The Daily Background

In March, I wrote a report for Truthout called “The Unlikely Republican Frontrunner: Giuliani” in which I discussed the mayor’s moderate record on social issues and his rather sorted past, which conservatives in the GOP are not likely to embrace.

One thing that came up a couple of times throughout the piece was the fact that he had lived with a gay couple at the time of his most famous moment- 9/11. It doesn’t bother me at all, although I think it’s funny that his then-wife Donna Hanover had kicked him out of the mayoral Gracie Mansion because of his infidelities, but conservatives would hardly take kindly to his affection for the couple he lived with. The Huffington Post flags a bit more about his relationship with them from an August 2001 article in the NYT:

For the past two months Rudolph Giuliani has been coming home at night to one of the happiest marriages in New York.

That’s how long the mayor, in flight from his own marital wreckage at Gracie Mansion, has been a frequent sleepover guest at the home of Howard Koeppel and his partner, Mark Hsiao. Mr. Koeppel, who is 64, is a Queens car dealer who has been both a close friend and prodigious fund-raiser of Mr. Giuliani’s since 1989. The 41-year-old Mr. Hsiao is a Juilliard-trained pianist who works at the city’s Department of Cultural Affairs. They’ve been together almost 10 years — are registered with the city as domestic partners — and in happier times for the Giuliani marriage, double-dated with the mayor and Donna Hanover on New Year’s Eve. Now they are doting hosts to Mr. Giuliani as he juggles his raucous divorce, his recovery from prostate cancer treatments, his waning months in office, his romance with Judith Nathan, his post-public-life future and, last but hardly least, his search for an affordable Manhattan apartment rental of his own.

The mayor’s progressive record on gay civil rights notwithstanding, he has not endorsed same-sex marriage. But, says Mr. Koeppel, ”He did tell us that if they ever legalized gay marriages, we would be the first one he would do.” Mr. Koeppel and Mr. Hsiao are in favor of the right to marry — which, among other things, would give gay couples the same protections as heterosexual couples in legal and fiscal matters ranging from immigration and adoption rights to veterans’ and Social Security benefits.

So…. he promised them he’d personally perform a gay marriage if the city ever allowed it. I think this is admirable, but obviously he’s running away from it now and hoping that nobody will remember it. Which is… shameful.

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