Celebrating Senator Kevin Parker's victory

Last night a number of us from the Pride Agenda gathered at Tropical Paradise Restaurant on Utica Avenue in Brooklyn with other supporters of State Senator Kevin Parker to follow the election returns and -- as we had hoped -- celebrate his Democratic Primary victory.

Parker faced a serious challenge from two term-limited NYC Councilmembers who are both against marriage equality. Losing Senator Parker would have been a big setback to our efforts building a pro-LGBT majority in the State Senate.

When all the votes were counted, Senator Parker prevailed with 49% of the vote to 37% for Simcha Felder and 14% for Kendall Stewart.

When Kevin gave his victory speech to his 150 or so assembled supporters, he mentioned the Pride Agenda several times, thanked us for our support and our work helping him win. He also highlighted how important it is to make marriage equality a reality in New York and promised to work hard to make it happen.

Senator Parker is a politician who not only is with us on all our issues, but doesn’t hesitate to say so in front of his non-LGBT supporters. Not all elected officials will do that. He’s a true friend of our community and we hope to have more like him in the State Senate come November.

Below is a picture of our Executive Director, Alan Van Capelle, giving Senator Parker a celebratory hug following his victory speech and one of Parker answering press questions.