Thomas Duane

Infobox State Senator
honorific-prefix =
name =Sen. Thomas Duane
honorific-suffix =

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height =150px
state_senate =New York
district =29^th
term_start =1999
term_end =present
preceded =Catherine M. Abate
succeeded =
birth_date =birth date and age|1955|01|30
birth_place =
residence =New York City
party =Democrat
spouse =Luis Webre
website = [http://www.tomduane.com 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. [cite news | first=Degen | last=Pener | title=A Gay City Councilman Wants to Tell His Story
date=1992-09-06 | url =http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE7D81239F935A3575AC0A964958260&n=Top%2fReference%2fTimes%20Topics%2fPeople%2fD%2fDuane%2c%20Thomas%20K%2e | work =New York Times | accessdate = 2007-02-24]

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.

External links

* [http://www.tomduane.com/ Campaign website]
* [http://nyssenate29.com/ State Senate webpage]
* [http://www.pbs.org/pov/pov2003/georgiegirl/special_tglawtd.html POV-Georgie Girl. Transgender Discrimination and the Law] Interview taped for PBS documentary.
* [http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F5061FFC3C590C758DDDAB0994DA404482&n=Top%2fReference%2fTimes%20Topics%2fPeople%2fD%2fDuane%2c%20Thomas%20K%2e On Eve of Vote, Gay Rights Bill Is Besieged From Within]
* [http://www.vote-smart.org/issue_rating_category.php?can_id=CNY88239&type=category&category=Environmental%20Issues Project Vote Smart: Interest Group Ratings]
* [http://www.the504democraticclub.org/questionnaire_2008_statesenate_assembly_duane.html Duane's response to the 2008 Candidate Questionnaire for State Senate from the 504 Democratic Club of New York City]

References