POLITICS
Townsend Exits City Council Race, Endorses Cabán
Former Stonewall president backs out in favor of queer former Queens DA candidate
BY MATT TRACY
Former Stonewall Democratic
Club of New York
City president Rod
Townsend is ending
his campaign for City Council in
Queens and endorsing another out
LGBTQ candidate in the race, Tiffany
Cabán.
In a letter to his supporters,
Townsend, who works as a production
manager in the home furnishing
business, explained that
it would have been too diffi cult for
him to juggle his full-time job with
the rigors of a contentious campaign
for City Council.
“This decision wasn’t easy,”
Townsend wrote in the September
30 letter, which was shared exclusively
with Gay City News. “As a
working class gay guy, I know that
my voice is unique in the New York
City political world. Like so many, I
navigate the burdens and the joys
that come with being an everyday
New Yorker and want to make New
York City live up to the promise
that brought me here almost 30
years ago. At the end of the day,
the path to a victory in a highly
competitive race would require
quitting my job and somehow still
paying my bills.”
He added, “Like most working
class New Yorkers, I don’t have the
money in the bank to live without
income for a prolonged time.”
Townsend, who serves as cochair
of the Community and Economic
Development Committee
on Astoria’s Community Board 1,
entered the race to replace termlimited
Councilmember Costa
Constantinides in late February
— just days after he concluded his
tenure as president of Stonewall.
Townsend told Gay City News at
the time that he made the decision
to run after community members
encouraged him to jump in the
race. He vowed to focus on addressing
issues surrounding infrastructure
and housing affordability,
while also committing to uplift
small businesses and continue advocating
for queer causes.
Specifi cally, he underscored the
Tiffany Cabán announced her campaign for City Council last month.
importance of continuing to push
for the repeal of the state loitering
law known as “Walking While
Trans” due to the way in which that
measure has been used to target
transgender women, particularly
transgender women of color.
When Townsend entered the
race for District 22, which encompasses
Astoria, East Elmhurst,
Jackson Heights, and Woodside, it
was unclear when the seat would
open up because Constantinides
was running to be the next borough
president of Queens. Queens
Councilmember Donovan Richards
eventually won the Democratic primary
in that race, meaning there
would be no special election for the
City Council seat and candidates
vying for the Democratic nomination
would have to wait until June
of next year to compete in the primary
election.
The path to victory became even
more challenging for Townsend in
September when Cabán — whose
insurgent campaign for Queens
REUTERS/ JEENAH MOON
district attorney drew national attention
last year — made a splash
by announcing her candidacy for
the same seat, immediately making
her a top contender with nine
months remaining until the June
election.
“As for what is next for City
Council District 22, I think it’s
Tiffany Cabán,” Townsend said in
his email to supporters. “We share
a moral compass that leads us to
fi ght for our whole community, not
just a selected few. We both recognize
that our city needs to tear
down systems that don’t work and
rebuild them so they work for everyone.
And while we don’t agree
on everything, we share an open
ear to other points of view and an
integrity to be honest with all.”
Cabán welcomed Townsend’s
endorsement, saying she is “so excited
to have the support of Rod
Townsend, a leader for LGBTQ+
New Yorkers and working class
communities in Queens.”
“Rod is a visible, tireless leader
and active member of our community,”
Cabán added. “I intend to be
a representative for every single
person in every single corner of
our district here in Queens, and I
am proud to have Rod joining our
movement to bring radical change
to this city.”
Cabán is aiming to represent
her district at a time when there
is increased focus on ensuring
queer political representation in
2021. While all fi ve LGBTQ city
councilmembers will be leaving
offi ce due to term limits, the election
year also represents a prime
opportunity to expand racial and
gender diversity in the LGBT caucus,
which currently consists entirely
of men.
Cabán, a queer Latinx public
defender, fell just 60 votes short of
then-Queens Borough President
Melinda Katz in her bid to secure
the Democratic nomination for
Queens DA last year. Nonetheless,
she rattled the Democratic establishment
during that campaign
with a progressive platform that
reshaped the way many individuals
perceived the role of a DA: She
called for the decriminalization of
poverty, brought attention to the
war on drugs, and bolstered the
movement to decriminalize sex
work by pledging to avoid prosecuting
sex workers, clients, and those
who facilitate the sex trade.
Cabán easily won her own City
Council district in the race for
Queens DA and she drew robust
support from the local queer community,
which showed out in full
force for her at Queens Pride in the
weeks before she narrowly lost the
Democratic primary election.
Along the way, Cabán gained the
endorsements of top national congressional
leaders like Representative
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
of the Bronx and Queens, Massachusetts
Senator Elizabeth Warren,
and Vermont Senator Bernie
Sanders.
Following that election, Cabán
took a new role as national political
organizer for the Working Families
➤ TOWNSEND FOR CABÁN, continued on p.11
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