POLITICS
Van Bramer Gets Personal in Queens Beep Ad
Councilmember opens up about experiencing bullying, homophobia as a youth
BY MATT TRACY
Out gay Queens borough
president candidate
Jimmy Van Bramer
unveiled an emotional
campaign ad on October 22 centering
on his own experience overcoming
homophobia aimed at him
as an adolescent and tying that
into a pledge to fi ght for marginalized
communities if he is elected to
lead the borough.
Van Bramer, currently serving
his third term as a city councilmember
representing Sunnyside,
Woodside, Long Island City,
Astoria, and Dutch Kills, has been
out since long before he was elected
to public offi ce, but his ad refl
ected on a time when he was still
in the closet. The video starts with
a young actor portraying a teenage
Van Bramer on a rooftop contemplating
suicide.
“I was 17 and staring into an
abyss,” he said in the ad. “I was
growing up in a traditional Catholic
family, working poor in a working
class neighborhood… And
there was no shortage of bullies. I
was depressed and I was gay.”
Speaking to Gay City News
hours after the video was released,
Van Bramer described that time in
his youth as “obviously the darkest
period of my life” and said the experience
helped shape him into the
person he is today.
He explained that it was around
age 10 or 11 when he realized he
was different from other boys —
and that other boys also realized
he was different, leading to his being
bullied. A scene in the video
shows the actor portraying Van
Bramer getting confronted by harassers
as a teen. TWITTER/ @JIMMYVANBRAMER
City Councilmember Jimmy Van Bramer faces an actor playing his younger self in a campaign ad for his
Queens borough president bid. ➤ JIMMY VAN BRAMER, continued on p.23
October 24 - November 6 22 , 2019 | GayCityNews.com
/GayCityNews.com
