Two historians have written careful studies of the Stonewall Riots that gave gays and lesbians cover for coming out, casting off stigma and forming a community with political power. They provide no support to the idea that the Stonewall Veterans are real.

Yet this nebulous group grabbed a headline in the Daily News blasting Cynthia Nixon. The News is under no illusion that the group is made up of upstanding citizens, calling its leader “cohorts” and the bar Stonewall bar was happy to host a fundraiser for her, but nonetheless William Henderson blasted her for “ripping off” its history because the poor dear wasn’t invited to the event.

As Gay City News reported in 2015:

“In 2009, historians David Carter and Jonathan Ned Katz, the founder in 2008 and now a co-director of outhistory.org, an LGBT history site, obtained the police records of the riots. Henderson’s name is nowhere mentioned in those records nor do they refer to a Cadillac being towed from the scene. The records do contain a complaint made by a Volkswagen owner who said her car was damaged during the melee. Carter authored the 2004 book “Stonewall: The Riots That Sparked the Gay Revolution,” which is the definitive account of that event. The book does not mention Henderson nor does any other history of the Stonewall riots.”

Duncan Osborne’s investigation of William Henderson found other evidence that he was untrustworthy and associated with scams.  He has a history walking away from debts. He has used Stonewall Veterans to obtain funds from political campaigns for example to run political advertisements and there is no evidence that the ads ever ran.

Andrew Cuomo put his personal prestige behind marriage equality, he has lots of gay support, but the community is divided because Andrew Cuomo has also refused to raise taxes to spend on vital needs like education. He is so miserly that he has used numerous budget gimmicks, and let the police and District Attorneys continue their policy of harassing and arrest black and brown youth.

Cuomo’s is bruiser often deaf to idealism and appeals to our better nature. Now he is using surrogates to attack Cynthia Nixon so he is desperately afraid of a person who says, “New York is my home. I have always lived here.” A person who wants to New York to be safe home for all regardless of income, color or education.

This will be an election battle between the good and the vicious.

Duncan Osborne’s story from June 2015 in the Gay City News can be found on google.