Thomas Duane

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sen. Thomas Duane
Thomas Duane
Member of the New York State Senate
from the 29th district
In office
1999 – present
Preceded by Catherine M. Abate
Born January 30, 1955 (1955-01-30) (age 53)
Political party Democratic
Spouse Luis Webre
Residence New York City
Website tomduane.com

Thomas K. Duane is an American politician from New York.

He represents District 29 in the New York State Senate, which stretches along Manhattan's West Side from 85th Street to Canal Street, and includes the following neighborhoods: Upper West Side, Hell's Kitchen, Chelsea, Greenwich Village, and part of the East Side, including the East Village, Stuyvesant Town, Peter Cooper Village and Waterside Plaza. First elected to the senate in 1998, he took office the following January and has won re-election every two years.

Currently, Duane is the New York State Senate Democratic Floor Leader.

His signature legislative accomplishments in the New York State legislature to date has been the passage of the Sexual Orientation Non-Discrimination Act (SONDA) (2002), and Timothy's Law, which requires mental health parity for patients by insurance companies (2006) which were subsequently signed into law by Governor George Pataki.

He was also instrumental in the ultimate passage of the Hate Crimes Protection Act, which stipulates longer penalties for those convicted of alleged hate crimes, and mandates that New York State keep an active database of these crimes and "Manny's Law" which requires hospitals to disclose to indigent patients the availability of state-sponsored funds for health care costs.

Prior to his election to the New York State Senate in 1998 Duane served in the New York City Council for seven years. For part of that time, Christine Quinn worked as his chief-of-staff. Just as in the State Senate, Duane was the first openly gay and HIV-positive member of that body when he was first elected in 1991.[1]

Duane also served four terms as Male Democratic District Leader in the 64th Assembly District beginning in 1982. He has also served as a member of his local community board in the past.

Duane holds a degree in American and Urban Studies from Lehigh University.

Only the second openly LGBT member of the New York Legislature, he is today one of five, alongside Assemblymembers Micah Kellner, Daniel O'Donnell, Matthew Titone, and Deborah Glick.

[edit] External links

 This article about a New York politician is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Pener, Degen. "A Gay City Councilman Wants to Tell His Story", New York Times, 1992-09-06. Retrieved on 2007-02-24. 
Preceded by
Carol Greitzer		 New York City Council, 3rd District
1992–1998		 Succeeded by
Christine Quinn
Preceded by
Catherine Abate		 New York State Senate, 27th District
1999–2002		 Succeeded by
Carl Kruger
Preceded by
David Paterson		 New York State Senate, 29th District
2003 – present		 Incumbent