➤ CANDIDATES, from p.11
borough president, while Queens
Councilmember Jimmy Van Bramer
is zigzagging his own borough
in a bid to unseat incumbent Borough
President Donovan Richards.
The city has never elected an out
LGBTQ borough president.
Holyman said he is crisscrossing
the borough with assistance
from 14 political clubs, former borough
presidents Ruth Messinger
and C. Virginia Fields, Congressmember
Jerrold Nadler, and labor
organizations like the United Federation
of Teachers and the Retail,
Wholesale and Department Store
Union.
“In the fi nal week of this campaign,
we’re running an aggressive
boroughwide grassroots effort to engage
and turn out voters,” Hoylman
told Gay City News. “I am running
to make history as Manhattan’s
fi rst gay borough president, and I’m
running on my record of progressive
reform, including passing the
Gender Recognition Act, repealing
the so-called ‘walking while trans’
ban, and enacting historic rent reforms
and tenant protections.”
Comptroller hopeful Corey Johnson (right) campaigns alongside Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr.
Van Bramer, who is in the fi nal
year of a decade-long stint on the
City Council, said he and his husband
went to their polling site on
Saturday to “cast our votes to elect
the fi rst out queer Queens borough
president — me!”
“I have been and will be talking
to voters across the borough — from
Astoria to Ozone Park — about my
plans for community board diversity,
real affordable housing, more
accessible senior care, and my progressive
TWITTER/@COREYINNYC
vision for small business
recovery, workers’ rights, and immigrant
justice,” Van Bramer told
Gay City News.
Many campaigns are getting a
boost from LGBTQ political clubs
during the home stretch. The
Stonewall Democratic Club and
Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club
tweeted about a joint canvassing
effort on June 14, while Lambda
Independent Democrats of Brooklyn
president Jared Arader told
Gay City News his club is making
inroads with voters for several endorsed
candidates.
“The biggest thing, as we’ve been
pushing all along, is that the entire
queer caucus is term-limited and it’s
up to us as a queer club to get the
word out about LGBTQ candidates
and to help them in the districts
where they are,” said Arader, who
explained that the club has been
volunteering for candidates such as
Hudson as well as Jacqui Painter,
an LGBTQ candidate running in
Brooklyn’s District 38, which is currently
occupied by the Councilmember
Carlos Menchaca — the borough’s
fi rst out city lawmaker.
In addition to the large slate of
queer Council hopefuls, there are
opportunities to boost LGBTQ representation
in the courts. Michael
Goldman, running to be the fi rst
out gay judge elected in Queens,
is competing in a primary race
for a civil court seat in the borough.
Goldman said in recent social
posts that it “brings me great
pride” to run as an out gay candidate
and said he pledges “to treat
each member of Queens with compassion
and true equality.”
GET BACK
TO FAMILY
facts. vax.
COVID-19 vaccines are safe,
effective and will help us all get
back to the people and activities
we have missed.
Bill de Blasio
Mayor
Dave A. Chokshi, MD, MSc
Health Commissioner
To get the facts about COVID-19 vaccines, visit nyc.gov/covidvaccine.
Visit nyc.gov/vaccinefi nder or call 877-VAX-4NYC (877-829-4692)
to fi nd a vaccination site to get your COVID-19 vaccine.
GayCityNews.com | June 17 - June 23, 2021 19
/covidvaccine
/vaccinefi
/GayCityNews.com
