POLITICS
Van Bramer Wants to Make Queer History in Queens
In second bid for borough president, city lawmaker aims to become fi rst out gay beep
BY MATT TRACY
Early last year — months
before the coronavirus
pandemic gripped the
city — out gay Queens
Councilmember Jimmy Van Bramer
was, by any measure, a leading
candidate in the race for Queens
borough president.
The third-term city lawmaker,
scratching and clawing to stand
out in a crowded race, had secured
his place in the progressive lane,
drawing support from infl uential
political fi gures ranging from Public
Advocate Jumaane Williams to
former gubernatorial candidates
Zephyr Teachout and Cynthia Nixon,
who is lesbian. Other LGBTQ
leaders also fl ocked to Van Bramer’s
camp, including activist Cecilia
Gentili, City Council candidate
Marti Allen-Cummings, and out
gay former State Senator Thomas
Duane.
At the same time, however, family
issues suddenly required him
to re-evaluate his priorities. His
mother, who is living with dementia,
took a fall late in the year
in 2019, forcing Van Bramer to
abruptly pull the plug on his campaign
in January so he could care
for her.
“I wanted to maximize the good
times we would have with her,
fearing the worst and not knowing
when she would forget my name,”
Van Bramer, who joined Daniel
Dromm as the fi rst two out gay
city lawmakers in Queens. said in
a recent interview with Gay City
News.
Van Bramer became rather open
about his mother’s journey while
his former competitors continued to
spar for an open seat that became
available when former Queens
beep Melinda Katz narrowly eked
out a victory in the race for Queens
district attorney in 2019. In the aftermath
of his departure from the
race, Van Bramer posted photos of
his mother on social media as she
embarked on walks around the local
community, making it clear he
wanted to cherish the moments
with her.
Councilmember Jimmy Van Bramer fi rst ran for borough president last year, but had to leave the race for
personal reasons.
Queens Councilmember Donovan
Richards went on to win the
race, becoming the borough’s fi rst
Black borough president and putting
him in a strong position to
gain re-election as an incumbent.
Van Bramer, who represents
Sunnyside, Woodside, Long Island
City, Astoria, and Dutch Kills, said
his mother’s health has since stabilized
and she is in good care,
which ultimately prompted the
term-limited lawmaker to begin
pondering his political future yet
again.
Of course, that would not be a
simple decision — not when Richards
already secured the advantage
of being an incumbent, albeit
for a short period of time.
But Van Bramer still opted to
dive head-fi rst back into this year’s
race for borough president — and
while COVID seemingly transformed
just about everything since
he backed out of the last competition,
this year’s race is bearing resemblance
to last year’s election.
NEW YORK CITY COUNCIL/EMIL COHEN
Van Bramer is up against familiar
foes: Richards is obviously running
for re-election and former City
Councilmember Elizabeth Crowley
is also back in the mix after losing
to Richards by seven points in last
year’s showdown.
Van Bramer, whose tenure in
the City Council concludes in less
than year, is again trying to sway
voters across the borough.
“There needs to be a real progressive,
anti-establishment, voice in this
race,” Van Bramer said.
It’s no secret that borough presidents
play more of an infl uential
role than anything else — beeps do
not even get to vote on legislation
— but it is not a totally powerless,
symbolic gig. Borough presidents,
for example, play an advisory role
in land use decisions and appoint
both community board members
and City Planning Commission
members, among other duties.
Van Bramer is trying to make
the case that, if elected, he would
maintain his independence when
it comes to land use, pointing to
his opposition to the Amazon deal
and rezonings in Industry City and
Flushing.
Van Bramer is also expressing a
commitment to building a diverse
staff at borough hall that includes
immigrants, people of color, queer
folks, and individuals who reside
in public housing. He has the
same idea in mind for community
boards.
“The borough president can also
use the community board appointment
process to change the makeup
of community boards to make
them more diverse,” he said.
The 51-year-old lawmaker is
stressing a need to stand up to
the status quo and challenge establishment
forces and “political
machinery” in the borough. That
hasn’t necessarily always been the
case for Van Bramer, who endorsed
then-Queens County Democratic
Party boss Joe Crowley over Alexandria
Ocasio-Cortez in 2018. But
Van Bramer also went on to become
one of the most visible supporters
of insurgent Queens district attorney
candidate Tiffany Cabán, who
is now running for City Council in
District 22 encompassing Astoria,
East Elmhurst, Jackson Heights,
and Woodside.
And last summer, Van Bramer
stood with progressives again
when he took an unwavering
stance in opposition to a city budget
that did not reduce police funding
in accordance with activists’
demands in the midst of a racial
justice movement that galvanized
the city and the nation. Joining
Brooklyn’s Carlos Menchaca as
the only two out LGBTQ councilmembers
to oppose the budget,
Van Bramer invoked ACT UP as
he cast his vote, stressing that
activists sometimes need to have
an impolite and in-your-face approach
to send a clear message.
“It was the right vote and I stand
by it,” Van Bramer said more than
a half-year after he rejected the
budget. “I do think we must hold
folks accountable and I believed
➤ VAN BRAMER, continued on p.15
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