POLITICS
City Budget Includes Increase in LGBTQ Funding
Funds to boost Trans Equity program, inclusive curriculum, and more
BY MATT TRACY
The $99 billion city budget
for 2022 is bringing
additional funding to a
range of LGBTQ-related
initiatives, including programs
geared towards trans healthcare,
LGBTQ curriculum in schools, and
ending the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
Much of the funding for queer
causes is not baselined, meaning it
must be renewed annually. For now,
though, compared to last year’s budget,
funding appears to be on the rise
in several areas — and some initiatives
are getting far more signifi cant
boosts, including the Trans Equity
program, which provides trans and
gender non-conforming New Yorkers
employment services, education,
healthcare navigation, legal assistance,
and more. That program will
get a $1.3 million increase for a total
of $3,275,000.
The LGBTQ-inclusive curriculum
is getting a hefty $2 million increase
from $800,000 last year for
a total of $2.8 million. The funding
is intended to “support the needs of
LGBTQ youth and address the intersectionality
of race, sexual orientation,
and gender identity through
the Department of Education’s
(DOE) general curriculum,” according
to the budget. Of that $2.8
million, $250,000 is going to New
York City Parents of Lesbians and
Gay Men, Inc., while WNET, the
LGBT Network, the Lambda Literary
Foundation, and Hustory Un-
Erased, Inc. will all get $100,000.
The city is giving $25,000 apiece to
LGBT Youth Out Loud and Fund
for the City of New York, Inc. – NYC
LGBT Historic Sites. The rest of the
$2.8 million will be given out later.
Term-limited out gay Councilmember
Daniel Dromm, who
plays a major role in the budget
process as chair of the Finance
Committee, said the DOE’s manager
of LGBTQ programs, Eric
Vaughan, told him there is greater
demand for inclusive education.
“The number of schools calling
and asking for advice on LGBTQ kids
has been somewhat overwhelming
for him, so I hope they will use that
Out gay Queens Councilmember Daniel Dromm leads the budget effort as chair of the Finance Committee.
additional funding to work with him
on that — because a lot of guidance
is still needed in terms of how the
DOE responds to LGBTQ students,”
Dromm told Gay City News.
As an example of the need for
such funding, Dromm pointed to
the case in Queens of a boy who
suffered anti-LGBTQ bullying and
allegedly faced hostility from the
school when he spoke up about it.
His father, Jason Cianciotto, has
fi led a lawsuit.
Dromm also touted a $25 million
allocation over two years to the New
York Historical Society’s incoming
LGBTQ Museum, which is slated to
begin construction next year.
Among other areas, additional
money intended to help end the
HIV/AIDS Epidemic in New York
is also on the way. The city will set
aside an extra $1.7 million to bolster
that effort on top of the $6 million
from last year. Those funds will
be distributed to more than three
dozen groups — with the biggest
chunks going to the LGBT Community
Center ($452,500), New York
Presbyterian Hospital ($427,500),
and Housing Works ($433,094).
There were also smaller increases
in funding. LGBTQ senior services in
every borough will get $1.5 million,
which is up by $100,000 from last
year. Of that $1.5 million, $280,000 is
going to Queens Community House,
Inc., while $1.12 million is being allocated
to SAGE and $100,000 will be
allotted later on. GRIOT Circle, which
NEW YORK CITY COUNCIL/WILLIAM ALATRISTE
serves LGBTQ seniors of color, is getting
$18,000 in combined discretionary
funds from Councilmembers Carlos
Menchaca and Laurie Cumbo for
“core programming.”
The city is also increasing money
intended to support “people involved
in the sex trade” by $300,000 to
$4.43 million. New funding sources
within this program include
$100,000 for the Urban Justice
Center’s Sex Workers Project, which
works to identify immigrant trans
survivors of traffi cking.
LGBTQ youth “all-borough mental
health” services are getting an
uptick in funding from $1.02 million
in the last year to $1.2 million
this coming year.
Funds earmarked for services
benefi tting transgender and gender
non-conforming New Yorkers under
the Trans Equity effort will be
spread out across the Department
of Youth and Community Development
— which is getting the lion’s
share of $1 million — along with
GMHC ($500,000), the Transgender
Legal Defense and Education
Fund ($350,000), the TransLatinx
Network ($300,000), Pride Center of
Staten Island ($250,000), the LGBT
Community Center ($250,000),
Destination Tomorrow ($250,000),
the Ackerman Institute for the
Family ($250,000), and Community
Health Project ($125,000).
The Department of Youth and
Community Development is also
hauling in another $1.1 million for
LGBT Community Services. Other
groups receiving money for LGBT
Community Services include Long
Island Gay and Lesbian Youth,
which is getting $750,000; Pride
Center of Staten Island, which is
bringing in $400,000; and The
Door, Destination Tomorrow, and
GLAAD, which all get $250,000.
Nearly a dozen other groups are also
getting six-fi gure funding boosts as
part of LGBT Community Services.
Looking back on his fi nal budget
as fi nance chair, Dromm said he is
pleased that the city expanded funding
for the LGBTQ community. He
acknowledged the shorter-term nature
of discretionary funding but also
noted that the process of baselining
funds can be tedious and drawn-out
— and he hopes the next City Council
addresses that.
“In the 2021 budget we cut back
on a number of services, but we
were able to bring people back to
historic levels,” he said. “I’m very
proud of that.”
The budget season came and
went with less fanfare than last
year’s budget, which coincided with
the nationwide movement against
police brutality and racism following
the murder of George Floyd in
Minneapolis. Out gay Councilmember
Jimmy Van Bramer of Queens,
who opposed the budget last year
because it failed to meet activists’
demands to shift police funding
elsewhere, voted against it again
this time around, saying the budget
“failed to re-envision public
safety.”
“Last year’s uprising and budget
fi ght was not just a moment; my personal
beliefs have not changed,” Van
Bramer said in a written statement.
“While there is some good news for
culturals and libraries in this budget,
I believe that we can and must
allocate more funding to our culturals
and libraries, supporting artists
and other program... Increasing
the overtime budget for the NYPD
doesn’t do that. I thank all those
who worked and advocated for the
terrifi c things in this budget, but I
must vote no on this budget.”
Menchaca voted in favor of the budget
this year after opposing it last year.
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