Rod Townsend
Rod Townsend, who
was president of the
Stonewall Democratic
Club of New York
City from 2018 until early this
year and is a member of Queens
Community Board 1, looks at
his civic engagement as a way
to bring people together to make
change.
Raised in a working class
family in Indiana, he has lived
in New York for 30 years and
worked as a production manager
in the home furnishing industry.
His life and work experience
have given him insight into
the barriers of inequality and
affordability faced by too many
New Yorkers.
An activist in the successful
marriage equality fight, Rod
learned the power of organizing,
joined progressive LGBTQ
groups, and created a national
directory of LGBTQ Democratic
clubs like Stonewall.
His two years leading Stonewall
were a period of striking
change both in the LGBTQ community’s
agenda and in the local
power structure. The election of
a Democratic State Senate in
2018 allowed the club to realize
a number of longtime goals,
including the enactment
of the Gender Expression
Non-Discrimination Act, a
ban on conversion therapy
practiced on minors,
and the prohibition on
use of the panic defense
in murder cases involving
LGBTQ victims.
The Democrats’ State
Senate victories in 2018
did not come in a vacuum.
Stonewall was among
the progressive groups that
mounted a grassroots campaign
challenging members of the Independent
Democratic Conference,
which had aligned itself
with the Republicans, giving the
GOP control of the Senate leading
up to 2018.
As chair of the Community
and Economic Development
Committee on Astoria’s Community
Board 1, Rod looks out for
working class residents, voting
against housing developments
falsely labeled “affordable,”
actively advocating for high
paying jobs in the community’s
manufacturing areas,
and promoting the
neighborhood’s many
small businesses.
Until this year, his activism
on marriage equality,
with Stonewall, and on
Community Board 1 was
for him “a time-consuming
hobby.” That may be about to
change. In February, Rod announced
that he is seeking the
City Council seat in Western
Queens’ District 22, in a race
that may be a crowded affair.
Rod – the proud parent of a
rescued cat and dog and an avid
hiker – says he welcomes the
competition.
“The more the merrier,” he told
Gay City News. “I’ve been working
for years now to encourage
people to run for office. I’m not
willing to go back on that now
because I’m a candidate.”
Former President,
Stonewall
Democratic Club
of New York City;
Member, Queens
Community Board 1
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