Last night, Conservative State Senate candidate Mindy “Diva of the District” Meyer went on Yetta Kurland Live, which was certainly a new environment for the young celebrity candidate who has gained national attention for her dazzling website, even though she has little chance in her extremely Democratic district. Notably, the show’s callers and its outspokenly progressive host, Ms. Kurland, pressed Ms. Meyer to explain her actual positions on issues again and again, generating an interesting exchange.
“I’ve been involved with education, also I’m not alive enough to have actively done anything,” Ms. Meyer said, for example, when a caller asked her if she has any accomplishments she can point to. “I’m running for Senate right now because I want to make a difference and I want the power to do that change, but there’s nothing I’ve actively done.”
Ms. Kurland, a likely candidate for Speaker Christine Quinn’s council seat in 2013, furthermore relentlessly pushed Ms. Meyer to explain what her somewhat confusing views are on gay marriage.
Without further comment, a transcript of the marriage-focused discussion is available below, along with audio of all that and more, as well as video at the very bottom:
Audio: Mindy Meyer on Yetta Kurland Live
Yetta Kurland: Obviously this is Equality Pride Radio, we focus a lot on LGBT issues. Do you have a position on LGBT rights on your platform?
Mindy Meyer: Not in particular.
YK: Not in particular, okay. Do you think equality before the law is an important part of your platform or American values?
Mindy: Absolutely.
YK: Do you have any friends who are gay or lesbian??
Mindy: I have a friend that actually works at the U.S. Attorney’s office and she said I have a very big gay following.
YK: Is that right?
Mindy: That’s what I’ve been hearing, you know, from the streets.
YK: Thinking about again from a youth perspective, there are a lot of discussion of bullying in the LGBT community, as a young person, have you seen that play out in the schools or the younger communities, do you think it’s getting better, do you think it’s getting worse, do you have any experiences?
Mindy: Honestly I don’t have first-hand experience with that. I attended private Jewish schools all for girls and through college and now I’m in law school but I don’t particularly, see that.
YK: Mmhmm
Mindy: But, again, I’m here as a voice and I’m here to represent what they want.
YK: Uh-huh.
Mindy: As I mentioned I just got the party lines and I just received it, so what I’m focusing on now is establishing my platforms based on what the people tell me what they want.
YK: I think as someone that’s interested in giving a voice to communities, I think that that’s great. But let me ask you maybe a difficult question, which is, the Conservative Party has its own platforms, so if let’s say if your community is talking about reforms with stop-and-frisk or problems with same sex partners not being able to marry, or whatever, if that’s different from what your party’s platform is, how do you reconcile those divergent positions on issues?
Mindy: So, as I mentioned, just because I have their support behind me, naturally when they interviewed me, some of my views did reflect their party line, but again, I’m not against it, and the people of my district, I’m here to represent them so I want them to look beyond what party line I’m on. Again, I just keep reiterating, that’s what I’m here for, whatever they want.
YK: Okay. So, let me ask you a question, do you support marriage?
Mindy: Um, I personally do not have anything against people being gay. I know my party line does not support it, but I definitely wouldn’t try to repeal it. I feel there’s other issues to focus on, so-
YK: So if I wanted to marry my partner, would you be against that?
Mindy: Again, I personally feel that it’s not a platform for marriage, I think marriage is between a man and a woman. But again, I would not go and repeal it. I feel there are more important issues to focus on in my district than — I really feel, personally, it’s within a person’s discretion what they want to do and I would not oppose that.
YK: So you wouldn’t oppose — if it were my discretion to want to marry a same sex partner, you wouldn’t oppose that?
Mindy: I’m not particularly for gay marriage, I’m just not against it. I’m saying, as I mentioned, I don’t necessarily feel it’s a platform for marriage, but again, it’s within a person’s discretion to decide what they want to do. Me personally, those are not my views.
YK: But let’s say, would you block–
Mindy: As I mentioned, I would not repeal it. I would focus my energies to other issues.
YK: So marriage equality is now legal in New York State, you would support and recognize that law as it stands today, meaning you wouldn’t try and overturn it and you would recognize it–
Mindy: I would just leave it alone, meaning I wouldn’t necessarily try and repeal it, but I wouldn’t necessarily vote for it.
YK: Okay, huh. And then let’s say that moved forward on a national platform, so now to try and repeal federal laws, if the people you represented, if the LGBT members of your community, asked you to support a repeal federal DOMA, is that something that you would do?
Mindy: Not necessarily, I am running on the Conservative Party line.
YK: Okay, alright. You’re listening to State Senate candidate Mindy Meyer on Yetta Kurland Live, not necessarily for, but not necessarily against marriage equality here on AM Equality Pride Radio.
Update: Via Jon Reznick, here is video of some of the more memorable moments in the exchange:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsVPjZkZ3mk&w=560&h=315]
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