➤ YOUNG REPUBLICANS, from p.14
a beautiful thing about this country,
freedom. We should get back to it.”
O’Keefe worked the event shaking
hands and asked, “Is it illegal
for me to be here?”
When he asked who was from
New Jersey, no one responded.
After criticism from Governor Andrew
Cuomo’s offi ce about the event
originally planned for Manhattan,
NYRR put out a statement saying,
“Our event will be conducted to
the letter of the law, and we will observe
all necessary and proper safety
precautions with our guests. We
have been planning this Gala for a
year and, unlike Governor Cuomo,
we are not amateurs.” The event
violated multiple regulations in New
Jersey and would have run afoul of
the New York regs as well.
No word on whether the Log Cabin
Republican holiday party came off
on December 4. It had been scheduled
for the Women’s National Republican
Club at 3 West 51st Street
but may have been moved or canceled
after state health authorities
were notifi ed. The Women’s club did
not respond to calls for comment.
➤ PINK-WASHED, from p.14
Six non-binary candidates
for County Committee sued the
Brooklyn Dems in April to drop
its gendered designations, which
led party boss and Flatbush Assemblywoman
Rodneyse Bichotte
to convene a task force in August
to work on making the hyper-local
elected offi ces accessible to Kings
County residents regardless of
gender.
The new rules fi rst appeared at
a meeting of the task force on November
23, where panelists voted
to pass them by a nine-to-four
margin, with one abstention, before
moving to the party’s Executive
Committee last Sunday.
The president of the Brooklyn
LGBTQ political organization
Lambda Independent Democrats,
Jared Arader, who sits on the task
force, described the power shift
as a “poison pill,” and the club
released a lengthy statement condemning
the party move.
“We strongly disagree with
lumping together a proposal advancing
equality with one that
places power in the hands of fewer
members of our county party,” the
statement reads. “Additionally, it is
insulting to TGNCNB people to use
an opportunity to advance gender
equality as a way to gain power. “
Concerns by some LGBTQ members
of the task force and Executive
Committee such as Peña were
dismissed by party leadership during
the Sunday meeting as “nitpicking,”
and the fi rst-term Sunset
Park politician said in a prepared
statement Monday the disregard
for his concerns as a queer person
were especially hurtful.
“I’ve had to endure a lot of toxicity
as a queer person of color,
but what I won’t do is be used as
a bargaining tool to power grab
votes, during a pandemic, in the
name of inclusion,” Peña wrote.
“Allies should be listening to voices
most impacted, instead we were
shunned and ignored. We deserve
more than this.”
A party spokesperson said that
the ruling was aimed at bringing
as many newcomers into the party
as possible in time for their next
full organizational meeting, which
they’re supposed to hold in the
coming weeks, adding that many
candidates also failed to get on the
ballot for the primaries in June due
to a shortened petitioning window
amid the pandemic.
“We are pleased that the Executive
Committee voted for a more
inclusive county committee by approving
a transparent resolution
that adds at-large positions with
no gender designation, which was
fi rst proposed by its task force,
with a diverse array of party members
who had expressed concern at
the antiquated rule,” said George
Arzt in a prepared statement. “The
Executive Committee, mindful
that the pandemic cut short petitioning
for the County Committee,
additionally voted to insure there
was as full a complement of County
Committee members as possible
at the beginning of county organizational
meetings to allow robust
participation.”
The new rules are a temporary
measure for the current term of
offi ce, which lasts until the end
of 2022 and the task force will
continue to work to create a more
permanent way to include gendernonconforming
people by the next
election cycle in June of that year.
Bill de Blasio
Mayor
Dave A. Chokshi, MD, MSc
Commissioner
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