State liquor license records show that New York Republican gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino had once collected rent from two gay clubs located in buildings he owned in downtown Buffalo, according to a published report.
Cobalt, which operated as a gay bar in 2004 and most of 2005, also was run by Paladino's son, William, the Daily News reported Wednesday. It was housed in a building owned by one of Paladino's many companies, Huron Group LLC, the newspaper said. The club was run under another corporate name.
Sometime in 2005, the club began catering to straight clientele, the Daily News reported.
The newspaper said liquor license records also showed that the other club, Buddies II, operated under the name Queen City Entertainment in another Paladino building in 2005 and 2006.
Buddies II described itself as a "bar where anyone and everyone is welcome (and) prejudices are left at the door," the News said.
The report comes a day after Paladino apologized to the gay community for what he called his "poorly chosen words," including that being gay is "not the way God created us."
His spokesman, Michael Caputo, did not immediately comment on the report.
Paladino on Tuesday said he should have edited more of the phrasing out of a speech he gave to Orthodox Jewish leaders on Sunday. His speech did include opposition to what he said was schools' "brainwashing" of students into thinking the gay lifestyle is just another choice. He said the gay lifestyle is "not the example that we should be showing our children."
Paladino said he opposes same-sex marriage but would actively recruit gays to his administration. He has also mentioned his gay nephew in saying that the discrimination he and others face is a "very ugly experience."
In a brief telephone interview with the New York Post, the nephew, Carl Paladino, said "Obviously, I'm very offended by his comments." He declined further comment.
The 23-year-old has not been seen at his uncle's campaign headquarters in Buffalo where he works since the remarks, the Post said.
Paladino has blamed some of the latest controversy on press reports that included phrases that were in an earlier version of the speech that the Orthodox leaders had distributed to reporters but that he had struck out before delivering it.
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