➤ CHAIM DEUTSCH, from p.10
resent this community when they
have an agenda with gays and lesbians,”
he said during that debate,
which was caught on video and
posted on YouTube (in a clip whose
status was changed to private in
recent months).
Since then, he has spent years
taking advantage of his power as
an elected offi cial — and as chair
of the Council’s Veterans’ Committee
— to resist LGBTQ rights. He
voted against a ban on conversion
therapy, rejected a resolution encouraging
the Department of Education
to offer curricular and other
support for LGBTQ students, and
opposed a law requiring the Department
of Education to report on
gay-straight alliances in the city.
He also voted against a transgender
rights measure that allows individuals
to change the sex designation
on their birth certifi cates.
Earlier this year, Deutsch became
the only member of the City
Council to vote against punishing
Bronx colleague Ruben Diaz, Sr.,
in response to homophobic comments
he made about gay people
controlling the City Council.
Deutsch has also faced allegations
of hostility to two out lesbian
military veterans. The former president
and founding director of the
New York City Veterans’ Alliance,
Kristen Rouse, a lesbian, told Gay
City News that he once told her
that his constituents are opposed
to same-sex marriage and “that
he cannot be seen supporting the
equality of LGBTQ individuals,
even if they are veterans,” and that
he was avoiding meetings with the
lesbian commissioner of the city’s
Department of Veterans’ Services,
Loree Sutton, who has since left
that post and is running for mayor.
But — as if this makes things
any better — Rouse said he told
her he still has gay friends, including
City Council Speaker Corey
Johnson.
Deutsch’s relationship with both
the Veterans’ Alliance and Sutton
deteriorated so badly that Rouse
wrote a letter to Johnson demanding
that Deutsch start providing
fair treatment to LGBTQ veterans.
Johnson has shown reluctance
to directly criticize Deutsch when
Gay City News has sought comment
from him.
Deutsch’s comments during the
debate and to Rouse were apparently
representative of the norm
rather than the exception. Lyosha
Gorshkov, then-president of a LGBTQ
group of Russian-speaking
immigrants known as RUSA LGBT
based in Deutsch’s district, told
Gay City News earlier this year
that Deutsch told him he voted
against banning conversion therapy
because he felt people should
have a “choice.” Gorshkov also said
Deutsch, who is an Orthodox Jew,
told him that he does “not support
same-sex marriage because it’s
against my religion.”
Gorshkov spearheaded the formation
of an annual Brighton
Beach Pride event and said he invited
Deutsch to attend to no avail.
Following this year’s Pride event
there, Gorshkov said that Deutsch
told him he would not attend.
Deutsch’s foray into national
politics adds to a growing list of
anti-LGBTQ members of the city’s
lawmaking body who are running
for Congress. Diaz, Sr., whose homophobic
record dates back at
least 25 years to his criticism of the
Stonewall 25/ Gay Games events
of 1994, is running to replace outgoing
Congressmember José Serrano
in the 15th Congressional
District, while his Bronx Council
colleague Fernando Cabrera, who
made a YouTube video in Uganda
praising that nation’s leaders in
their effort to enact a draconian
anti-gay criminal statute, is trying
to unseat Congressmember Alexandria
Ocasio-Cortez in the 14th
District.
Jared Arader, president of the
Lambda Independent Democrats,
Brooklyn’s LGBTQ political group,
reacted to Deutsch’s apparent congressional
bid by telling Gay City
News in a phone interview on December
6 that the Brooklyn lawmaker
“has some explaining to do”
regarding his voting record and
homophobia.
Deutsch has been remarkably
quiet about his record in public
and is known to stay away from
media inquiries about his votes.
“We look forward to him explaining
his positions,” Arader said.
But LGBTQ voters probably
shouldn’t count on that.
NEW CARD
DESIGN!
GayCityNews.com | December 19, 2019 - January 1, 2020 11
/GayCityNews.com
