Party Pooper

From the "with friends like this ..." files: State Senator Ruben Diaz Sr. -- a Democrat(!) who has has two gay brothers, a gay granddaughter, a gay friend who works for him in the Senate and a gay former campaign aide -- can't for the life of him understand how anyone could mistake him for a homophobe. Apparently he thinks dressing as the combination priest/cowboy member of the Village People exonerates him of the fact that he has been the principal force stopping gay New Yorkers from having the same basic rights that he has. Which is to say nothing of the time he was forced to resign from the city’s Civilian Complaint Review Board years ago for suggesting that the Gay Games would encourage homosexuality and spread HIV or when he sued the city to shut down a high school for gay and transgender students. (I'm not kidding.)