Saturday, January 16, 2016

Prominent New York Gay Couple Hosted Fundraiser For Ted Cruz This Week

Ted Cruz with Mati Widerpass during a reception at his home Monday night
Republican front-runner Donald Trump lashed out on Twitter today for Sen. Ted Cruz's hypocrisy after criticizing him for his New York values in Thursday night's presidential debate. Trump pointed to a New York Times story by Maggie Haberman in which she discusses a fundraiser a prominent New York gay couple threw for Ted Cruz' campaign this past year at their tony Central Park penthouse.
The event was hosted at the home of Mati Weiderpass and Ian Reisner, two prominent New York real estate investors who have been very out about their sexual orientation. The two men, who are both Jewish, support Cruz despite his vocal opposition to same-sex marriages because of his steadfast support for Israel. Cruz reportedly told the group, "If one of my daughters was gay, I would love them just as much," according to Reisner. Reisner and Cruz's Middle East advisor, Kalman Sporn, said Cruz told the group that the issue of same-sex marriage should have been left to each state to decide.

Habberman noted that Weiderpass and Reisner were in the news in October 2014 after after a 23-year old man Reisner picked up and took home to his Central Park penthouse died from a drug overdose in a bathtub of the real estate mogul's home. Reisner had met the 23-year old bar manager in Bar-Tini Ultra Lounge in Hell's Kitchen before taking him and two other friends back to his Central Park penthouse. Reisner and his friends had put Sean Verdi first in the shower and then the bathtub after he became distressed before calling 911. Verdi had supposedly overdosed on cocaine and molly. Police found no drugs in the home and ruled that no foul play was involved in his death.

Reisner and Weiderpass are the owners of The Out Hotel, a boutique hotel in New York City that caters to gay patrons, including the hosting of same-sex weddings. Reisner purchased a popular commercial harbor-side commercial strip last year for more than $10 million on Fire Island. The commercial strip and nearby resort area is a tourist mecca for gays and has a reputation for its decadence.

Cruz has built his campaign around appealing to fundamentalist Christians and frequently raised his opposition to same-sex marriages and support of religious freedom laws to win backing from Christian fundamentalists, particularly in the nation's first test in the presidential contest this year, the Iowa Caucuses.

15 comments:

Pete Boggs said...

Let's wait & hear what really happened. Reagan rightly accepted campaign dollars from Log Cabin R's; who supported his policies. Gay people aren't a monolithic "community" unto themselves- they're jurisdictionally members of communities in which they live- like everyone else who lives there. There are gays who support traditional marriage & are pro life & if or when they "come out" on those issues, they're threatened by radical sharia types.

Anonymous said...

I don't know of any parent who fails to love their own children. It would be news if they did not.

Anonymous said...

Weiderpass. The gay community doesn't necessarily claim him anymore after his first prominent fundraiser for Cruz. June 11, 2015 the following was reported from Fire island:

The backlash continues to rage in the gay community over OUT NYC Hotel owners Ian Reisner and Mati Weiderpass meeting with GOP presidential hopeful Ted Cruz, who is strongly opposed to same-sex marriage.

Weiderpass was kicked out of Fire Island Pines venue Sip-n-Twirl on Sunday after he was confronted by furious patrons over his affiliation with Cruz.

Customer Evan Lobel said, “One guy got up and asked him what the rationale was to have dinner with Cruz. They got kind of heated and before you knew it, there was a lot of people yelling.” We’re told owner P.J. McAteer asked them to leave the bar and threatened to call police.

“Upon their departure, the crowd cheered,” Lobel posted on Facebook.

Anonymous said...

we've just hit upon the most interesting fact of modern politics: could anyone have imagined a NY jew homosexual supporting a R? its either further evidence of the erosion of what a R is or an acknowledgment of changing demographics and loyalties; or maybe its just Hillary (aka satan) fatigue; I don't pretend to know, I'm just along for the show

Anonymous said...

Its an "Israel First" thing. Cruz was invited because of his unequaled support for the State of Israel, which is the foreign policy supported by Weiderpass and his partner. The evening had nothing to do with gay rights or gay marriage or anything gay. It was an evening of foreign policy hosted by large contributors to supporters of Israel. Weiderpass is very committed to this cause. In the face of increasing hostility from the gay community, and even a boycott of his businesses, he would not sway in his determination to support the cause of Israel and the campaign of Cruz.

In my personal opinion, it is a one-off kind of situation; a bit of an aberration. There are, of course, plenty of ideological zealots out there raising money for Israel, supporting the increase in foreign support for that government, and advocating ever stronger military ties. At least one of them is, apparently, a prominent, wealthy gay man. And if he chooses to have a fundraiser to let Cruz speak his mind on the subject, then so be it. Its a free world. There was a little backlash from the New York/Fire Island gay community who felt a bit betrayed by the alliance, but it has mostly sorted itself out. Trump is fanning old flames, but he's an expert at that.

Anonymous said...

Ugh. The mob mentally as referenced by anonymous 9:55 is ridiculous. It reminds me of the Seinfeld episode where Kramer refuses to wear the red ribbon for the AIDS walk.

Hillary is laughing and will walk right in to the WH, dust off Bill's belongings kept in the closet and sit down to force more of the D's socialism down our throat.

Where has it all gone wrong? The RNC loves this infighting among the candidates and expects the masses to eat the pile of crap THEY think we should have. It is why Trump is surging in the poles - the Rs are tired of same-old-same-old (and I mean OLD). The RNC has FAILED to listen to the ranks and, to quote Network, "I'm mad as hell and not going to take it anymore".

Anonymous said...

I suppose its the dirty little secret of the election that gays who are leaning Republican are all in for Trump:

Trump has never hidden his support for gay civil rights laws. In 2000, he declared that he supported gay anti-discrimination laws and the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell.” He also advocated for “a very strong domestic-partnership law that guarantees gay people the same legal protections and rights as married people.” His book, released that same year, wistfully described his dream of an America “unencumbered by … discrimination against people based on sexual orientation.”

The details of Trump’s gay rights views are even more impressive. Trump didn’t just want states to pass their own anti-discrimination laws: He supported amending the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964 to ban sexual orientation discrimination. Like Trump’s other pro-gay positions, this stance was extremely liberal for its time. In fact, it’s strikingly progressive even today: For decades, Democrats have favored passing separate nondiscrimination laws for gays and lesbians, often riddled with exemptions, instead of granting gay Americans the full range of Title VII protections. Only this year has the party rallied around a bold Title VII fix. That Trump took this position in 2000 exemplifies his casual but consistent support for gay rights.

Anonymous said...

If the gays can kick people out on Fire Island who support certain positions, can the straights kick out the gays in Indianapolis?

Or are the gays just a bunch of hypocrites and liars?

Anonymous said...

The Haberman article states that the Cruz reception was not a fund-raiser. Perhaps the get-together was more like a Cruz pray-the-gay-away a la Ted Haggard.

Gary R. Welsh said...

I'm not buying the notion that a major presidential candidate like Ted Cruz who relies on campaign contributions is taking time to meet with a group of one-percenters in Manhattan without any contributions being made to his campaign. Perhaps not every guest made a contribution, but someone was forking over enough money for him to take time for this private meet-and-greet.

Anonymous said...

The title of this blog entry could be more accurately described as "Prominent New York Gay Couple Hosts Fundraiser for Ted Cruz in April 2015, News Surfaces on Trump's Twitter Account in January 2016"

Anonymous said...

These 2 definitely aren't frum regardless
of whether they are pro-Israel.

Anonymous said...

Of course you can be gay and frum. Really, there are so many deeply religious gays. The Torah's prohibitions are really only against anal sex, which most gay people don't practice anyway. All other activity is fine, so your rabbi likely approves of gay relationships that involve kissing, touching, closeness and even oral sex. Many gay Jews are frum, which really only means more religious than most.

It isn't necessary to be frum to contribute to Israeli causes. If it was Israel would lose its moneybags supporters from the United States and Western Europe. Most Jews are not orthodox, and many aren't religious at all. Some of the staunchest supporters of Israel aren't even Jewish. The conservative evangelical community believes strongly in the existence of Israel, and leaders like Cruz, Huckabee and Santorum place the defense of Israel at the top of their foreign policy agendas.

Anonymous said...

Interesting how when a conservative guy like Cruz reaches across the 'regular' divisions we are told we are supposed to have in support of a single issue (support for Israel), he is called a hypocrite...but when lefties and RINOs do it, it's called 'inclusiveness'...

So Cruz is overlooking the organizer's personal sexual orientation in order to focus on a real issue. Isn't that supposed to be commended? That he is overlooking one's sexual orientation as a means of coming together on an issue they share concern about (Israel)?

Seems the protesters are the ones who are not quite as 'inclusive' as they pose themselves to be?

STTA...

Marycatherine Barton said...

Check out what Texe Marrs states about Ted Cruz, and why, found on line:

"Texe Marrs - Ted Cruz, Deceiver of Zion, Father of North American Union", audio posted on May 9, 2015.