so sure the Senators are going to take Roskoff up on his offer. Nor are we convinced the Empire State's homos will fall in line…

Yesterday we introduced you to gay Senatorial candidate Jim Neal, pictured above with one of his two sons.

The conversation continues today with our editor getting into the nitty-gritty of Neal's current campaign.

Andrew Belonsky: What made you stop volunteering for or fundraising for campaigns, as you did for Kerry, and actually launch your own?

Jim Neal: Well, I've always wanted to do it. I was a little kid and wanted to be president. I don't want to be president right now, but I have always contemplated running for federal office. I think there were two things that prevented me from moving on it. One was that when I did come out in my early-30's, I thought, "Okay, that's it. A gay person can't run for public office. It's off the table". The times changed and that was no longer necessarily the prevailing wisdom, but I had custody of my two children. I was a single parent raising two young children and they came first. Their needs came first. That was the most difficult job I've ever had in my life, but it was also extraordinarily rewarding. Raising two kids with two parents is a challenge, much less one, because you have to be both dad and mom. You've got to have the maternal side and the more stereotypical father role. I think I yielded more to the maternal because I felt like my kids needed that, because they didn't have it. Even before I declared my candidacy, I spoke with both my children - my boys, they're not children anymore - and told them what it would entail, made it clear that I was the one running for office, they could be as involved or not be as involved as they wanted to be. They both said, "Go for it," but my older son threw in the caveat, "Dad, please don't ever forget the little guy."

AB: Your sexuality is not the cornerstone of your campaign, but I want to talk a little about Chuck Schumer and how things went down with your campaign announcement and what could be perceived as the cold shoulder from your Democratic peers. Do you think that reaction tacitly stressed your sexuality?

JN: Not necessarily. There was a good deal of concern - not necessarily expressed, but certainly there were folks who were part of the status quo political system that found my candidacy threatening. They felt that a gay person on the ballot would draw out social conservatives to vote against me and therefore to vote for the other candidate on the ballot. My view of that - I didn't foresee that. It didn't even cross my mind. Chalk it up to political naivete, but it didn't cross my mind because I think it's silly. It's analogous to the so-called conventional wisdom that said a black person could never be elected or a woman, much less a Roman Catholic to the White House. They were wrong then and they are wrong now.

Jim Neal hopes to beat Republican Elizabeth Dole in North Carolina's Senatorial election.

One would think the Democratic party would support such an endeavor, but Senatorial Committee leader Chuck Schumer and his peers turned a blind eye to Neal's candidacy. They even started recruiting other potential politicos, but no one took the bait. Now Neal and his colleagues in the part have reached a bit of a truce.

Neal met with DSCC officials to discuss his campaign.

“We have reached an understanding with them … they’re going to leave us alone in the primary, that they’re going to share the same information with us that they share with any other candidate and that … nobody associated with DSCC will ever make the statement that a gay person can’t win in North Carolina,” he said. “And they have assured us that if they change their mind, they’ll let us know.”

DSCC spokesperson Matt Miller said his organization was never hostile to Neal’s candidacy and that DSCC does not endorse candidates until the Democratic nominee has been selected.

The Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund, which backs gay politicians, has yet to endorse Neal's campaign.

President George W. Bush isn't all bad. The big bad leader of the free world recently signed legislation aimed at fighting meth use in New York City. Via 365 Gay:

Gay Men’s Health Crisis, the world’s oldest HIV/AIDS organization, has been awarded $303,000 in federal funds to fight the growing role of crystal methamphetamine use in the HIV/AIDS epidemic on a national level.

The appropriation, signed by President Bush, was sponsored by Senators Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Hillary Clinton (D-NY).
…
“HIV diagnoses among men who have sex with men in the United States are up 13% since 2001. In New York City, infections among young MSM are up by one third. Crystal meth is one factor fueling this rise in HIV infections among gay men,” said Janet Weinberg, Senior Managing Director of Development and Legislative Funding.

GMHC executive director Dr. Marjorie J. Hill also says that more and more people are injecting crystal.

That's even grosser - and even more dangerous - than snorting the nasty powder.