Christine C. Quinn

Infobox Politician
name = Christine Callaghan Quinn

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office = Speaker of the New York City Council
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predecessor = Gifford Miller
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birth_date = Birth date and age|1966|7|25|df=y
birth_place = Glen Cove, New York
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party = Democrat
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residence = New York City, United States
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Christine Callaghan Quinn (b. 25 July 1966 in Glen Cove, New York) is a Democratic politician and the current Speaker of the New York City Council, which is considered the second most powerful position in city government after the Mayor. Quinn is the first woman and first openly gay person to be elected to this position. [Chibbaro, Jr., Lou. [http://www.washblade.com/2006/1-20/news/national/quinn.cfm "Most powerful" gay politician in the country] , Washington Blade. Retrieved on 04-11-2007.] She has been rated one of the fifty most powerful women in New York City by the "New York Post" and one of the "Forty Under Forty" by "Gotham Magazine".

Life and career

Quinn attended Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut. She served as head of the Housing Justice Campaign for the Association of Neighborhood and Housing Development. Quinn entered politics to manage the City Council campaign of Thomas Duane in 1991, after which she was Duane's Chief of Staff for five years. She later became the Executive Director of the New York City Anti-Violence Project, and was appointed by then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani as a member of the NYC Police/Community Relations Task Force.

Quinn ran successfully for the City Council in 1999. As of 2007, she still represents the Council's third district, representing Chelsea, Greenwich Village, and Hell's Kitchen, as well as parts of SoHo and Murray Hill. In January 2006, at the age of 39, after serving on the City Council's City Council for almost 7 years, Christine Quinn was elected City Council Speaker.

Before becoming Speaker, Quinn served as chair of the Health Committee, during which she sponsored the Equal Benefits Bill and the Health Care Security Act, which requires that City contractors provide parity in benefits between married spouses and registered domestic partners. This and the Health Care Security Act (which ensures health care for grocery workers) were passed over Mayor Michael Bloomberg's veto. However, the courts threw out the Equal Benefits Bill for conflicting with existing competitive state bidding laws. [ [http://www.hrc.org/Template.cfm?Section=Home&CONTENTID=31034&TEMPLATE=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm N.Y. High Court Rules D.P. Benefit Law Invalid] , Associated Press. Retrieved on 2007-07-29.] Quinn led the Council's opposition to Bloomberg's unsuccessful West Side Stadium plan.

Preceding the controversial lecture by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at Columbia University, Quinn wrote to the university requesting that his invitation to speak be withdrawn. [cite news|first=Claudia|last=Parsons|title=NY university urged to cancel Ahmadinejad speech|url=http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSN2040571120070920|work=Reuters|date=2007-09-20|accessdate=2007-09-24]

Quinn is widely rumored to be planning a campaign for Mayor of New York City, possibly in 2009. [ [http://www.observer.com/2007/fund-raiser-next-mayor-christine-quinn Fund-Raiser for "Next Mayor" Christine Quinn | The New York Observer ] ] [ [http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/10/10/quinn-strikes-a-mayoral-note-on-budgets/ Quinn Strikes a Mayoral Note - City Room - Metro - New York Times Blog ] ] [ [http://www.ny1.com/ny1/content/index.jsp?stid=3&aid=74695 NY1: Politics ] ] In 2006 and 2007 she angered some New York City progressive activists by appearing to back away from her previous issue positions toward the political center, as in the case of her opposition to expanding housing subsidies for people living with HIV [http://www.hwupdate.org/update/2007/09/hasa_for_all_takes_city_hall.html] , and in the case of her support for proposed New York City Police Department regulations that would tighten permit requirements for parades and demonstrations.

NY St. Patrick's Day Parade boycott

Quinn announced in 2007 that she intended to march in the LGBT section of Dublin, Ireland's St. Patrick's Day Parade. She was invited to Dublin due to the Ancient Order of Hibernians's policy against gays and lesbians marching openly (i.e. displaying overt symbols of their sexual identity) in the New York parade. She tried to broker a deal with the organisers in 2006 to allow her to wear a gay pride pin, but failed and has since boycotted the event. [http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30200-1254297,00.html NY Snubbed In Gay Row] , Sky News, retrieved on 2007-03-05] [http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/05/nyregion/05quinn.html] , New York Times, retrieved on 2007-03-05]

Quinn was named the third-most powerful woman in New York, behind Hillary Rodham Clinton and Diane Sawyer [http://www.nypost.com/seven/05132007/news/regionalnews/new_yorks_50_most_powerful_women_regionalnews_mandy_stadtmiller.htm?page=0] , New York Post, retrieved on 2007-05-14] She resides in Chelsea, Manhattan with her partner, Kim Catullo. [ [http://www.nyccouncil.info/rightnow/biography.cfm Christine C. Quinn Biography] ]

References

* [http://www.council.nyc.gov/d3/html/members/home.shtml Christine C. Quinn official City Council site]
* Hu, Winnie. " [http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/03/nyregion/metrocampaigns/03speaker.html Council Ready to Fill the Job of Speaker] ". "New York Times", January 3, 2006.
* Hu, Winnie. " [http://nytimes.com/2006/01/04/nyregion/04quinn.html Next Council Speaker in New York is a Doer and a Trailblazer] ". "New York Times", January 4, 2006.
* Krugler, Sara. " [http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny--council-quinn0104jan04,0,2262958.story?coll=ny-region-apnewyork Quinn elected as NY City Council Speaker] ". Associated Press, January 4, 2006.
* Lombardi, Frank. " [http://web.archive.org/web/20060516154728/http://www.nydailynews.com/news/local/story/392386p-332786c.html Quinn drops the ax on 61 Council staff] ". "Daily News", February 18, 2006.

External links

* [http://council.nyc.gov/d3/html/members/home.shtml Official NYC Council Website about Speaker Christine Quinn]
* [http://www.observer.com/term/24466 "The New York Observer"'s Christine Quinn Archives]
* [http://web.archive.org/web/20060211214936/http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/story/379370p-322189c.html Council speaker battle: Christine Quinn]
* [http://www.gothamgazette.com/searchlight/dist3.shtml Searchlight 2002 - District 3]
* [http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0602,robbins,71638,5.html The Outsider Comes In]
* [http://www.nysun.com/article/25234 Christine Quinn Accedes]
* [http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F2071EFF355B0C758CDDA10894DE404482&n=Top%2fReference%2fTimes%20Topics%2fPeople%2fQ%2fQuinn%2c%20Christine%20C%2e Speaker Eyes Term Limits, But Gingerly]