POLITICS
Trans Assembly Hopeful Says All Politics Are Local
Kristen Browde would make history in Legislature representing Westchester
BY MATT TRACY
Kristen Browde’s 16-yearold
son returned home
from school one day recently
after yet another
mandatory lockdown drill — and
it was at that moment she decided
she’d had enough.
Browde, an out transgender attorney
who launched her own firm
specializing in family law and divorce,
has opted to channel her
frustration about gun control and
other pressing issues into a run
this year for an open seat to replace
Assemblymember David Buchwald
in the 93rd District, which
encompasses a large swath of
Westchester County stretching up
to North Salem and down to Harrison.
(Buchwald, in turn, is seeking
an open congressional seat.)
“It occurred to me that these kids
are growing up in an era in which
they’re worrying about whether
they would be next,” Browde said
in an interview with Gay City
News. “It is still easier in the State
of New York to get a high-powered
weapon than it is to buy a pack
of Sudafed — and that’s the law.
I looked around and said, ‘Okay,
this is an opportunity to do what
I’ve been doing for years.’”
Browde spent decades as a TV
journalist before shifting into a career
in law, but she has led on numerous
issues on the New York political
landscape. She sat front and
center alongside Governor Andrew
Cuomo last year during the lastminute
full-court press to pass the
Gender Expression Non-Discrimination
Act, which was enacted,
and gestational surrogacy rights,
which fell short, and serves in key
leadership posts as the board president
of the LGBT Bar Association
of Greater New York and co-chair
of the National Trans Bar Association,
among numerous other positions.
But Browde has also established
a name for herself in her local community:
She is currently on the
Chappaqua Central School District’s
Financial Advisory Committee
and she served on the Ethics
Kristen Browde, an attorney and longtime civic activist, hopes to make history by becoming the fi rst out
transgender member of the State Legislature, representing Westchester County in the Legislature.
Board of the Town of New Castle,
a Westchester municipality that
includes the hamlet of Chappaqua.
In 2017, she sought to play a more
direct role in politics with an unsuccessful
run for New Castle
town supervisor. This week, New
Castle’s Democratic Committee
unanimously endorsed her.
Browde is now preparing to take
another shot at wooing voters with
a clear message about the issues
she believes are most important to
the 93rd Assembly District. That
will likely mean a campaign focused
less on LGBTQ issues and
more on pushing to lower property
taxes in Westchester and addressing
the New York GOP’s history of
gerrymandering election districts.
“The reality is that in my district,
the LGBT population is not
like New York City,” Browde said.
“It’s small. Local issues are going
to drive things, even though I’m
totally behind the effort to legalize
surrogacy and make sure people
aren’t arrested for walking down
the street for not fitting some stereotypical
view of what someone of
their gender might look like.”
Browde, referring there to the
movement to repeal the “walking
COURTESY OF KRISTEN BROWDE
while trans” loitering law that is
known to target transgender women
of color, stressed that she is a
strong supporter of comprehensive
sex work decriminalization, meaning
she would back decriminalization
for buyers and those who help
sex workers facilitate their trade
along with the sex workers themselves.
Among other important
measures impacting queer New
Yorkers, Browde said she would cosponsor
the New York Health Act,
which would bring a single-payer
healthcare system to the state, and
is supportive of legislative efforts to
curtail solitary confinement. Layleen
Xtravaganza Cubilette-Polanco,
a transgender inmate at Rikers
Island, died while in “restrictive
housing” last June.
If elected, Browde would make
history as the first transgender
member of the State Legislature
— but that isn’t necessarily at the
front of her mind when she thinks
about her candidacy.
Rather, she believes she could
capitalize on the fact that she is
the lone woman in a Democratic
primary race featuring as many as
five candidates.
“I’m the only woman in the race
and this helps in a Democratic
primary where 61 percent of voters
have been women,” Browde
explained. “I don’t think women
just vote for women because they
are women, but I think women vote
for women who work on the issues.
Washington is chipping away at
the constitutional rights of women.
Having a woman go to Albany and
fight for those rights is very important
for Westchester County.”
Among Browde’s work on women’s
issues is her role on the steering
committee of the New York
State Council on Women and Girls,
a post she was appointed to by
Cuomo.
With just over five months until
the Democratic primary election,
Browde is laying the groundwork
for her campaign. She will hold a
fundraising launch party alongside
State Senator Alessandra Biaggi
of the Bronx and Westchester on
January 19 at the home of attorney
James Hyer in Mahopac.
Browde said she developed a
deep appreciation for Biaggi when
the lawmaker dedicated her vote
on GENDA to her last year.
“Biaggi is an amazing state senator,
a real progressive leader, and
I’m delighted to have her support
and endorsement,” Browde said.
“She’s already made a huge difference
in the way Albany operates.
Her work on sexual harassment is
so long overdue.”
Browde plans to continue building
support for her campaign as
the election draws closer. But even
at this early stage in the race, she
is confident she has what it takes to
lead a successful bid into the June
primary and show voters that she
is the one best positioned to advocate
on behalf of the district.
“Washington isn’t going to help
New Yorkers,” she said. “We have
to do it ourselves. I’m the one who
has been up in Albany, who has
been working on legislation, who
is ready to go. I’ve brokered relationships
with everyone from the
governor to the majority leaders
to county executives to legislative
leaders. Those relationships can
be harnessed to build a coalition.”
January 16 - January 2 4 9, 2020 | GayCityNews.com
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