Need we say more about Rudy Giuliani? Well maybe we will.

This week we released “The Giuliani Files” and it created a bit of an explosion. There are strong feelings about Rudy. That we knew already.

Quite a few of you welcomed our shining a few rays of sunlight on the pro-gay things he did as Mayor and then comparing them to where he unfortunately is today as a candidate for President. Evidently we’re not the only ones who’ve gotten tired of the mainstream press continuing to call him “pro-gay” even while he has been distancing himself from every pro-LGB (no “T” intended here) position he took as Mayor.

There were a very small number of you who were not happy we didn’t also hash through those areas where Giuliani as Mayor was not particularly pro-gay. Yes, we know about his less-than-stellar record on AIDS and his acrimonious relationship with AIDS advocates over funding. We also know about his support for homophobe Ruben Diaz and his actions and positions on a range of other issues that put him at odds with our community.

“The Giuliani Files” and our comments to the press were about reminding everyone that Giuliani was once relatively “pro-gay” on a number of important issues, but now no longer seems to be. It was not intended to be about areas of his record where he was not great to begin with and still isn't.

To supplement “The Giuliani Files,” we thought we’d post a couple of additional pieces over the next few weeks that provide the nitty-gritty on exactly where and how he's slid away from pro-gay positions he once embraced.

After all, if he’s able to change so quickly on issues like ours, what does this say about Giuliani and his stand on any other issues should he become President? Deciding whether or not an aspirant for the highest elected office in the land has a set of core beliefs should be important to every voter, no matter where we might fall along the political spectrum.

So stay tuned. We’ll give you the dope on Rudy.

Morning Sweep

Protest rallies and other lobbying efforts are underway calling for the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" as the discriminatory law marks its 14th anniversary.

The Village Voice has a piece on Christine Quinn's sometimes difficult job of navigating between the interests of the LGBT community and those of all New York City residents, as required by her role as Speaker of the NYC Council.

The editor in chief of the Washington Blade says that we've got some educatin' to do when it comes to our straight allies.

Log Cabin has come out with a new radio ad in New Hampshire attacking Mitt Romney's "flip-flopping" and fiscal policies while governor of Massachusetts.

Uruguay has become the first Latin American country to legalize civil unions.

Good As You has the anti-gay marriage radio ad that's currently running in New Jersey. The ad is sponsored by a new group called National Organization for Marriage.

Morning Sweep

Yesterday we released our "Giuliani Files" which is a collection of videos and documents that clearly display Rudy Giuliani's positions on LGBT issues while he was mayor of New York City. The Washington Post first reported on the "mini-archive." Some of best coverage (we think) is here, here, here, here, here and here.

The Republican CNN/YouTube debate unsurprisingly brought up issues that are important to LGBT people, including "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and marriage equality. When Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee was asked if he'd accept Log Cabin support (I don't think there's much of a movement within Log Cabin to support Huckabee, but that's besides the point...) he stated that he'd accept any support (support=money) but he would never support same-sex marriage.

NYU's Stern School of Business for the first time has an LGBT group. It's name: OutStern.

Wisconsin's constitutional ban on gay marriage will be getting a legal challenge after a Dane County (Madison) Circuit Court judge ruled that the amendment's language was "constitutionally defective."

Although social issues may not drive the youth vote, according to a ABC News-Washington Post poll, 76 percent of college-aged voters are in favor of same-sex marriage.

John Edwards spoke to an LGBT group in New Hampshire recently, saying that he'd be in favor of requiring health insurers to cover hormone treatments for transgender people and that he supports allowing same-sex couples to have every single right that married couples are afforded through marriage.

Queerty breaks down a recent Hunter College poll on who LGBT voters plan to support in the upcoming primaries.

Will the real Rudy Giuliani please stand up?

Who is the real Rudy Giuliani?

The Rudy Giuliani we knew was pretty pro-gay. He supported a statewide and a federal Hate Crimes bill. He supported New York's Sexual Orientation Non-Discrimination Act (SONDA) which made it illegal to fire someone from their job, kick someone out of their apartment or deny someone credit simply because of their sexual orientation (much more comprehensive, we should note, than the federal ENDA bill). He also stated several times that he believed that same-sex couples were entitled to all of the same rights and obligations that married couples are entitled to.

Yet recently he has back-pedaled on many of these positions, saying that he's not for federal hate crimes laws, remaining silent on employment non-discrimination and abandoning his support for civil unions--even saying that he might support a constitutional amendment defining marriage as one man and one woman.

We have just opened up a mini-archive of videos and documents that show in his own words exactly what Rudy Giuliani said to/did for LGBT citizens of New York City. The primaries/caucuses are only a few weeks away and we think that our community and voters in general deserve to know who the real Giuliani is.

Is he the fair-minded mayor of New York City who supported LGBT equality? Or is he the Presidential candidate who has distanced himself from all of the major issues that LGBT people care about.

We'd like to know...because you can't be all things to all people...

The Washington Post's covers "The Giuliani Files."

Morning Sweep

Ulster County's social services commissioner spoke to the Hudson Valley LGBTQ Center last night and pledged a closer relationship between his department and the LGBT community.

Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney use gay issues as each continues to accuse the other of being the biggest flip-flopper, while Mike Huckabee proudly brandishes his anti-gay credentials in a new television commercial.

Brian Bates became the first openly gay Republican to win an elected office in Georgia.

Openly gay political blogger John Aravosis (AMERICAblog) reports that his site is banned in places like Chicago's O'Hare airport and a Marriott in New Jersey simply because of the word "lesbian."

Morning Sweep

Gay City News' Michael Luongo goes to the front lines and reports on life for LGBT people--Iraqis, Kurds, Americans, etc--who are living in/dealing with post-war Iraq.

Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm signed an executive order last week to protect transgender state employees from discrimination.

The New York Post reports on a scandal in Long Island involving a doctor who allegedly had sex with a male patient in his examination room.

A lesbian pastor at a Lutheran church in the Bronx may be defrocked because she is living openly in a same-sex relationship.

Columbia University, home to the country's oldest LGBT campus group, has reopened the space that students claimed for the organization in 1972.

The New York Times looks at the status of the global AIDS pandemic in the context of last week's announcement by UNAIDS that the rate of infection has plateaued.

A Times Op-Ed contributor looks at the history of marriage and argues that couples should decide whether or not they wish to enter into the legal protective framework provided through marriage--and governments and especially churches should not interfere.

HRC gave Wal-Mart a bad rating in its guide to holiday shopping because the global retail giant doesn't offer domestic partner benefits to its employees with same-sex partners.

Gay issues play a large role as Mitt Romney attacks Rudy Giuliani in New Hampshire.

Morning Sweep

At least seven events were held around New York State over the past several days remembering those who have been killed in America due to anti-transgender prejudice. Here's an account of the ceremony at Hendricks Chapel at Syracuse University and here's one from the event in front of Rochester's Federal Building.

The three killers of Michael Sandy are sentenced in Brooklyn Supreme Court for their hate crime. Anthony Fortunato, the leader of the three, says to the parents of Sandy, “I turned and walked away and I abandoned your son, Michael, and I also abandoned my conscience.” See here and here.

Responding to growing questions in the blogosphere, Brian Williams put out a statement yesterday clarifying his “marriage is under attack” comment on Monday night. Jeremy Hooper of Good as You who was the first to post the clip of Williams saying this and to ask for the clarification provides the follow-up here.

Palm Beach County in Florida bans discrimination based upon gender identity and expression, a move that was sparked by Largo firing its high performing, but transgender, City Manager earlier this year. Here's to some of those sparks from Palm Beach reaching our Legislature in Albany and igniting a desire to do the same thing in New York.

Josh and I will be back to you next Monday. If you're a parade person, be on the lookout for the three new balloons (pictured above) that are being added to the lineup tomorrow at Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade here in Manhattan. If you're a college football person, well there's plenty of that coming up too. And yes many of "us" do follow football, but there are blogs out there that focus on that aspect of our community so I'll let it go at that.

Have a great Thanksgiving and remember to extend a helping hand to someone in need this weekend. It could be you or me someday, if it hasn't been already.