From The Editor: Because everyone loves elementary art, the front window of my neighborhood vet currently features some childrens' renderings of their pets.

As you can see, one local child recently lost their hamster and, like so many people, has a hard time grappling the concept of death. The picture's far too precious for me to hog, so I'm passing it along.

Before you get bummed out by death and all that, please note that the little bugger went happily.

New York Governor David Paterson caused controversy when he declared the Empire State would honor out-of-state gay marriages. While social conservatives scoffed at Paterson's progressive stance, it seems New Yorkers are giving him the thumbs up: 53% support his edict.

That's all well and good, but thinks get a little more complex as your break it all down:

A majority of voters, 55 percent to 30 percent, said the issue should have been decided by the Legislature, not the governor. Democrats supported the governor’s executive order by a margin of 64 percent to 30 percent, and independent voters by a margin of 56 of 37 percent, while Republicans opposed it, 57 – 37 percent.

The poll revealed a complex division of opinion when asked about whether same-sex marriage should be permitted in New York State:
* 42 percent said same-sex couples should be allowed to legally marry;
* 31 percent said these couples should be allowed to form civil unions, but not marry;
* 21 percent said there should be no legal recognition of same-sex unions.

We New York gays are making all sorts of headway!

Not only do we have last week's gay marriage push, but now the State Assembly today voted 102-33 to green light the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act, which adds sexuality and gender identity to the state's human rights act. All this action's almost too much for us to handle!

Some background from Empire State Pride Agenda's gleeful press release:

First introduced in 2003, GENDA has a record 74 co-sponsors this year in the Assembly, up from 69 last year. The Pride Agenda, the over 200 organizational members of the GENDA Coalition and the LGBT community have been working closely with Assemblymember Gottfried and other Assembly supporters to build the momentum for passage that resulted in today’s vote.
…
In the Senate, GENDA (S.3753a) is sponsored by Senator Tom Duane and has 17 cosponsors, up from 14 last year. While none of the cosponsors are members of the Republican Majority, the Pride Agenda’s legislative scorecard shows GENDA to have the support of 27 [out of 62] Senators, including three Republicans.

Read the rest of the orgasmic release, after the jump…

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New York Governor David Paterson's sticking to his good, gay word.

The politico, who took over after Eliot Spitzer's hooker scandal, vowed earlier this year to bring same-sex nuptials to the Empire State. While couples can't yet marry within state lines, Paterson and his team this month declared that New York must accommodate gay marriages performed elsewhere, like California, which will likely start issuing same-sex marriage licenses June 17th.

In a directive issued on May 14, the governor’s legal counsel, David Nocenti, instructed the agencies that gay couples married elsewhere “should be afforded the same recognition as any other legally performed union.”

The revisions are most likely to involve as many as 1,300 statutes and regulations in New York governing everything from joint filing of income tax returns to transferring fishing licenses between spouses.
…
Legal experts said Mr. Paterson’s decision would make New York the only state that did not itself allow gay marriage but fully recognized same-sex unions entered into elsewhere.

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Khadijah Farmer definitely has something to celebrate!

The New York resident won a settlement in her discrimination case against a West Village restaurant, Caliente Cab Company.

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On Sunday night, a new gay men’s strip club opened at 440 Broadway.

It's called Magnum 54 and it was to be only the second serious entry of men-for-men strip joints in recent memory.

The gays who frequent this sort of thing were very excited about the new venue, particularly because it described itself as upscale, guaranteed muscled men, and was to offer “No G-STRING LAP DANCES.”

And, unfortunately, the "grand opening" turned into an utter disaster.
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Those of you outside of New York probably aren't following this story, but State Island Representative Vito Fossella grabbed headlines last week when he was arrested for drunk driving.

Well, as can expected, the Republican politico's private life has been getting probed like you wouldn't believe. One of the juicier details: the married father of two had an illicit affair - and bastard child - with another woman.

It's good old-fashioned fun, of course, and Pride Agenda just made it even more of a knee-slapper by reminding us of Fossella's predictable political history: "…We thought it would be useful to remind people that the Staten Island Representative had voted not once or twice–but three times to, as many of his colleagues argued, 'preserve the sanctity of marriage.'"

Absolutely shocking.

Like a mutating beast, New York's ever-evolving. And the art scene's no different.

With the opening of the new New Museum on the Bowery, our Lower East Side's again becoming an epicenter for urban artistic activity. Gallerists Dennis Christie and Ken Tyburski couldn't resist the pull and recently unveiled their DCKT Contemporary's new location just down the famed road from the Museum.

In celebration of the event, 35-year old Christie recently sat down with Queerty contributor Justin Conner to discuss his artistic roots, how to late Andy Warhol pulled him to the city and why he ignores the market's boom, even if it could go bust.

Check it out, after the jump.

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Supporters of New York's Empire State Agenda bussed it up to Albany today to lobby their legislators to support gay rights measures.

[We are] traveling to Albany to help win marriage equality, transgender non-discrimination protections, safe schools for LGBT youth, and more funding for our community’s health and human services needs.

Last year we brought more than 1100 people from all across New York to make sure that our elected officials in Albany saw first hand the power and determination of our community and our allies. This year will be even bigger!

We couldn't be there, unfortunately, but we're more than happy to pass along the gay non-profit's video, Lobbying Your Legislator. More informative instructions can be found here. There's nothing sexier than activism. Okay, that may not be true, but activism definitely gets points in our books.