POLITICS
Former Stonewall Prez Joins Queens Council Race
Rod Townsend wants to go from the woodshop and community board to City Hall
Former Stonewall Democratic Club of New York City president Rod Townsend is hoping to represent Queens in City Hall.
BY MATT TRACY
Rod Townsend, who
most recently served as
president of the Stonewall
Democratic Club
of New York City, is running for
the City Council in Queens, he told
Gay City News in an exclusive interview
this week.
Townsend is eying the seat occupied
by term-limited Councilmember
Costa Constantinides in the
22nd District, which encompasses
Astoria, East Elmhurst, Jackson
Heights, and Woodside, along with
Rikers Island. The seat could open
up quickly if Constantinides wins
the special election race for Queens
borough president on March 24,
but it would otherwise be more
than a year until the Democratic
primary election for that seat takes
place in June of 2021.
No matter which timeline plays
out, Townsend said he’s up to the
task — and his candidacy as an
out gay man represents a key test
for the citywide effort to maintain
queer voices on a City Council that
will see all fi ve out gay members
leave offi ce at the end of 2021 due
to term limits.
Having led Stonewall since 2018,
Townsend was in the thick of the
city’s political action at a time of
signifi cant movement on LGBTQ
issues locally, including the enactment
of state laws like the Gender
Expression Non-Discrimination
Act (GENDA) and the ban on conversion
therapy on minors as well
as the emerging campaign to decriminalize
sex work. He concluded
his tenure with Stonewall on
February 26 when the club elected
a new president, Brian Romero.
But Townsend’s qualifi cations
extend beyond his involvement
in the city’s queer political scene.
He is also a member of Astoria’s
Community Board 1, for which he
COURTESY OF ROD TOWNSEND
serves as co-chair of the Community
and Economic Development
Committee.
Townsend said he never anticipated
running for offi ce and admits
he doesn’t “look like the typical
candidate.” He grew up far from
the bright lights and hustle bustle
of New York City, in Evansville,
Indiana, a city on the edge of the
Ohio River perched between Louisville,
Kentucky and St. Louis, Missouri.
He was raised in a working
class household by a mother who
was a cashier and a father who
was a security guard, and he was
the fi rst in his family to attend college,
let alone graduate. He spends
his days working in a woodshop as
a production manager in the home
furnishing business, and the closest
connection that job has had to
politics was when Townsend was
involved in a project to build furniture
for the Oval Offi ce during
Barack Obama’s presidency.
But his involvement in local
politics during his free time — he
conceded that it had become a
“time-consuming hobby” — has
seemingly impressed those around
him. The fi rst sign that a run would
be possible, he said, came from his
neighbors and others in the city
who encouraged him to elevate his
political sights to the next level.
“It’s not like a movie where there
was a dramatic moment when I decided
to run,” Townsend said. “The
people on my block, the people in
my community, and people across
the city have been saying it. I had
to convince myself after hearing
them.”
Townsend moved to the city 25
years ago at a time when he says
that housing affordability was not
the crisis it is today. He asserted
he will run a campaign focused on
the kinds of issues facing everyday
people — and he invoked his own
lived experiences in describing
that approach.
“I don’t think someone in the
same situation that I was 25 years
ago could fi nd a home in Astoria
today,” he said. “If they can, it’s not
easily done. I want Astoria to still
be that place where people from all
over can move, whether it’s a gay
kid from the Lower East Side or an
immigrant from across the world.
Keeping our neighborhood — and
our city — so we can continue to
thrive is crucial.”
Townsend hopes to place an emphasis
on fi xing infrastructure,
addressing housing affordability
issues, bolstering small businesses,
and using his voice and role as
a lawmaker to elevate unsettled
queer goals. He is rejecting donations
from corporate PACs, large
real estate developers, and landlords
with more than fi ve units of
housing. He will participate in the
city’s matching funds donation
system and will limit donations
from those who do business with
the city to $250.
In an issue especially relevant
in District 22, the city’s push to
close Rikers Island included a plan
➤ ROD TOWNSEND, continued on p.15
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