Alison Esposito, the New York Republican party’s lieutenant governor candidate of choice, opened up in a new interview about being its first openly gay candidate, steadfastly saying, “It can happen.”
The former NYPD deputy inspector spoke publicly for the first time about her history-making run as Long Island Rep. Lee Zeldin’s running mate.
“I think, honestly, I think the Republicans kind of get a bad rep with that,” Esposito said, when asked about the GOP’s former opposition to LGBTQ causes and gay marriage.
“I’m gay and Republican – it can happen. It can happen. You know, it’s, and I keep saying this, this isn’t really just a red wave. This is a common-sense wave,” she added.
Zeldin and Esposito sat down with host Dan Clark for PBS’s “New York NOW” show for the wide-ranging interview that aired Friday.
“It’s part of who I am. I am a gay woman. I’m very proud to be a gay woman. It’s part of who I am and it feels like I’m now in a position to be able to help the people of the state of New York,” said Esposito, who retired from the NYPD’s 70th Precinct as a deputy inspector. She joined the force in 1994.
“I walked away from a career that I loved and I threw my name into this hat, my hat into this arena.
“And as a female, as a gay female, as a New York City resident, and as a cop, I’m going to bring everything I can to this ticket to make sure that we deliver back to the people of the state of New York, the state they deserve,” she added.
She said regardless of her sexual orientation, she wants the “same things as every other New Yorker.”
“I want safety. I want equal protection under the law. I want my nephews and niece to be able to go to school safely,” she said. “I want to make sure that criminals are prosecuted. I want my taxes low. I want to be able to spend my hard-earned money in the state that I love.
“And you know, I haven’t, I haven’t really, I mean, there’s always going to be bad apples in every bunch, that won’t sway off of their beliefs and on whatever grounds it is.”
Although Esposito would be New York’s first openly gay designated nominee for statewide office, she wouldn’t be the first openly gay candidate to run statewide.
In 1994, Karen Burstein made history as the first lesbian Democratic party attorney general primary candidate. Burstein beat the party’s preferred nominee, incumbent AG Gabriel Oliver Koppell, as well as Brooklyn DA Charles Hynes and then-lawyer Eliot Spitzer.
But she was then defeated by GOP candidate Dennis Vacco in the general election, with her sexuality taking a sudden role in the race.
“It wasn’t an easy thing to say back then,” Burstein, 79, told The Post Sunday. “I was a pioneer in that regard — not necessarily willingly.”
Although Vacco claimed at the time he didn’t take issue with Burstein being gay, Staten Island GOP Borough President Guy Molinari claimed she was unfit for office, citing her sexuality.
She noted that she faced homophobic slurs at the tail end of her campaign.
“There was an undercurrent of disgust,” she recalled.
Richard Grenell, meanwhile, said he was the first LGBT in the White House cabinet, having served as acting director of National Intelligence in the Trump administration and president ambassador to Germany.
“It’s not that odd anymore. The gay agenda is not what the left tells you it is,” he told The Post.
He said conservative LGBT Americans “want freedom, safety and economic prosperity” like other Americans.
“It’s going to be irrelevant. We’re everywhere,” he said. “You can be a gay conservative and get elected or appointed to public office.”
But one Democratic LGBT activist slammed Esposito for allowing herself to “be used” by Zeldin.
“How can she run with Lee Zeldin who is unquestionably a homophobe. Just look at his voting record,” said Allen Roskoff, president of the Jim Owles Liberal LGBT Democratic Club. “It is an outrage for Esposito to be on the Zeldin ticket. She’s allowing herself to be used to make Zeldin appear to be what he is not. She’s being used to soften Zeldin’s image.”
As a state senator, Zeldin voted against the same-sex marriage signed into into law in 2011 by then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
“It is my belief that marriage should be defined as between a man and a woman,” Zeldin declared in a statement following the historic vote. “As of tonight, in New York, that definition has changed. This legislation will have a profound impact on the lives of all New Yorkers. I voted NO, but despite my opposition, I am grateful for my Senate colleagues that fought so hard to secure important religious exemptions and other necessary changes to the bill.”
Responding to Roskoff’s criticism, Zeldin spokeswoman Katie Vincentz said he picked Esposito as his running mate “based on her vast qualifications while knowing she was openly gay.”
“Belittling Commanding Officer Esposito’s nearly 25 years of public service in the NYPD and vast qualifications to a single facet of her life is as insulting to the gay community as it is to her,” Vincentz said. “The only thing Alison Esposito has ever been used for is taking criminals off our streets, something New York Democrats are all too unfamiliar with.”
Burstein, a former New York family court judge, praised Esposito for running as a proud gay woman.
“Have things changed for the better? It has,” she said. “A Republican woman running for office doesn’t have to live in the closet.
“It is good news that Esposito is willing to show her sexual orientation with pride and no discomfort.”
A group that has long advocated for more openly gay members of the Republican party said that “visibility is important for gay conservatives.”
“We’ve come a long way to increase representation of outsta ndingly qualified candidates, elected officials and appointees over the years, at all levels of government and party leadership,” said Charles Moran, president of the Log Cabin LGBT Republicans club.
“Lee Zeldin is a nationally recognized conservative leader in America in a time when Republicans could sweep the statehouse in New York. Alison’s background and career of achievement in law enforcement is the reason why she was chosen – and for LGBT conservatives, we see this as a sign that the modern Republican Party is ready to engage with our community.”
