The joke wasn’t golden, but the jokester was.
State Sen. Martin Golden (R–Bay Ridge) took heat for posting a homophobic joke to his personal Facebook account — and then quickly deleting it — last weekend.
The crack — re-posted from a men’s lifestyle website that ran the gag two years ago — made light of a biblical passage that encourages the murder of homosexuals by stoning. Golden removed the post after it ignited backlash on social media.
The senator’s comedic timing was as poor as the content, one of Golden’s gay fellow state legislators said.
“The meme he posted was about as outdated as opposition to marriage equality,” said openly gay state Sen. Brad Hoylman (D– Manhattan). “I’m glad Marty removed the lame joke about gay marriage from his Facebook page.”
The local Democratic club took a harder stance on the less-than-commendable comment.
“To make a crass joke involving the stoning of gay people is beneath the dignity of his office,” said Bay Ridge Democratic Club spokesman Chris McCreight. “It’s 2015 and there’s no place for bigotry in our society. Senator Golden should immediately apologize and start recognizing that all his constituents are equal.”
Golden removed the post but has not publicly apologized and did not return a request for comment.
The longtime state senator, who voted against gay marriage in 2011, re-posted the 2013 “joke” from Manda
It’s not the first time Golden has offended modern sensitivities. In 2012, he caught major flack after he proposed using money from his campaign account to host a 1950s-finishing-school-style seminar that promised to teach Ridge lasses to “walk up the stairs elegantly” and “sit, stand, and walk like a model.”
Now a Brooklyn gay advocacy group is offering to host a seminar for the senator.
“In response to this supposed joke, we have contacted Senator Golden’s office and requested a meeting to share information about LGBT people in Bay Ridge, as well as some of the important services we provide to his constituents,” said Brooklyn Community Pride Center interim director Dolph Goldenburg.
The center hosts “Some Like it Hot,” an educational program for straight adults in Bay Ridge senior centers, and queer kids from the neighborhood come Downtown for the center’s youth programming, he said.
The tasteless post was first reported by the New York Observer.
Golden has not directly responded to the pride center, but a scheduler in the state senator’s office did take down his information, Goldenburg said.
