Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani: Hello, Brooklyn. What a joy to be gathered here today with you all. And I want to thank the Brooklyn Community Pride Center for hosting us. A big round of applause. Since this space was founded in 2008, it has grown into a community hub that provides essential health care and housing resources. While also offering queer New Yorkers a place to learn, find fellowship, and build community. Across our five boroughs, this is the story of queer New York. A story of adversity overcome, of solidarity shown, of resilience and resourcefulness against enormous odds.
That story has been told by leaders whose names we know, as well as by New Yorkers whose names have been lost to history but who organize pride marches and act up protests, by those who held the hands of the sick and the dying, [and] by those who filled our city with joy and expression. It has been told by trans activists like Cecilia Gentili - whose legacy lives on, and - the many leaders she inspired, some of whom are in this very room. And I also must say thank you to the many organizers, the advocates, [and] the service providers here today for the work that you have done to allow this moment to come forth.
We are also joined by a number of leaders here with us. I want to first acknowledge the co-chair of the City Council LGBTQ Caucus, Council Member Justin Sanchez. I want to acknowledge - we have our assembly member, Tony Simone. And we have - state senator and former roommate of mine, Jabari Brisport. And we also have leaders within our own administration. We have our Deputy Mayor for Economic Justice, Julie Su. And we have standing alongside me - but I do want to say an acknowledgment to my left of [me] our Chief Equity Officer and Commissioner Afua Atta-Mensah, who's here with us.
So today we are not only founding our city's first office for LGBTQIA+ affairs. We are also appointing our first director. This day was a long time coming. It took years of activism from community leaders who recognized how often queer New Yorkers fall through the cracks while attempting to access our city's social services. As they organized and called for change, they drew on the legacy of the countless queer leaders who had come before.
Leaders like Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, who founded STAR House, a place trans New Yorkers could go to be safe, [and] to be comfortable in the city that was theirs. Today, as City Hall creates an office that dedicates itself to protecting the health, safety, and dignity of queer New Yorkers, it is only because of all those who have fought for the rights and support that they deserve. This new office will build on the good work of the Unity Project, and what we are doing is to create a central office solely focused on the well-being of queer New Yorkers so that their needs may be better met by every city agency across our administration.
This work, frankly, could not come at a more urgent time. New York City is home to the largest number of queer people in our country. They face higher rates - well, it is worthy of applause. It is something that we are proud of. And yet we know that queer New Yorkers face higher rates of homelessness and job insecurity. They often have more trouble accessing quality health care and city services. And they frequently encounter discrimination or a dearth of providers properly trained to care for them in health care settings. This office will be tasked with leading cross-agency policy design and coordination across government so that no New Yorker is forgotten or ignored.
