By Ryan Schwach<\/p>\n
Queens\u2019 courts celebrated Pride Month at Civil Court on Monday, recognizing the mark the LGBTQIA+ community has left on the state\u2019s judicial system \u2013 but this month\u2019s celebration comes at a tenuous point as the federal government threatens the freedom and safety of transgender Americans and the wider LGBTQIA+ community, officials said. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s important that we stay visible, stay out, and stay proud, so that we don’t fall back, or so that the rights we have gained don’t backslide in the coming years,\u201d said Queens Civil Court Supervising Judge Michael Goldman, the first openly gay jurist elected in Queens. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s important that our community remain visible to the public, because there is so much negativity being spread, especially about our trans neighbors, and we know that that sort of demonization doesn’t stop with one group, it starts with the most vulnerable group, and then moves on to other groups,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
The federal government under both Trump administrations has slashed support and protections for the LGBTQIA+ community, especially for transgender Americans. Since returning to office last year, Trump has banned transgender service in the military and removed federal recognition of transgender identity. <\/p>\n
The ACLU called previous efforts during Trump\u2019s first term as \u201ca sustained, years-long effort to erase protections for LGBTQ people across the entire federal government.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cWe can appreciate how far we’ve come, but it’s also important to acknowledge the dangers to our community that still persist,\u201d said Louis Cannizarro, a Queens attorney and member of the LGBTQ+ Committee of the Queens County Bar Association. \u201cWe’re still currently at a dangerous inflection point. We can’t think that marriage equality secured permanent safety for us, and right now, particularly at the federal level, there’s a well-coordinated legal onslaught underway.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cHistory teaches us that hostile movements target the most vulnerable of us first to test resistance, and by erasing trans individuals, in particular, this is the start of the framework that could be used to dismantle broader privacy rights, marriage equality itself, and civil rights for everyone, not just our own community,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n
Goldman and other speakers acknowledged the progress that has been made in establishing LGBTQIA+ rights in just the last half century, a movement that largely began in New York City during the Stonewall riots in 1969. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe Stonewall riots happened the summer before I was born, and we made incredible progress in our rights over the last 55 years,\u201d said Goldman. <\/p>\n
Queens\u2019 courts first began recognizing pride month in 2019. <\/p>\n
\u201cLike many institutions, the court system, unfortunately, has not always been as proud as it is today,\u201d said Associate Justice of the New York State Court of Appeals Anthony Cannataro. \u201cPride month is among many other things an opportunity to acknowledge and thank the members of our community who, for too long, were made to feel like they needed to hide their authentic selves in order to belong in this place.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cIt is an opportunity to celebrate the rapid progress that we have made towards equality and inclusion for LGBTQ+individuals throughout our society, and to remind us all of the work that still needs to be done,\u201d the judge added. <\/p>\n
Judge Shahabuddeen Ally, the administrative judge of New York City Civil Court, said that the court system has always played a role in pushing equality and representation for marginalized groups, and must continue to do so. <\/p>\n
\u201cCourts are brilliant for one particular reason,\u201d said Ally. \u201cWhen you sit in the audience, it doesn’t matter who you are, it doesn’t matter your skin color, your wealth status, you just want to be before a judge and hear and get justice, whatever that looks like. That’s what the court system is about.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Ryan Schwach Queens\u2019 courts celebrated Pride Month at Civil Court on Monday, recognizing the mark the LGBTQIA+…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":283783,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[9,24,63,122,124,123],"class_list":["post-283782","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283782","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=283782"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283782\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/283783"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=283782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=283782"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=283782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}