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When a judge ruled against a state law limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples, finding that the provision deprived gay couples of equal protection under the state Constitution, it was Mayor Michael Bloomberg who found himself in a political hot seat.

One of his first moves, perhaps surprisingly, was across the East River and into Queens, where he spoke at an annual dinner dance at Astoria World Manor held by the Queens Lesbian and Gay Pride Committee Saturday night. The challenge for Bloomberg was to express his continued and unequivocal support for same-sex unions while also explaining his decision to appeal the recent ruling - effectively delaying, if not derailing, a legal move that would have forced the City Clerk to marry same-sex couple within 30 days.

According to Daniel Dromm, a co-founder of Pride Committee who attended the dinner dance, it was an act of political Twister that did not work well for the mayor. “He was heckled throughout his speech,” Dromm said. “Some people did give him applause for showing up. But the crowd was quite vociferous is their opposition of his decision to appeal. He speech was interrupted continuously.”

Bloomberg told the agitated crowd of gay rights activists that while he personally supported same-sex marriage, he would nevertheless instruct the city’s Corporation Counsel to appeal the ruling to the New York Court of Appeals, the highest court in the state. That way, Bloomberg explained, the legal decision would be finalized and gay couples would not suffer the emotional blow of a reversal from the high court after thousands of couples had already been married.

“He feels that he does not want confusion in the city, and therefore he is going to appeal this,” Dromm said, recalling Bloomberg’s explanation. “I guess I don’t really follow his logic on this… because someone who supports gay marriage doesn’t turn around and fight it.”

For Bloomberg, however, that is precisely the sort of political tightrope he has walked over the gay marriage issue. Despite the mayor’s pledge to work for a legislative solution should the recent verdict be reversed on appeal, which he repeated at the Pride Committee dinner dance, the Bloomberg administration has consistently opposed same-sex union in legal briefs filed during the case.

Michael Cardozo, the corporation counsel for the city, said in statement that the Bloomberg administration views the lower court ruling as a legal error. “Given the conflicting court rulings on this vital issue, and the confusion and uncertainty that would prevail were different interpretations of a state law were allowed to take effect …it would be irresponsible for the city to do anything other than to appeal,” he said. “Issuing marriage licenses that could be nullified in a year helps no one.”

That logic did not satisfy Dromm and his fellow activists who heard Bloomberg try to navigate the murky waters of a hot button political issue in the midst of an election year. “It does seem that he is truing to play politics with our lives, and we don’t appreciate that,” Dromm said. “The fact that he is using taxpayer dollars to do it seems particularly disgusting to me.”

The mayor, as Dromm sees it, “is using my taxes to fight against my own civil rights.”