New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani signed an executive order Friday establishing the first-ever Mayor’s Office of LGBTQIA+ Affairs, fulfilling a campaign promise.
From securing housing to employment, the office vows to level the playing field for the community.
Taylor Brown appointed director
Mamdani installed Taylor Brown, an attorney in the Civil Rights Bureau for the New York State Attorney General, as the office’s new director. Her appointment, announced at the Brooklyn Community Pride Center, is historic in itself.
“It is personal to her. Taylor will be the first out trans woman to lead a city office in New York City history,” Mamdani said.
Brown will now serve the city she says gave her so much.
“New York City has been the place that has given me … life-saving health care, my education, a career,” she said.
“She’s gonna make sure that everybody gonna be somebody,” said Brown’s grandmother Rosetta Ferguson. Â
What the office will do
With Brown’s leadership, the office will oversee and implement LGBTQIA+ initiatives across city agencies that range from legal resources for sanctuary protections to ensuring agencies do not engage in discrimination based on gender, gender identity or sexual orientation.
The creation of the office comes at a time where federal rollbacks are targeting the trans community.
“This is not a culture war. We are not the enemy. We are your neighbors,” Brown said.
“I am frankly looking forward to working with our new director on seeing the many which ways that our city could stand up for queer and trans New Yorkers,” Mamdani said. Â
Recently, NYU Langone announced it will be ending medical treatment for transgender youth. The hospital said they made the decision after it became at risk of losing federal funding.
It’s an issue the new city office plans to address. The attorney general’s office has also ordered the hospital to resume the program, citing the state’s discrimination laws.