Democratic Party’s LGBTQ Caucus Blasts Fung for "Hurting" Community

GoLocalProv Political Team

Democratic Party’s LGBTQ Caucus Blasts Fung for "Hurting" Community

Cranston Mayor Allan Fung
The Rhode Island Democratic Party’s LGBTQ Caucus is blasting gubernatorial candidate Allan Fung for opposing legislation to help the LGBTQ Community.

According to the Caucus, Fung twice opposed and lobbied against extending wrongful death benefits to domestic partners in 2005 and 2006. Fung helped deny the rights of widowed same-sex partners to receive the same survivor’s benefits that heterosexual widows and widowers get after their spouses pass away.  Fung's campaign tried to deflect the criticism. 

"Mayor Fung is laser-focused on fixing (DCYF), not talking about bills he was advocating on behalf of MetLife's, and not his own, positions fifteen years ago," said Fung's spokesman Andrew Augustus. Fung was a corporate lobbyist at the Rhode Island State House for a number of years. In 2014, then GOP rival Ken Block criticized Fung's lobbying work. 

GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST

As GoLocal reported in 2014, "Republican gubernatorial candidate Allan Fung lobbied against domestic partners benefits, fee disclosure by insurance producers, and public hearings for rate increases while managing government relations for MetLife, among other legislation.  

Fung, who served on the Cranston City Council from 2004 to 2008, was a registered lobbyist for MetLife from 2001 to 2008 before being elected as Mayor of Cranston in 2008, serving from 2009 until the present.  

Anthony DeRose, Chair of the RI Democratic Party’s LGBTQ Caucus released the following statement:

“Allan Fung is a proponent of discrimination, plain and simple. He’s a longtime political insider who cut his teeth lobbying against Rhode Islanders so his multi-billion dollar employer could save a few bucks at the expense of the LGBTQ community’s most vulnerable. Fung has been rooting against Rhode Island for decades.

We deserve a Governor who fights for every single Rhode Islander to live authentically, free from discrimination and fear. Gina Raimondo has been with us since day one, using the Governor’s office to stand with us against hate and intolerance. She deserves four more years to keep bringing the change Rhode Islanders need and deserve.”


GoLocal Statewide Poll - FULL RESULTS, Conducted by Harvard's Della Volpe Oct. 2018

Enjoy this post? Share it with others.