POLITICS
LGBTQ Council Candidates Coast on Election Night
Incoming LGBT Caucus begins to take shape after historic general election
BY MATT TRACY
Facing little competition,
all six of the LGBTQ City
Council candidates who
knocked off their Democratic
Primary opponents earlier
this year won their general election
campaigns for city offi ce, according
to preliminary results from the
New York City Board of Elections
as of November 3.
The November 2 general election
came and went with little
fanfare for queer candidates in an
overwhelmingly Democratic city,
but it marked a series of historic
fi rsts: Kristin Richardson Jordan
of Manhattan’s District Nine
and Crystal Hudson of Brooklyn’s
District 35 are on their way to becoming
the fi rst out LGBTQ Black
women elected to the City Council,
while Lynn Schulman and Tiffany
Cabán will be the fi rst LGBTQ
women elected to serve as city lawmakers
in Queens. Chi Ossé, who
ran unopposed in District 36, will
be the fi rst out LGBTQ Black councilmember
from Brooklyn.
In Manhattan, Erik Bottcher of
District Three — which has long
been an LGBTQ stronghold — also
walked across the fi nish line unopposed
in the west side race to
succeed his former boss, out gay
Speaker Corey Johnson. Out lesbian
former Speaker Christine Quinn
previously held that seat after she
replaced Thomas Duane, who was
one of the fi rst two out LGBTQ
councilmembers in New York City.
The general election marks a
turning point for the City Council’s
LGBT Caucus, which is getting expanded
and diversifi ed after consisting
exclusively of men for four
years. All four of the current LGBTQ
city lawmakers — Johnson,
Carlos Menchaca of Brooklyn, and
Daniel Dromm and Jimmy Van
Bramer of Queens — are leaving
offi ce due to term limits. Former
Bronx City Councilmember Ritchie
Torres, who in 2014 became the
fi rst out LGBTQ lawmaker from the
Bronx, already left the City Council
when he took offi ce in Congress
earlier this year.
Kristin Richardson Jordan, set to be one of the fi rst two out LGBTQ Black women to join the City Council,
celebrates on election night.
Due to a provision in the city
charter, however, the incoming city
lawmakers will only serve a twoyear
term as opposed to the usual
four-year term.
As expected, the results were
lopsided across the board — and
Bottcher and Ossé won right away
without any competition. Cabán, a
progressive queer Latina who narrowly
lost a race for Queens district
attorney in 2019, had more than
11,600 votes, or 63 percent, in her
district, which includes Astoria,
East Elmhurst, Jackson Heights,
and Woodside in Queens. Her Republican
opponent, Felicia Kalan,
had 31 percent.
“Our victory tonight proves that
when we organize, we win,” Cabán
said in a written statement after
declaring victory. “We’ve got a lot of
work ahead of us — the work is never
done. We’ll continue throwing down
with our organizing partners, and
I’ll keep working with my incoming
colleagues — some of the dopest BIPOC
organizers I know — to build
up our city systems that support the
health and safety of everyone.”
Also in Queens, Schulman led
Republican/Conservative/“Save
Our City” candidate Michael
Conigliaro in a race to succeed
Karen Koslowitz in Rego Park, Forest
Hills, Kew Gardens, and Richmond
Hill. As of November 3, it was
the most competitive race among
DONNA ACETO
the LGBTQ council hopefuls —
but still not close. Schulman had
12,032 votes, or 58.9 percent, and
Conigliaro had approximately 41
percent of the vote.
Throughout election day, Schulman
posted pictures on social media
with current and former elected
offi cials such as Public Advocate
Jumaane Williams, who cruised to
re-election, and former Speaker Melissa
Mark-Viverito. Attorney General
Letitia James visited Schulman’s
district to get out the vote
on November 1 and praised her on
Twitter, saying, “I know Schulman
will be a fi ghter for all communities
in Queens as the next City Council
member for this district.”
In response, Schulman wrote, “It
was so amazing to have our historic
Attorney General Letitia James
come out to support me in my historic
run as a LGBTQIA representative
for District 29. Thank you
Tish!!”
Jordan, who celebrated her victory
with an election night party,
pulled in more than 22,400 votes,
or 94 percent, against Republican
Alpheaus Marcus in Central Harlem,
Morningside Heights, Upper
West Side, and East Harlem.
While Ossé had no opponent,
Hudson breezed past her opponent
in the neighboring district, which
includes Fort Greene, Clinton Hill,
Crown Heights, Prospect Heights,
and Bedford Stuyvesant. Hudson
had more than 27,330 votes, or
about 95 percent of the vote.
“I know and love this community
deeply, and as the granddaughter of
Jamaican immigrants, a caregiver
who has navigated our complicated
healthcare system, the daughter of
a nurse, and a Black, queer New
Yorker, I will fi ght even harder for
historically marginalized people to
have a seat the the table,” Hudson
said in a written statement the day
after the election.
Hudson and Ossé met up together
on October 23, according to
Ossé, who posted on Twitter saying
they chatted with neighbors and
“discussed topics from Black homeownership
to the lack of sanitation
services on Fulton Street.”
“We both can’t wait to serve the
great people of Central Brooklyn!”
Ossé wrote.
All six of the incoming members
of the LGBT Caucus favor full sex
work decriminalization — a top issue
in the community — and on
the campaign trail many of those
candidates prioritized issues surrounding
LGBTQ youth. Among
LGBTQ-related initiatives, Schulman
has vowed to back legislation
that would require the collection
of sexual orientation and gender
identity information in the hiring
practices of city agencies, while
Hudson has called for more LGBTQ
friendly housing for seniors
— much like the Stonewall House
development in Fort Greene — and
train healthcare workers to better
serve LGBTQ communities of color,
particularly trans and non-binary
people of color.
Jordan’s platform includes increasing
city funding for LGBTQaffi
rming health centers and easing
barriers to housing for queer
homeless youth, while Bottcher
has called for more beds for LGBTQ
runaway and homeless youth
and increased funding for programs
serving trans women of
color. Cabán’s public safety plan
calls for providing trauma, housing,
and healthcare assistance for
sex workers who are experiencing
abuse or are victims of traffi cking.
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