Amid nationwide attacks on transgender rights, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is set to establish the first-ever Mayor\u2019s Office of LGBTQIA+ Affairs, which will also be the first city agency led by a trans person.<\/p>\n
Mamdani will sign an executive order establishing the office Friday afternoon at the Brooklyn Community Pride Center, according to a press release from the mayor\u2019s office. Taylor Brown, who is currently the Assistant Attorney General in the Civil Rights Bureau of the New York State Attorney General\u2019s Office, will serve as the office\u2019s director. Per the announcement, the office will oversee city initiatives that concern LGBTQ+ New Yorkers, advance anti-discrimination measures, and reinforce sanctuary protections for LGBTQ+ people. The city\u2019s extant Unity Project, which also addresses the needs of LGBTQ+ New Yorkers, will be absorbed into the newly formed office.<\/p>\n
In an emailed statement, Brown said, \u201cNew York has given me everything \u2014 life-saving health care, education, a home, a career, my chosen family, and a life of purpose.\u201d She added that she is \u201cso proud\u201d to be appointed as the inaugural director of the office. \u201cI will work every day to ensure that the doors of New York City remain open to all and to continue New York City\u2019s legacy as a beacon of opportunity and hope for those who have been ignored, discriminated against, and intentionally excluded,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Brown has a long history of LGBTQ+-focused legal advocacy. According to her Linkedin<\/a>, she has previously worked at the National LGBTQ+ Task Force, Lambda Legal, and the ACLU. In addition to her accolades as an attorney, the press release describes her as a \u201cproud bi-racial black transgender woman\u201d who has \u201csurvived violence related to her transgender status, poverty, housing instability, employment and healthcare discrimination, to become a trailblazing civil rights litigator and advocate.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNew York City is proud of its LGBTQIA+ community and will refuse to deny healthcare, safety or dignity to anyone on the basis of their identity. With Taylor Brown as Director of the new Office of LGBTQIA+ Affairs, the city\u2019s queer community will not only be celebrated, but protected at every turn,\u201d Mamdani added.<\/p>\n The establishment of the office comes at an uncertain time for access to gender-affirming care for trans youth in New York \u2014 a city that also functions as a sanctuary destination for families elsewhere in the U.S. seeking such care. In February, NYU Langone<\/a>, one of the foremost providers of gender-affirming care in the city, announced that it would cease the provision of such care to minors, citing the \u201ccurrent regulatory environment.\u201d The New York attorney general\u2019s office sent a letter<\/a> to NYU Langone last week, ordering the hospital system to resume the program and implying that the cessation could be a violation of New York\u2019s anti-discrimination laws. Reports additionally emerged in February that Mount Sinai Health System was also ceasing gender-affirming care<\/a> for trans youth.<\/p>\n