Christine Quinn Receives Antigay Death Threats

Out New York City Council speaker Christine Quinn, who's currently running to become the first openly LGBT mayor of the Big Apple, has been subjected to death threats based on her sexual orientation, her partner told the New York Daily News in an interview published Monday.

"Chris has gotten threats about being gay," said Kim Catullo, who was with Quinn for more than a decade before the couple married last year, New York having established marriage equality in 2011. "It's hard to accept, and we live in a place that is the most tolerant."

A spokesperson for the Quinn campaign confirmed that threats had been made but declined to elaborate, according to the Daily News.

Catullo, who is famously media-shy, told the Daily News she wanted to speak up to support her wife's campaign and highlight the pervasive homophobic attitudes that are still present even in the New York City. A spate of anti-LGBT hate crimes have occurred over the summer, including a gay man being shot to death at point-blank range and a gay couple being assaulted on what the Daily News says is the same block in the Chelsea neighborhood where Quinn and Catullo used to live.

"When you have strides like marriage equality, you tend to think [prejudice] has passed," said Catullo. "Then things like that happen, and it wakes you up again."