POLITICS
Alejandra Caraballo Aims to Shatter a Glass Ceiling
Out trans hopeful aims to make the jump from the courtroom to City Council Chambers
BY MATT TRACY
Alejandra Caraballo, an
out transgender attorney
for the Transgender
Legal Defense &
Education Fund, was motivated to
launch a campaign for City Council
next year in part because she
has watched her clients endure the
injustices of a legal system that
seems so stacked against them.
She has heard stories of transgender
individuals getting harassed
and arrested by police offi -
cers for the crime of “walking while
trans” — snared by a state loitering
statute disproportionately enforced
against transgender women.
She has also seen trans undocumented
immigrants — including
many people of color — experience
additional burdens when they are
targeted unnecessarily by police
offi cers and federal immigration
offi cials.
Caraballo feels a sense of helplessness
when she realizes that
there are limitations to her power
— no matter how well she defends
an individual in court.
“I could represent my clients,
but I couldn’t actually do anything
to help change the system, at least
as an attorney,” Caraballo said
during an interview with Gay City
News.
Now, Caraballo wants to change
that system.
Along with Crystal Hudson and
Terrance Knox, Caraballo is one of
three out LGBTQ candidates of color
running to replace term-limited
City Councilmember Laurie Cumbo
in Brooklyn’s District 35, which
includes Fort Greene, Clinton Hill,
Crown Heights, Prospect Heights,
and Bedford Stuyvesant. A total of
nine candidates have fi led to run
for the seat.
Caraballo is the only trans candidate
in what has become a crowded
race. In fact, her candidacy is
tied to historic possibilities. If she
is elected next year, she could become
the fi rst out trans lawmaker
in New York State and would join
out trans district leaders Emilia
Decaudin and Melissa Sklarz as
Alejandra Caraballo would make history if she wins the race to replace term-limited Councilmember
Laurie Cumbo in Brooklyn.
trans elected offi cials in the city.
Other out trans Latinx candidates
are also running in 2021, including
Elisa Crespo, who is aiming to
replace outgoing Congressmember-
Elect Ritchie Torres in the Bronx in
what will be a special election early
in the new year.
Caraballo is no stranger to making
history. When she was appointed
to Brooklyn’s Community Board
9 last year, she was believed to be
the fi rst out trans person to join a
community board in the borough.
She has since become chair of its
Housing Committee, and among
other posts she has served on the
board of the Translatinx Network
and as secretary of the LGBTQ
Rights Committee of the New York
FACEBOOK/ ALEJANDRA CARABALLO
Bar Association.
She is also on the executive
board of Lambda Independent
Democrats of Brooklyn (LID), an
LGBTQ poltiical club that is making
an endorsement in the race for
the 35th District — as well as the
races in three other Brooklyn districts
— on November 19.
Caraballo is making progressive
politics a central theme of her campaign
and she envisions a Council
that can make a difference even on
issues that largely seem to be outside
of the jurisdiction of city lawmakers.
While the discussion surrounding
single-payer healthcare
has been a key issue at the federal
level and in Albany, she feels the
Council can help by bolstering the
NYC Care program, which provides
low- and no-cost health services
to New Yorkers who cannot
afford health insurance coverage.
She also would like to work with
federal lawmakers from the area
to address disparities in accessing
mental health services.
A key factor in improving those
necessary services for New Yorkers
is funding. To that end, Caraballo’s
campaign platform calls for reducing
the NYPD budget by at least
$2 billion, and she is stressing the
importance of bringing genuine
cuts to the department rather than
shifting police work to other agencies.
But more importantly than
that, she said, it is imperative that
the focus should not be narrowed
down to simply reducing the police
budget.
“It’s about funding the people,”
Caraballo said. “It’s about moving
that funding away to empower
rather than incarcerate… to attack
the root of crime, which is social
problems, rather than carceral operation
where we just lock people
up.”
During the summer protest
movement over police violence
against communities of color,
Caraballo endured a traumatic experience
of her own when she said
an NYPD vehicle sped by protesters
and nearly hit her. That close
call, she said, triggered her chronic
post-traumatic stress disorder and
forced her to go back on medication
for depression and anxiety.
Caraballo was unhappy with the
budget passed by city lawmakers
over the summer and took a direct
shot at Cumbo, who voted for the
budget, for comments she made
during the protest movement as
well as her role in passing a budget
that Caraballo and many activists
said did not bring meaningful
change to police funding. Caraballo
charged that Cumbo was behind
the Council’s sudden reduction in
discretionary funding for councilmembers
who voted against the
budget, including out gay Brooklyn
Councilmember Carlos Menchaca,
➤ ALEJANDRA CARABALLO, continued on p.29
November 19 - November 25, 2 12 020 | GayCityNews.com
/GayCityNews.com
