“Cuomo Cuts Kill!” LGBTQ Activists Take on the Governor
Advocates fl ock to Cuomos offi ce to demand budget action
BY MATT TRACY
As Governor Andrew
Cuomo faced increasing
calls to resign, a
coalition of activists
huddled at his offi ce on March 1 to
demand tax hikes on the rich and
decry looming budget cuts that
could wreak havoc on vulnerable
New Yorkers.
The demonstration at 633 Third
Avenue in Manhattan, which featured
ACT UP New York, Housing
Works, VOCAL-NY, Treatment
Action Group, the Reclaim Pride
Coalition, and others, was held
just one month before New York is
slated to impose major changes to
the federal 340B program, which
requires drug manufacturers to
distribute medication to some providers
at discounted rates.
Local non-profi ts have issued
warnings for months and stressed
the disastrous implications the
340B changes could have on people
living with HIV/AIDS, individuals
experiencing homelessness,
and others who rely on the stability
of those funds. Vaccine rollout
efforts, they say, would also be
hampered if the changes proceed.
“The proposed carve-out of the
340B drug pricing plan will hurt
my community, Housing works clients,
and the programs they use,”
said Damon Grandison, who represented
Housing Works. “The total
loss to healthcare providers would
be at least $250M ever year.”
Among other points, activists
ripped the governor for patting himself
on the back when he recently
touted progress in the fi ght to end
AIDS. In New York City alone, Gay
City News reported earlier this year
that the city is on track to miss a
key goal in the plan to end AIDS.
The demonstration took place as
multiple sexual harassment allegations
and a nursing home scandal
engulfed the governor. Those
issues are contributing to an ongoing
series of problems that advocates
have long highlighted.
“Cuomo violates his own staff
and violates millions in public policy,”
Jawanza James Williams, VOCAL
Jawanza James Williams speaks in front of Governor Andrew Cuomo’s offi ce March 1.
NY’s director of organizing,
said during the demonstration.
Activists also pressed the governor
and state lawmakers to pass
the Invest in Our New York Act,
which is a six-bill package that
would tax the wealthiest New Yorkers
in order to generate $50 billion
for housing, healthcare, education,
and other areas.
Standing just steps from Cuomo’s
offi ce building at 633 Third
Avenue in Manhattan, activists
chanted, “Tax the rich! Pass the
Bill! Cuomo cuts kill!”
Williams added, “Governor Cuomo,
are you going to continue to
side with the oligarchs… at the expense
of vulnerable people? If you
are a person of faith, if you understand
what we are called to do, we
are called to take care of our vulnerable
people. Those people are
Black, they are brown, they are
trans, they are experiencing homelessness,
they’re at risk of overdose,
they’re in nursing homes, and
they’re in prisons. They don’t have
access to COVID-19 vaccines.”
Activists got creative in their efforts
to draw attention to the acute
crises at hand. One large sign
mocked Cuomo’s splashy book deal
by reimagining the title of the book
to instead read, “Leadership Failures
from the COVID-19 Pandemic.”
Red handprints were plastered
all over the sign to show the governor
with blood on his hands. Other
signs read notes such as “Cuomo
Cuts Kill” and “Tax the Rich.”
While much of the demonstration
focused on New Yorkers who
are on the receiving end of care,
some folks also pointed to the ways
in which healthcare and homebased
workers must also be taken
into consideration.
“Our state has a massive, growing
need for long-term and home-
and community-based care, yet
many home care workers across
the state are paid less than minimum
wage,” Meira Harris from
Jews for Racial Justice said in a
written statement. “During the
COVID-19 pandemic, New York
State has cut Medicaid and essential
care services. We need to invest
in New York’s care economy so
that people can stay in their homes
and care workers can stay in their
jobs. This is skilled, life-sustaining
work, and those working in this
fi eld–mostly women of color–deserve
to be paid well…”
Protesters who took on the governor
got an assist from some state
lawmakers who shared their concerns.
State Senator Gustavo Rivera
of the Bronx, who chairs the
upper chamber’s Committee on
Health, said in a written statement
that requiring wealthy New Yorkers
to pay their fair share of taxes
could go a long way towards addressing
health woes in the state.
“Taxing the wealthiest among
ACTIVISM
GEORGE DE CASTRO DAY
us is not only a moral imperative
but it will fi nally allow us to adequately
invest in the healthcare
system that our communities deserve,”
Rivera said.
Assemblymember Karines Reyes
of the Bronx, who has worked as a
nurse, echoed Rivera’s sentiments.
“The Governor has shown that
he values the wishes of the wealthy
over the needs of our most disadvantaged
communities,” Reyes noted.
“Cutting healthcare funding is inhumane,
but doing so during a pandemic
is unconscionable. Instead of
supporting a robust tax plan that
would fi nally make the most affl uent
New Yorkers pay their fair share,
the Governor would like to abandon
our most vulnerable populations in
a critical time of need.
By the following day, March 2,
calls to push out Cuomo escalated
with greater intensity. Out gay State
Senator Jabari Brisport of Brooklyn
joined a group of state lawmakers
in calling for Cuomo’s impeachment,
including State Senator Julia
Salazar and Assemblymembers
Emily Gallagher, Pharma Souffrant
Forrest, Zohran Kwame Mamdani,
Marcela Mitaynes.
“Impeachment proceedings are
the appropriate avenue for us to
pursue as legislators to hold the
Governor accountable for his many
abuses of power and remove him
from offi ce,” the lawmakers said in
a joint statement.
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