➤ JABARI BRISPORT, from p.6
to do the same when the fi ght was
ramping up in Albany in 2009. He
said his own identity as a secondclass
citizen drove him to play a
role in that fi ght.`
During this interview, Brisport
often returned to that point — that
he has felt like a second-class citizen
— and it’s especially signifi cant
because his intersectional identity
as a gay Black man is not lost on
him as he pursues a campaign that
could serve as a groundbreaking
model for other Black queer folks
who aspire to elevate themselves to
public offi ce.
“There are still so many Black
spaces that are still homophobic
and queer spaces that are still
racist,” Brisport said. “As a queer
person and as a Black person, you
spend a lot more time navigating
where you belong and spend a lot
more time fi ghting for your right to
exist in spaces. Fighting for your
own rights makes it much, much
easier to fi ght for others because
you’ve been there and you know
what it’s like.”
From this perspective, it makes
sense that Brisport focuses on
queer issues through a working
class lens. He is not yet committed
to a side on the contested question
of legalizing compensated gestational
surrogacy, which has been
held up in the State Legislature
by out lesbian Assemblymember
Deborah Glick and others over
concerns about the health of women
carrying the babies and those
who donate their eggs. Gestational
surrogacy is an option most easily
available to prospective parents
with the means to put tens of thousands
of dollars into this approach
to building a family.
“I want to make sure everyone
has a fair seat at the table, not just
the person with the most money,”
Brisport said. “I am still listening
to both sides of the argument; it’s
a very sensitive issue and I want to
make sure we get it right.”
Brisport offered a passionate endorsement
of the DecrimNY coalition
and the Walking While Trans
coalition, which are two similar
efforts focused on improving the
lives of marginalized sex workers,
many of whom are transgender,
as well as other trans women who
may be profi led as sex workers.
The housing insecurity and other
fi nancial woes that many sex
workers and transgender women
face provided the connections for
Brisport to relate to their daily
anxieties.
“When I fi rst came out, my dad
spent a few days trying to convince
me I wasn’t gay,” he said.
“I just kind of shut up and didn’t
talk about it for a few more years.
I went back in the closet for a few
years. I was 15. I didn’t come back
out until I was almost in college…
I think of the trauma of the young
girl who comes out and is not only
rejected, but loses her home. Queer
issues permeate everything in my
campaign.”
Brisport backs that point up
with diverse leadership teams on
the campaigns he has waged. His
current campaign manager, Fainan
Lakha, is a transgender woman
of color, and his 2017 campaign
manager, Virginia “Vigie” Ramos
Rios, went on to run Ocasio-Cortez’s
2018 campaign — thanks to
Brisport.
“Vigie became a Campaign Manager
through an unconventional
path,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted less
than a month before her primary
election victory in 2018. “NYC
politics is NOT A NICE PLACE for
women & gender non-conforming
people. Allies like @JabariBrisport
created space for Vigie. When
I started to run, Jabari brought
us together. (I can’t thank him
enough!)”
Looking to his second election
bid, Brisport sees a brighter outlook.
His team, he said, is bigger
than the one he had for his City
Council run and his fi eld operation
will have been underway for
seven to eight months before the
June primary. In comparison, his
City Council campaign only started
knocking on doors two months
before voters went to the polls. He
has drawn 1,000 contributions totaling
$44,953 so far, according to
state campaign fi nance data.
“We are having canvasses every
other day,” he said. “We believe in
our message and we’re ready to
fi ght hard and win.”
Like his idol Bernie Sanders,
Brisport hopes his second campaign
builds on the one he ran a
few years ago. That has — at least
so far — been the case for Sanders.
Will Brisport have the same fate?
Voters will answer that question in
the Democratic primary June 23.
Making Sense of the Census
How Census
2020
will impact
the public
programs
New Yorkers
rely on
And they all rely on a complete
census count to get the funding we
deserve. That’s why a coalition of
faith leaders are organizing to ensure
every community based in
New York City is counted.
Want to help make sure your
community thrives with all these
services and more for the next decade?
Then there’s just one simple,
easy thing you need to do: respond
to the 2020 Census..
“Making Sense of the Census” is
a weekly column from Julie Menin,
Director of NYC Census 2020. Every
week we will be publishing pieces
from Julie, and guest authors laying
out the facts and answering tough
questions about this year’s census.
Starting March 12, you’ll be able to
fill the census out at my2020census.
gov.
TOP $ PAID
FOR JUDAICA
COLLECTIBLES
Julie Menin, Director of NYC
Census 2020 and Jennifer Jones
Austin, Esq., CEO and Executive
Director, FPWA.
The 2020 Census is less than
three weeks away, and NYC has a
lot at stake.
The census determines how
hundreds of billions of dollars in
federal funding are divided among
communities across the country —
but what does that mean for New
York?
Looking past the sheer numbers,
census-related funding supports
important public programs
that so many New Yorkers rely on,
from childcare to youth programs
to workforce development. In total,
there are more than 100 census-related
funding programs that support
our city and our communities.
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