Mayoral hopefuls discuss gender-affirming care, Rikers, and more at LGBTQ forum
Reposted from Gay City News coverage by Matt Tracy. Full article available here.
With just three months remaining until the Democratic primary, six candidates vying to become the next mayor of New York City gathered at The Church of the Village on March 27 to participate in an LGBTQ mayoral forum jointly hosted by four political clubs and organizations.
City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, former Assemblymember Michael Blake, City Comptroller Brad Lander, Queens Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani, Queens State Senator Jessica Ramos, and former City Comptroller Scott Stringer were on hand for the forum, which was moderated by Juan Manuel Benítez, a local journalism professor at Columbia University who previously worked with NY1.
Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Mayor Eric Adams, and Brooklyn Assemblymember Zellnor Myrie were invited to participate but did not attend.
The Stonewall Democratic Club of New York City, Lambda Independent Democrats of Brooklyn, NYC Pride and Power, and Equality New York jointly hosted the forum. There were occasional interruptions during the event, but the night went on relatively smoothly nonetheless.
The earlier portion of the forum addressed the status of gender-affirming care, which is under threat in the wake of the Trump administration’s late-January executive order vowing to cut off federal funding for institutions providing gender-affirming care to individuals 19 years of age or younger. In New York City, several hospitals responded to that executive order by canceling appointments and restricting care. Federal courts have blocked that executive order, but candidates who participated in the forum emphasized the need to come up with contingency plans.