Taylor Brown will be the first out trans leader in New York City government. (Credit: LinkedIn)
About a month after a large Pride flag was removed from the Stonewall National Monument following an order by President Donald Trump, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced the first Mayor’s Office for LGBTQIA+ Affairs.
The new office will be led by Taylor Brown, the first out trans person to lead a New York City office, according to Gothamist. Brown currently works in the civil rights bureau of the state Attorney General’s office and has fought for trans women and girls who were banned from playing sports in Nassau County facilities.
In his announcement of the office, which will focus on how agencies can help members of the LGBTQ+ community access affordable housing, healthcare and other services they traditionally don’t have access to, Mamdani said the dedicated resource was a long time coming — especially as federal protections for these communities continue to get rolled back.
“It took years of activism from community leaders who recognize how often queer New Yorkers fall through the cracks while attempting to access our city’s social services,” he said, according to Gothamist.
The Trump administration has issued executive orders to eliminate the idea of a “gender identity” separate from sex and make sure that no funds are allocated to promote “gender ideology.” In February, federal guidance was issued on displaying “non-agency” flags in National Parks, which included the international symbol of Pride: The flag outside of Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village, the heart of the gay rights movement.
The National Park Service also removed any mention of “transgender” on its website, according to NPR.
“We want the same things as everyone else, and we deserve the same things as everyone else, and that’s what this administration is about,” Brown said after her appointment was announced. “We’re all people.”
In her new role, Brown will also work to provide sanctuary protections for queer New Yorkers as well as those coming to the city after facing oppression elsewhere, and help ensure that other city agencies do not discriminate against people for their sexual orientation, gender or gender identity.