Jim Owles Backs Pro-Sex Work Decrim Candidates
Club endorses slate of LGBTQ candidates and allies ahead of June primary
BY MATT TRACY
The Jim Owles Liberal Democratic
Club, a citywide LGBTQ political
club, rolled out a batch of endorsements
for city races slated for later
this year — and all of the candidates support
comprehensive sex work decriminalization.
The club, which already endorsed more than
a dozen candidates in other races, is throwing
its support behind several queer candidates
making historic runs for offi ce this year — including
City Council hopefuls Crystal Hudson
and Kristin Richardson Jordan, who are vying
to be the fi rst out LGBTQ Black women elected
to the City Council.
“The Jim Owles Club is determined to make
2021 a year of barrier-breaking, historic fi rsts
in New York City politics,” club president Allen
Roskoff said in a written statement. “We will
work hard to help Crystal Hudson and Kristin
Richardson Jordan make history as the fi rst
openly gay Black women on the City Council.”
Hudson is running in Brooklyn’s 35th District
— which includes Fort Greene, Clinton Hill,
Crown Heights, Prospect Heights, and Bedford
➤ WALKING WHILE TRANS, from p.10
to bolster safety and eradicate sex
traffi cking. Advocates have repeatedly
drilled the point that under
current laws, sex traffi cking victims
are less likely to seek help out
of fear that they could be locked
up, face unnecessary penalties, or
become the subject of police abuse.
Sex workers who are undocumented
immigrants face further marginalization
because any interaction
with policing could put them
at risk for deportation.
TS Candii, an advocate who has
been the most prominent voice in
the movement to pass the repeal
bill, spoke at a press conference
earlier in the day during which she
recalled her own experience getting
targeted under the law.
“Two years ago when I moved
to New York City, an NYPD offi cer
used penal law 240.37 to profi le
and force me to perform sexual
acts,” TS Candii said. “Thankfully,
I wasn’t arrested, but to this day
the trauma is still very real for
me. In this moment, I can’t help
TWITTER/@KRISTIN4HARLEM
Kristin Richardson Jordan hopes to be the fi rst out LGBTQ Black
woman elected the City Council.
Stuyvesant — in a race that features another
out LGBTQ candidate, Terrance Knox, who is
a former co-president of Lambda Independent
Democrats of Brooklyn (LID). LID endorsed
Hudson last year. An out trans candidate, Alejandra
but to think about my siblings,
Lorena Borjas’ story, Bianey Garcia’s
story, and countless of Black
and Brown cis women and TGNC
people who were arrested, incarcerated,
and traumatized over the
past 44 years because of this law…
So today, to say that I’m just happy
that this law will fi nally be repealed
and records will be sealed,
is an understatement.”
Garcia, who also recently testifi
ed at a City Council hearing
about the time she was targeted by
the loitering law, also invoked Borjas
— the late Queens-based trans
activist and community leader who
died of COVID-19 last March —
when she posted on social media
before lawmakers voted to strike
the law from the books.
“The #WalkingWhileTrans has
been impacting our lives; it is time to
repeal this transphobic law,” Garcia
wrote. “Our mother #LorenaBorjas
had a dream that TRANS WOMEN
would walk the streets of our neighborhoods
without fear of arrest.”
Others who spoke at the press
conference hosted by TS Candii
POLITICS
Caraballo, also ran for the seat before
exiting the race late last year.
Richardson Jordan is running to represent
Harlem’s District 9, where a whopping 13 candidates
fi led to run for the seat, according to the
New York City Campaign Finance Board.
Jim Owles is also backing out gay State Senator
Brad Hoylman in his quest to become the
next borough president of Manhattan and the
fi rst out gay beep. The club unanimously endorsed
Hoylman, according to president Allen
Roskoff.
“It would be a source of great pride for us to
help elect an openly gay man to preside over the
borough where gays made history by standing
up to oppression at Stonewall,” Roskoff said.
The endorsement coincided with a major victory
for Hoylman, who successfully sealed the
deal on a years-long legislative effort this month
when the State Legislature repealed a discriminatory
loitering law known as a ban on “Walking
While Trans.”
The club also backed Bronx Councilmember
Vanessa Gibson — who voted against
and Make the Road New York also
acknowledged the signifi cance of
the bill’s passage. Jared Trujillo,
an attorney and former sex worker
who has been part of the core
group of activists driving the legislation,
noted that the loitering
law is “a direct descendent” of Jim
Crow-era laws that sought to lock
up Black and Brown individuals
simply for existing. He also, however,
reminded everyone that the
fi ght for justice for transgender
Americans is far from over.
“Forty-seven percent of Black
trans women are incarcerated at
some point in their lives,” he said.
“I want to acknowledge that 40 percent
of homeless youth are queer
and trans because of how this
country treats folks. I want to remind
folks that we still have really
inhumane solitary practices which
are fatal consequences. Today is a
day that everyone should be proud
of. Today is the day that trans
Black and Brown folks should be
proud of, because this is your labor,
your emotional fi ght.”
State Senator Jessica Ramos of
➤ JIM OWLES, continued on p.39
Queens, who was among the lawmakers
who fi rst spearheaded a
comprehensive sex work decriminalization
bill in 2019, opened up during
the press conference about her own
story getting stopped and frisked on
Roosevelt Avenue and 76th Street in
Queens several years ago.
“That experience opened my
eyes to grave injustices committed
against our sex workers and particularly
trans women and trans
women of color,” Ramos said. “I feel
proud to cast my vote today to support
my neighbors.”
She added, “This can only be
the beginning. Now that we are
passing the Walking While Trans
ban, we need to focus on passing
the START Act and to decriminalize
sex work to make sure our
sex workers are recognized as the
workers that they are.”
After signing the bill into law,
Cuomo said the now-nixed policy
represented an “example of the ugly
undercurrents of injustices that
transgender New Yorkers — especially
those of color — face simply
for walking down the street.”
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