POLITICS
Gay Community Activist Vies for East NY Council Seat
Brooklyn’s Wilfredo Florentino is part of push to replace outgoing LGBTQ city lawmakers
BY MATT TRACY
Wilfredo Florentino,
an out gay senior
grants manager for
the NAACP and a
former City Council aide, is joining
the mix of queer candidates running
for City Council in 2021.
A resident of Brooklyn’s East
New York section, Florentino is
aiming to succeed term-limited
Councilmember Inez Barron in the
42nd District, which also includes
New Lots, Remsen Village, Spring
Creek, and Starrett City. According
to the New York City Campaign Finance
Board, Florentino is, to this
point, the only declared candidate
running in that race.
Florentino is banking on his
involvement in the local community
to help catapult him to elective
offi ce. He serves as chair of
the Transportation Committee for
Community Board 5, launched
a theater company with his husband
— “the only theater company
in East New York,” he said — and is
a board member on his local homeowners
association, among other
posts.
“If I get one weeknight a week at
home, it’s a lot,” Florentino said.
Florentino, who lives with his
husband, Kareem Nemley, and
their two-year-old foster child,
identifi es as a gay Afro-Latinx man.
In discussing his identity as both a
racial and sexual minority, Florentino
pointed to the lack of diversity
in the City Council — specifi cally
the underrepresentation of transgender
and non-binary individuals
and people of color. There has
never been an out transgender or
non-binary member of the Council.
Women occupy only 12 of the
body’s 51 seats.
“I shouldn’t have to fi ght twice
as hard as others, but I need to,
and that’s just a reality,” Florentino
said. “We need to have a voice and
have a seat at the table.”
As it stands, there are no guarantees
that LGBTQ people will occupy
any seats at that table after
the current crop of councilmembers
leave offi ce. All fi ve gay city
Wilfredo Florentino (left) is running for the City Council in 2021 at a time when all fi ve out gay councilmembers
are leaving offi ce due to term limits.
councilmembers — including
Brooklyn’s lone out gay lawmaker,
Carlos Menchaca — are prevented
from running for re-election due to
term limits.
Florentino, however, is among a
growing list of 2021 hopefuls striving
to maintain a voice for queer
folks as well as people of color in
city politics. His experience in local
politics includes a stint working
under Councilmember Diana
Ayala, who occupies the Bronx/
Manhattan seat held through 2017
by former Council Speaker Melissa
Mark-Viverito.
But Florentino’s public service
work has also extended beyond the
confi nes of the fi ve boroughs. He
served in the military from 2004
until 2012, which was during and
after the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell era
when service members were forced
to stay closeted or get fi red. Of
course, the progress made with
the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell
was reversed in part when President
Donald Trump implemented
a new discriminatory policy targeting
transgender service members,
which the Obama administration
had moved to welcome into the
military during its fi nal months.
“When I joined the military I
was not in the closet, so to have to
force yourself back into the closet
COURTESY OF WILFREDO FLORENTINO
at your place of employment —
which was the government of the
United States — it hurt, and was
challenging for a lot of us,” Florentino
recalled.
That chapter of his career, however,
is now well in the rear view
mirror, and Florentino is focused
on elevating widely held concerns
within his community, including
gentrifi cation and access to public
transportation. Despite the need
for improvements to public transportation,
Florentino noted, a key
barrier to progress is transparency.
Community boards, he explained,
are often left out of the conversation
on important policy choices
until late in the process.
In the area of criminal justice,
Florentino did not mince words. He
echoed the concerns of advocates
who were infuriated that the City
Council voted to replace Rikers Island
with borough-based jails.
“The compromise that was negotiated
was unacceptable,” Florentino
said. “I would have been at
the table advocating against it. It’s
unfortunate.”
Among other criminal justice
initiatives, Florentino said he is
a supporter of the growing movement
to decriminalize sex work,
which disproportionately affects
transgender women of color. That
movement has especially taken off
in New York City, but has become a
point of focus among state legislators
from diverse regions.
Florentino also voiced warnings
about housing insecurity and gentrifi
cation, but he offers a unique
perspective on the issue. It is his
view that the rhetoric surrounding
housing woes in the city is centered
exclusively on those who rent
and, as a result, ends up excluding
those who seek to purchase property.
“We are only creating a limited
amount of affordable housing
units,” he said. “But the conversation
is never about affordable home
ownership.”
When asked whether he would
be rejecting real estate cash like
many other candidates who rail
against gentrifi cation, Florentino
did not directly respond with a
clear yes or no. He would only say,
“To date, our campaign has been
very clear we are not taking money
from corporate PACs or special interests.”
When pressed further, he
again repeated that same formulation.
Florentino pointed out that it
could be diffi cult to raise money
in his district, given the economic
challenges many residents face.
“To have to go up to 75 neighbors
and ask for $10 is an easy conversation
in many other communities,”
he said. “In the 42nd District,
it is extremely challenging.”
Even with the city’s new matching
funds program, which encourages
grassroots fundraising and is
aimed at leveling the playing fi eld
by giving more candidates the fi -
nancial means to compete, there
are hurdles that Florentino will
have to clear. But for now, he has
time on his side: The Democratic
primary for the seat is not until
June of next year, giving him plenty
of opportunity to make his case
to the people of the 42nd District.
“The district is one that is rich
in history and rich in culture,” Florentino
said. “We have been carved
out and we need our voices to be
heard. Our campaign is aiming to
be that voice.”
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