What a shame. We need more people like Senator McDonald in Albany, and in every facet of civic life. 

Mr. McDonald, you may recall, was one of only four Republicans in the Senate to support same-sex marriage last year. Without those votes, the bill would have failed, and marriage equality in New York would have been postponed.

All four Republicans bucked their party’s leadership and, in some cases, their spiritual leaders to do right by their fellow human beings who happen to be gay. Two of them, to the credit of their constituents, won renomination in last month’s primary. Another chose not to run for re-election.

Mr. McDonald faced an aggressive challenge for re-nomination for only one reason: his support for gay marriage. His opponent, Kathleen Marchione, made opposition to marriage equality the centerpiece of her campaign. She was declared the winner in late September, after two weeks of counting and recounting.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo, whose support for marriage equality changed everything, reached out to Mr. McDonald and offered to support him if he chose to continue his campaign on the Independence Party line. “You stood up for your principles, for equality and for a population long victimized,” the governor told the senator. Mr. Cuomo’s public support for Mr. McDonald was just the sort of principled, nonpartisan politics the governor promised to bring to Albany.

Mr. McDonald has not said whether he will accept the governor’s endorsement and move ahead with a third-party campaign that very likely would be quixotic. At this stage of the game, however, with the election a month away, it would seem that the senator’s days in Albany are over.

What’s worth noting is that he was absolutely prepared to pay a price for his vote. When he announced in advance that he planned to support marriage equality—the announcement came at a critical time on the eve of the vote—he summed up his thought process in a few well-chosen phrases. “You get to the point where ... you try to do the right thing,” he said. “You might not like that. Well ... I don’t care what you think. I’m trying to do the right thing. I’m tired of Republican-Democrat politics. They can take the job and shove it.”

We’ve become accustomed to political leaders who will say anything, do anything, vote any way in order to retain their hold on their office. We’ve come to expect elected officials to tailor their so-called beliefs and principles in accordance with the latest polling data.

It’s worth remembering, however, that in New York in 2012, there is a state senator from Saratoga County who believes that principle is more important than merely hanging on to the power and privilege of office.

There is no chance that the senator’s example will be replicated a thousand times over in Albany. But perhaps one legislator, or two, or a dozen, will find the courage to go and do likewise. That would surely change the culture of Albany, one vote at a time.

Close.

Albert Nobbs, a lumbering saga about the pitfalls of a woman posing as a man to hold down employment as a butler in 19^th-century Dublin, opened for one week in December to qualify for Oscar nominations. It is now expanding to commercial marquees for public scrutiny. Thanks to a quirky performance by Glenn Close featuring enough prosthetics, wrinkles, painfully binding corsets and pinched diction to generate critical acclaim and give Meryl Streep a run for her money, attention must be paid. But not too much. As a period piece, Albert Nobbs is slower than Proust, and nothing of any consequence ever happens to write home about. In her bowler hat and high starched collars, Glenn Close looks like Conan O’Brien playing Oscar Wilde.

Awkwardly directed by Rodrigo Garcia (son of acclaimed novelist Gabriel Garcia Marquez) from a novella by George Moore that was turned into a play Ms. Close performed off-Broadway 30 years ago, it’s a dull little fugue in a minor key centered on the secret life of a woman who was gang raped as a child and so severely traumatized that she vowed to never submit to male violence or domination again. So she assumed a male identity her entire life, parting her hair and binding her breasts to pass as a member of the serving class. Working as a shy, poker-faced butler in a modest but attractive lodging house called Morrison’s (today it would be considered a desirable, overpriced Dublin boutique hotel) at a time of radical unemployment and rampant poverty, when hundreds of young men were walking the streets looking for jobs, Albert is a proper, humorless, starchy and reliable model of discretion, observing everything and saying nothing. He performs his duties with impeccable precision, polishing and serving meticulously, carting heavy luggage up and down the stairs like a stevedore, living his life inconspicuously without a shred of emotion or unfulfilled passion and storing away his wages and tips in a secret compartment under the floor. The result of this subterfuge is a claustrophobic life of suffocating denial, but all goes well until the fateful day when a room shortage forces Albert to share his room with a male housepainter named Hubert Page. Albert is mortified to sleep in the same bed with another man, but even more alarmed to face the risk of discovery. His worst anxieties are realized, but a twist of fate changes his life irreversibly when Hubert turns out to be a woman too. Played with a rough, brittle texture by the forceful, statuesque, granite-faced Janet McTeer, Hubert not only opens a new door for Albert but displays an alternative to a life in hiding when she introduces her wife. Albert Nobbs turns into an awkward file on gender confusion and same-sex marriage a century before it was legal, dealing plausibility a fatal blow from which the film never entirely recovers.

With Hubert as a role model, Albert entertains the idea of opening a tobacco shop and starts courting a pretty hotel maid named Helen (Mia Wasikowska, from The Kids Are All Right), whose only interest in the weird Mr. Nobbs has to do with his money. The movie plods along aimlessly until the third act, when in a desperate attempt to introduce some action, the plot racks up a rapid succession of too many soap opera elements to keep up with—Helen’s infatuation with a handyman who makes her pregnant and leaves for America without her, the death of Hubert’s wife and a typhoid fever epidemic—spelling upheaval for everyone. Despite the contributions of a stellar cast that includes Brendan Gleeson, Brenda Fricker, Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Aaron Johnson, too much unrequited love results in unrequited audience interest.

A middling attempt to peek through a lace curtain for a glimpse of the other Upstairs/Downstairs staff members only leads to too many distracting social functions that fail to relieve the film’s otherwise solemn pacing. This leaves the star to pretty much carry the weight on her own slight shoulders. Straight-backed as a Windsor chair, the quiet, studied but seemingly effortless centerpiece performance by Glenn Close is undeniably fascinating. There are times, from certain angles, when she resembles a slim, clean-cut, preppie schoolboy. Other times, she looks like an aging effete. Obviously, she is obsessed with this project. In addition to playing Albert Nobbs, she produced, cowrote the screenplay and composed the lyrics to a dreary end-title pop song sung by Sinead O’Connor. The point is to show the misery of a underprivileged woman ahead of her time, but so much dedication for such a small payoff makes you wonder why.

rreed@observer.com

ALBERT NOBBS

Running Time 113 minutes

Written by Glenn Close and John Banville

Directed by Rodrigo García

Starring Glenn Close, Mia Wasikowska and Aaron Johnson

2/4

“We got really excited and said, ‘Let’s do free weddings, it’s the least we can do,’” Bex Schwartz, one of the creators of Pop-Up Chapel, told The Observer. She was still bubbling with excitement when we spoke to her a few days before the big day on Saturday July 30.

The group established and executed the whole project from scratch. They coordinated a competition to design the pop-up chapels in which the couples would be married and got permission from Central Park authorities to hold the event there.

The competition was launched only 9 days before the deadline, but even in that short time there were 56 entries for the two winning spots.

“There were a couple of chapel designs that we really liked but they seemed too dangerous for weather contingency,” Schwartz laughed. “The winners really rose to the top on the first look round; we really liked the theory behind them.”

The Observer arrived at Central Park’s Merchants Gate on Saturday just as the ICRAVE chapel’s colored ribbons were let down and the roof of the Kiss chapel by Guy Zucker at Z-A was hoisted up – albeit with some debate as to which way round it went.

Mr. Zucker described the idea behind his arch-shaped chapel. “Both sides are made from cardboard panels so they have the same DNA, but it’s layered differently to create two individuals. They come together in a kiss at top that gives the chapel structural stability, just like two people in a marriage.”

An image of wild poppies growing amongst long grass constituted the chapel floor.

The ribbons of the ICRAVE chapel – which weren’t actually ribbons but strips of plastic – rustled like leaves in the wind and glittered like the stained-glass windows of the nearby Church of St. Paul the Apostle.

 “We wanted to create a traditional cathedral on the outside to represent the normality of gay marriage,” designer Robert del Pozzo told us. “But then the chapel is also vibrant and special,” he continued, “just as today is.”

24 weddings took place to reflect the special date, June 24, when the same-sex marriage legislation was passed. Because there were many more than 24 couples wanting to be married at the event, they were selected on a first come, first serve basis.

Ken Lindley, one half of the first couple to be married, spoke to us as his chaperone for the day pinned a flower to his shirt: “We feel our relationship is the strongest out of all our friends, gay and straight. We’ve been together 22 years so this is a renewal of our vows. It’s so nice to be showered with love by so many people, by strangers.”

That love were very much in the air. Or in the hair, in the case of the Rev. Lainie Love Dolby, a volunteer for the day, who had the word ‘love’ shaved on her head.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who recently officiated the marriage of his two aides, John Feinblatt and Jonathan Mintz, sent a few words to be read out in his absence: “I was honored to preside over the first gay wedding last weekend,” he said, and pronounced New York the “freest, most dynamic city in the world.”

His message, which opened the ceremonies, was met with hugs and with the ringing of bells.

As Mr. Lindley noted, it was a bit of political theater. But there was intimacy at the ceremonies and it was apposite that we, the audience, couldn’t quite hear the vows of the couples from our position at the back of the outdoor chapel.

One figure in the debate, however, remained in the background: Mayor Michael Bloomberg. As mayor, of course, he had no formal role in the proceedings. But he has a voice, and a platform, and he used both on behalf of marriage equality. He, along with Mr. Cuomo, surely helped turn the debate in the Republican-led State Senate in favor of gay marriage.

Now the mayor will practice what he has preached. On July 24, barring any last-minute complications, he will preside over the marriage of two of his aides, John Feinblatt, his top policy adviser, and Jonathan Mintz, commissioner of the Department of Consumer Affairs. The couple has two children and has been together for more than a decade.

Mr. Bloomberg is not one to flaunt his power as the city’s chief magistrate to perform weddings. He presided over his daughter’s ceremony and Rudolph Giuliani’s marriage to Judy Nathan several years ago. That’s it. By all indications, if he had a choice between carding a triple bogey and giving the government’s sanction to a couple in search of wedding bliss, he’d choose a triple bogey any day.

On this occasion, however, the mayor not only has made himself available to preside over the historic event, but will also serve as a host for the postnuptial festivities. The happy couple’s ceremony and reception will take place under a tent on the grounds of Gracie Mansion.

Mr. Bloomberg’s prominent role at the wedding, which will take place on day that same-sex marriages become legal in the state, is a good deal more than ceremonial. It is a statement of personal conviction. Same-sex marriage may one day be taken for granted, but it remains controversial, as the debate in Albany showed. Acceptance will come, no doubt, but leaders like Mr. Bloomberg can and will hasten the process by showing support for same-sex couples and their families.

On this issue, Mr. Bloomberg has delivered even more than he promised. Yes, he has been a staunch supporter of marriage equality and vowed to push for it in Albany.  But by actually marrying a gay couple, he will go beyond advocacy to become part of this cultural revolution.

Well done, Mr. Mayor. And congratulations to Mr. Feinblatt and Mr. Mintz.

White.

Yesterday was a pretty hot day in the Grill Room. George and Lori Hall were here creating a big casino. Their horse, Ruler On Ice, beat 24-to-1 odds to win the Belmont Stakes last month, and they were lunching with the kings of the jockey world. The Grill Room crowd was going nuts, running over to their table and congratulating them. The corks were popping on the Laurent Perrier Rosé! I loved it that the giants of the New York business world —Woody Johnson, Mort Zuckerman, David Dinkins ... even Bill O’Shaughnessy was here with a beautiful haircut—were making such a big fuss over the jockeys and kissing them on both cheeks. It was hysterical. Michael Yurch from Sherry-Lehmann—whose own horse Salty Little Sis is on her way to Saratoga—was ordering lots of Champagne.

We recently did a very big 60th birthday party for an incredible woman, Sarina Russo. Tony Blair’s wife, Cherie, gave a tremendous talk. We also had a beautiful lunch for the designer Lisa Perry. She looked spectacular, and her husband looks like a model now!

Speaking of which, Christian Siriano came for lunch in the Pool Room on Friday. He was looking at the space for a potential fashion show, so of course I sent him over one of our chef’s special cotton candy puffs. Thom Browne was also here. It was a very stylish crowd.

But the biggest news this week was the upcoming wedding of Bill White and his companion Bryan Eure. It will be the first same-sex marriage at the Four Seasons. As soon as the gay marriage vote was cast by the New York State Senate, Mr. White called me. There’s a date set in September.  I hear Don Imus is going to officiate, and I hear he is coming in cowboy boots and a hat! There will be human statues, some floating in the pool. It’s very exciting.Everybody is talking about it, and I think all of New York City will be there.  Save the date!

editorial@observer.com

“We’re going to conference the language of the amendments,” said Republican Senate Leader Dean Skelos after meeting privately with Governor Cuomo.

Asked if he was obligated to present the vote during business hours, instead of late at night when, presumably, less public attention would be paid to the issue, Skelos demurred.

“I’m not going to work under time constraints,” he said, predicting the 32-member GOP conference would be “lengthy.”

For weeks, Cuomo has met privately with a handful of Republican Senators who wanted to see greater protections for religiously affiliated organizations who do not want to recognize or do business with gay couples. Cuomo has said he has faced “no obstacles” with Republicans.

In a statement released by the Human Rights Campaign, Clinton said:

Our nation's permanent mission is to form a ‘more perfect union’ - deepening the meaning of freedom, broadening the reach of opportunity, strengthening the bonds of community. That mission has inspired and empowered us to extend rights to people previously denied them. Every time we have done that, it has strengthened our nation. Now we should do it again, in New York, with marriage equality. For more than a century, our Statue of Liberty has welcomed all kinds of people from all over the world yearning to be free. In the 21st century, I believe New York's welcome must include marriage equality.

As with the videos from HRC, the message is positive, points no fingers at those who are opposing it, and paints the issue as an expansion of freedom.

Update: Chelsea Clinton will join activists at a phone bank inside 1199 SEIU headquarters, around 7 p.m. tonight, pushing for the cause. Tonight kicks off bi-weekly calling sessions, notes Liz Benjamin.

"Governor Andrew Cuomo has threatened the New York State Legislature that if we do not pass a law to redefine marriage to include homosexual marriage, he will take it to the people," Diaz writes.  "I challenge Governor Andrew Cuomo to do that.  He should bring it to the people!"

Diaz notes that all five states that have put the issue on the ballot have seen the voters reject same-sex marriage.

"In every single state where the people have had the opportunity to decide if they want to change the definition of marriage from a man and a woman, they have all voted against it.

The few states that have legalized homosexual marriage have done so because it has been imposed on them by the courts or by the legislature."

While this is true, it does seem likely that a marriage bill would pass in New York. LGBT advocates remain a potent organizing force here, while religious conservatives do not.

Photograph of (left to right) Mary Pratys(?), May Tobin, and Joyce Michaelian holding paper fans printed with "Rockefeller for Governor" at the GOP convention in Rochester, NY. (James Nevins Cite asCourtesy of the Westchester County Archives)

Same-Sex Marriage: Christine Quinn said at least one prior No vote will be a Yes vote. [Julie Bolcer]

Federal Money: "New Yorkers get more government aid per person from social programs than residents of any other state, a USA TODAY analysis finds." [Dennis Cauchon]

Federal Money: Accompanying chart. [USA Today]

Trump: "A new bar has been set pretty low" says Chris Matthews. [Hardball]

Birther: "Poll reveals only 38% of Americans believe Obama was born in U.S. (but it isn't much higher for Trump)." [Daily Mail Reporter]

Bank Regulations: After Odato noted NY's safeguards are temporary, Cuomo makes them permanent. [Jimmy Vielkind]

Bank Regulations: Cuomo's move is "Hevesi-inspired." [Nick Reisman]

Housing Regulations: New push to improve "deplorable" living conditions in the Bronx. [AP] 

Mystery Candidate: A Cuomo Democrat unloads thousands into exploratory committee; office undetermined. [Celeste Katz]

Special Treatment: NYPD escorts P. Diddy through traffic. [NBC New York]

Print News: Harry Siegel hired by Village Voice as new metro columnist. [Joe Pompeo]

TV News: Print journos notice the cutbacks in foreign TV bureaus while over-covering the royal wedding. [Kyle Pope, Nick Confessore, Eleanor Randolph]

Archives: Old photos from Westchester, now online! [Joe Spector]

Pics: Bloomberg uses a banner. [Spencer Tucker]