POLITICS
LGBTQ Candidates Cruise in NY Legislature Races
Some State Senate Democrats struggle on election day with absentee votes pending
BY MATT TRACY
LGBTQ candidates vying
for seats in the New York
State Legislature enjoyed
a strong night at the ballot
box, even as Republicans staved
off an opportunity for Democrats
to achieve a veto-proof supermajority
in the State Senate — a bit of
overreach especially curious since
three-term Governor Andrew Cuomo
is himself a Democrat.
Unoffi cial results on election
night indicate that Democrats fell
well short of their goal of fl ipping
the two seats necessary to make
the supermajority dream a reality,
where Democrats entered the
election with control of 40 seats
compared to 21 for Republicans. In
fact, unoffi cial returns suggest the
Democratic majority could shrink
to 36 — though still a comfortable
margin in the 63-seat chamber.
GOP candidates are leading in
11 of 16 State Senate competitions
that were deemed competitive
this year, according to the Albany
Times-Union.
However, far more votes must be
counted and offi cials may not fi nish
tallying absentee ballots for up
to a week or more.
Democratic control of the Senate
beginning in January 2019 allowed
long-deferred progress on a
range of backlogged LGBTQ rights
initiatives, including the Gender
Expression Non-Discrimination
Act (GENDA), a ban on conversion
therapy for LGBTQ minors, the
elimination of any gay or transgender
“panic” defense available
➤ TWO GAY WINS, from p.7
level, including his successful legislative
effort to allow LGBTQ shelters
to house youth up to 24 years
of age, as well as his pending bill
to allow certifi cation of LGBTQowned
small businesses.
Jones, 33, enters Congress having
paved a much different path.
He has not served in elective offi ce
before, but worked in the Obama
administration’s Department of
Brooklyn’s Jabari Brisport was elected as the fi rst out LGBTQ person of color in the State Senate.
to those charged in capital cases,
and reform of the state’s surrogacy
law to facilitate family planning for
gay couples.
The returns were promising for
out queer candidates running for
reelection as well as an insurgent
making an historic run for offi ce.
All out incumbents won another
term and out gay State Senate candidate
Jabari Brisport of Brooklyn,
running unoppoed, made history
as the fi rst out LGBTQ Black member
of the State Legislature.
Brisport, an unabashedly progressive
public school teacher,
impressed during the Democratic
Justice, the Westchester County
Law Department, and in the nonprofi
t sector.
Jones ran a campaign that challenged
the status quo on multiple
fronts. He supported initiatives like
single-payer Medicare for All and
the Green New Deal, which yielded
pivotal endorsements from the
likes of Representative Alexandria
Ocasio-Cortez of the Bronx and
Queens, as well as Senators Elizabeth
Warren of Massachusetts and
MATT TRACY
primary contest for the open seat
to replace outgoing Senator Velmanette
Montgomery. He easily won a
three-way race that included Assemblymember
Tremaine Wright
and Jason Salmon, a former aide
to Montgomery.
While there are already several
LGBTQ lawmakers in the lower
chamber, Brisport’s victory brings
much-needed LGBTQ representation
in the upper house after out
gay State Senator Brad Hoylman of
Manhattan — and Tom Duane before
him — spent years as the only
out state senator.
Queer incumbents, meanwhile,
Bernie Sanders of Vermont, among
others.
Torres and Jones also scored key
endorsements down the stretch.
Former President Barack Obama
endorsed both of them and Democratic
presidential nominee Joe
Biden endorsed Torres.
Both Jones and Torres have
expressed their desire to move
important LGBTQ-related legislation
at the federal level, including
the stalled Equality Act, a nondiscrimination
did not lose a step in their reelection
bids. Out lesbian Assemblymember
Deborah Glick, who
represents Manhattan’s 66th Assembly
District, grabbed nearly 80
percent of the vote as she knocked
off self-described career and business
coach Tamara Lashchyk,
and two other out Manhattan lawmakers
— Hoylman and State Assemblymember
Daniel O’Donnell
— walked across the fi nish line
unopposed.
In the Rochester area, out gay
Assemblymember Harry Bronson
has shaken off two challengers
in one year. He holds a 56 to
38 percent edge over Peter Vazquez
in the general election after warding
off a primary opponent earlier
this year when he beat Alex Yudelson,
a former policy advisor in the
Obama administration, by nearly
15 points.
Elsewhere, one Senate Democrat
from the city had a precarious
showing on election day. Andrew
Gounardes, who handily defeated
incumbent Republican Marty
Golden two years ago in a swing
district that encompasses swaths
of Southern Brooklyn, is in danger
of getting toppled by GOP challenger
Vito Bruno, who is up 51 percent
to nearly 44 percent before absentee
ballots are factored in.
Another race of note was in
Manhattan, where Democratic
State Assemblymember Rebecca
Seawright held on to her seat after
she was knocked off the Democratic
and Working Families lines
because her campaign did not fi le
cover sheets for ballot petitions.
measure that would
provide comprehensive protections
based on gender identity and sexual
orientation on areas including
public accommodations, housing,
and access to credit, among others.
It would expand on the Supreme
Court’s June Bostock ruling that
concluded that LGBTQ employees
are already protected in the workplace
by the sex discrimination
provisions of Title VII of the 1964
Civil Rights Act.
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