Rudy Giuliani doesn't hesitate to go public with his conservative Republican roots, but this time he appears to have made his politics personal.
A vocal opponent of same-sex marriage, the ex-mayor was a no-show at the wedding of his former gay roommates on Saturday, according to the New York Post.
First of all, everyone knows how rude it is for a guest to be absent last minute because the hosts get stuck paying anyway. Secondly, these guys were Rudy's buds.
Howard Koeppel, a Queens car dealer, and his lover Mark Hsaio, were there for Giuliani during the politician's bitter divorce with Donna Hanover in 2001. They let him sleep in their $2.37 million Manhattan apartment (ok, so maybe the cost of Rudy not showing up to the wedding wasn't so onerous) during the nastier parts of the separation.
Koeppel and his new hubby were sadly disappointed that Rudy couldn't make their big day. The couple got married before an intimate group of 10 people in Connecticut.
"Rudy and Judith were both invited with a beautiful written invitation by mail," Koeppel told the Post. "His secretary called Thursday and said he was not able to come to the wedding and wished us all the best."
His secretary? So much for old friends.
Local
Koeppel once hailed Giuliani as an ideal roommate who "always made his bed" and "called me mother," according to the Post. Then questions started flying about whether Giuliani's living arrangement with the gay couple altered his longtime opposition to gay marriage, the paper reported. Rudy, who was mayor of New York City at the time, said he didn't relate to people by their skin color, religion or sexual orientation.
The staunch Republican accepts civil unions, but told the Post he would campaign against gay marriage if he decided to run for governor. The latest polls indicate Giuliani would have a good chance of winning if he entered the race. The former mayor was favored to defeat the current governor, David Paterson, by a significant margin – 56 percent to 29 percent – according to a recent Siena poll.
