➤ LOREE SUTTON, from p.6
lishment credentials, and more
recently voters catapulted the likes
of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and
Jumaane Williams to elected offi
ce. At the same time, centrists
like Queens District Attorney-elect
Melinda Katz have also grabbed
victories.
When it comes to LGBTQ issues,
Sutton appears to be on the fence
on one of the most controversial
questions but speaks with conviction
in other areas. The emerging
movement to decriminalize sex
work, led locally by a coalition of
advocates including trans women
of color who have decried the overpolicing
of sex workers, is an issue
that Sutton said she has followed
— but isn’t quite sure where she
stands at the moment. Out gay
Speaker Corey Johnson, a likely
opponent in the 2021 Democratic
primary, has made it clear he supports
decriminalizing the sex trade
only for sex workers but not for
buyers or facilitators — one of the
few high profi le issues on which he
has deviated from activists on the
Democratic left.
“I’m looking forward to learning
more of different perspectives,
to listen to those who have been
victimized by traffi cking, to those
who are just trying to put food on
their table, to the buyers of sex
services,” Sutton said. “I think it is
important to listen to all of those
voices. I look forward to learning
more.”
When it comes to issues like addressing
LGBTQ youth homelessness
and eradicating HIV/ AIDS in
the city, Sutton was short on specifics
but pledged to move quickly on
those fronts if she were to become
mayor. She pointed to suicide rates
among LGBTQ youth and highlighted
the need for a “community
based approach” to addressing
HIV/ AIDS.
She was adamant about delivering
for queer veterans, saying she
worked diligently as commissioner
of DVS on an effort to secure free
legal services for those former service
members, many of them who
have spent years on the outside,
deprived of the usual benefi t due
former GIs due to their removal
from the service with less than an
honorable discharge.
Though she wouldn’t commit
one way or another on the question
of the policing of sex work,
Sutton was unwavering in a pledge
to make sure the NYPD does not
interfere with folks on the basis of
immigration status. She conveyed
her belief that the nation must simultaneously
secure its borders
and move toward embracing comprehensive
immigration reform
that would provide avenues for
newcomers to stay in the US.
“New Yorkers need to know that
law enforcement is there to support
them, to listen to them, and I think
that as mayor I will do everything
humanly possible to support immigrants,”
she said.
Throughout the interview, Sutton
brought up her time in the
military and was not shy about
discussing her experience as a
gay woman navigating an environment
that posed unique challenges
for both LGBTQ service members
and women. She said she joined
the military in 1981 — more than
a decade before the implementation
of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell — and
noted that the horror stories that
emerged from that policy and continue
to surface under the Trump
administration’s ban on trans
troops actually were preceded by
even worse stories.
“As imperfect as it was, Don’t
Ask, Don’t Tell was an improvement
over what existed before,” she
said. “I can’t begin to tell you what
it meant when I heard the chairman
of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,
Admiral Michael Mullen, testify
in Congress and supported by the
secretary of Defense, Robert Gates,
that repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell
was an act of integrity.”
Five years later, the Supreme
Court enshrined marriage equality
rights nationwide, and Sutton was
ready to marry the love of her life.
She cooked up an elaborate public
proposal to make to Leitch at Pride
in 2015 — but a blooper upset her
plans and drew laughs from Mayor
de Blasio, who was on hand to witness
the whole thing.
“The mayor was cracking up,”
she said. “They said, ‘Let’s have a
do-over.’”
In the end, Laurie said yes to
Loree — and, now married, they
are continuing their joint love affair
with the Big Apple.
“We just feel so lucky to fi nd our
city and our home,” Sutton said.
“Now we’re in this together in the
race for mayor.”
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