Transcript: Mayor Adams Hosts Reception Celebrating LGBTQ+ Pride Month

June 13, 2024

Watch the video here at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BneVDLciFrE

Patrick Kwan, Senior Advisor, Community Affairs Unit: Hey, hello everyone, if I could have my dear colleagues, our dear colleagues to you up on the stage, that would be amazing. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you all for being here. I just want to acknowledge these are some of the colleagues who I have who work day in day out who are part of our LGBTQ community who are here.

Thank you so much. I want to acknowledge them. 

We have David Do, Commissioner of the Taxi and Limousine Commission, TLC. Eric Endelin, president of the NYC Housing Development Corporation. Lindsay Green, CEO of the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Preston Niblack, commissioner of the Department of Finance. Leila Bozorg, executive director of the Mayor's Office of Housing. Elijah Hutchinson, the executive director of the Climate and Environmental Justice Program. Jayson Littman, who's the director of the Special Projects and Community Events. We have Maryanne Schretzman, who is the executive director of the NYC Center for Innovation. We have Liz Lauros, chief of staff for the deputy mayor for Health and Human Services. Bill Heinzen, our special counsel to the mayor. Mike Nolan, our chief strategy officer for Strategic Policy for the deputy mayor for strategic initiatives. We have my dear colleague, Andy Bowen, who is the senior advisor to deputy mayor for workforce and economic development. Thank you all so much. We are also honored to have Assemblymember Jenifer Rajkumar, who will be joining us and sharing a few words. 

State Assemblymember Jenifer Rajkumar: Happy Pride, New York City. Make some noise if you are filled with pride. I am State Assemblywoman Jenifer Rajkumar, and I am the first Indian-American woman ever elected to a New York State office. 

When I first ran for this seat, I ran against someone who voted against marriage equality, who voted against gender. At that time, people told me, Jennifer, you're a very nice girl, but you got no shot. But we won, and we won by the largest margin of any challenger in this state. Now the doors of my district are thrown open to everyone of every identity, and we practice love and equality for all. I have been so proud to march with you in the fight for marriage equality, and we won. I was proud to speak on the floor of the legislature to repeal the 'Walking While Trans' ban, and we won. 

Now it is my passion to uplift our LGBTQ plus youth and let them know that they have every opportunity in the world, and that they should be proud. We're going to win for them too. I'm here to say that you have my full support. The keys to my office are your keys. Love is love, happy pride, and I love you all.

Kwan: Thank you so much, Assemblymember. I also have the privilege to have my colleague, Ronald Porcelli, who will be joining us, who was just today appointed the director of the NYC Unity Project. Ronald.

Ronald Porcelli, Director, NYC Unity Project : Hello everyone, I am Ronald Porcelli, director of the NYC Unity Project. The 55th anniversary of Stonewall is an opportunity to look back at the blood, sweat, and tears of those who came before us. We fought battles in the streets, in our homes, and within ourselves. 

Since the dawn of time, LGBTQ+ people have uplifted and empowered our shared humanity. Passion and perseverance flow in our blood. I want to thank Mayor Eric Adams, Deputy Mayor for Strategic Initiatives Ana Almanzar, and the commissioner of the Mayor's Office of Equity and Racial Justice, Sideya Sherman. Thank you for joining us in this fight for not only LGBTQ+ equality, but equity for our most vulnerable members. Together, we will continue this fight. Happy Pride.

Kwan: Yes. Okay, I'm actually very happy I did this right, so thank you all so much for being here. Happy Pride. 

My name is Patrick Kwan, I'm senior advisor in the Community Affairs Unit and also the Mayor's LGBTQ liaison. I'm so proud to be here today. I am the very first Asian American to serve in this role, and I am extremely proud to do that. 

I want to thank all of you for being here. This is the 55th anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising. In the city of New York, we celebrate Pride citywide, borough by borough, and block by block. I would be remiss to not mention that, as we all know, around the world, there are still way too many countries where celebrating Pride itself is illegal. We know across the country, our community, especially our TGNC community, who's been under relentless attack, we are so proud that here in the city of New York, we are there to stand with them, and we are also going to fight for the rights of our LGBTQ siblings. 

I want to thank all of you for being here. I am so proud now to introduce Mayor Eric Adams. Thank you. 

Mayor Eric Adams: I love that song, If you think about it for a moment, when you come from the energy of Brother Rustin, if you come from the energy of those who have fought for so long, Harvey Milk and so many others. 

For a long time, folks, you have impacted the lives of not only New Yorkers, but Americans in the globe. But you had to do it in the shadows of who you are. You fought hard to state that you are not going to be denied because you choose to live your life and love who you want. Because of that, people are now visibly seeing how much you have been holding up our entire existence. Many great people were public success and had to quietly live in private fear, fear of being who they want. 

One of the proudest moments I had as an elected official was when I was in the State Senate. When I campaigned and ran on the strong stance, I was not going to leave Albany without marriage being passed. We were able to vote on it and see marriage being passed and finally allowing people to love who they want. Embrace who they want. We have so much more to do. 

The fight does not stop. That was not a period. That was merely a comma that continued the sentence of your long fight and pursuit to be able to enjoy your city in a manner in which you want to. When you look at over five decades since Stonewall, you look at how long and how continuous this fight has been. You look over my shoulders, and some of the great people that are part of this administration and the strong voice that you have from just a real good friend and leader, Patrick, has been amazing and is an advocate for this community. He refused to be silent, refused to take any shortcuts, wants to make sure that you are strongly represented. He just don't want to be a symbol. He wants to be of substance. He has done that. 

We're adding even David Do, our commissioner of Taxi and Limousine Commission. Eric, president of New York City Housing Development Corporation, Lindsay Green, CEO of Brooklyn Navy Yard, Preston, the commissioner of Department of Finance. When you look over into the executive director position, Leila is executive director of Mayor's Office of Housing. Elijah, executive director of Climate and Environmental Justice. Jayson, director of Special Projects and Community Events. Ronald, senior policy advisor. Maryanne, executive director of New York City Center for Innovation. Liz, chief of staff of health and human services. Bill Heinzen, special counsel. Mike Nolan, chief strategy officer. Andy Bowen, senior advisor. 

Why am I reading them off? Because they don't only represent the issues that impact your community, they represent the issues that impact your city. Because although your issues of the LBGTQ+ community are important to you, you're also concerned about housing. You're also concerned about health care. You're also concerned about education of your children. You're also concerned about walking down a block and not being the victim of someone that wants to attack you because of who you are and what you represent. 

There's a totality of what you want and expect. Your presence should be in every entity that represents that. That's why GOAL is here tonight, the Gay Officers Action League, because they fought hard. I remember as a police officer going with GOAL to interrupt road calls to state that members of this community should not be treated disrespectful and how members of GOAL were treated disrespectful, but they stood firm and tall. 

You are all in it together. You cannot divide your ranks because you all represent the right to have the right. That is an important right. You can't do it without respecting those who blamed and paved the way. Every year I say it, and I'm going to say it as long as I'm the mayor of the City of New York. We owe Former Senator Tom Duane a debt of gratitude. Tom was the lone voice, the lone voice in Albany in the Senate. He was unrelenting. I would watch him as he would stand up and fight to make sure we got gender done, to make sure we got marriage done, to make sure we had the funding done. This is a person who made a difference. This is a person who many of you may know of, but I'm telling you, the substance that he brought to the State of New York, where the largest LGBTQ+ community lived, cascaded throughout this entire country. We cannot thank you enough, Tom, for what you have done.

Former State Senator Thomas Duane: Mayor Adams always has been, is now, will always be the greatest straight ally — as far as I know, because we lip gloss. I'm single. I'm doing… What can I say? No, seriously, the greatest ally our community has ever had and will have, and on HIV/AIDS issue, he is the most empathetic, wonderful guy. The only thing I didn't like is he would upstage me when I made a speech, because he's a great speaker, and I love him. He's a great mayor.

Mayor Adams: Just love Tom. Let me say this, community. I'm not a new friend. I'm an old friend. I'm an old friend. He's no longer with me, but I remember when I went to Albany and voted for marriage. My brother-in-law was a minister at the time, and he said, Eric, you no longer can come in our church anymore. It was my family church. 

It hurt me deeply, but he was so angry that he stated that after 40-something years of being a member of the church, I was not allowed back in. I knew at my core that what I was doing was right. I knew at my core that even if it meant being ostracized to a place where I was baptized, a place where I was raised, a place I went to during the most painful moments of my life, I knew I could not sit back and be a detached spectator while my brothers and sisters from this community were being treated unfairly. 

We don't always get it right, folks. There are days I wish I could do things better, and there are days that I didn't do it exactly the way I want. When you are part of a family, you work through it together. Don't let anyone tell you that this community does not mean a lot to me. Some people come along late in the game after we have fought the battle, and we have the battle wounds to show it, and they talk about how good or bad we are. Let's look at your legacy first before you critique those who fought the battles already. I'm consistent in this battle to ensure that you get the right and the dignity that you deserve, and that's why we're going to continue to do it. 

On this 55th anniversary of Stonewall, the uprising made sure we were never laid down again. Today and every day forward, we're going to reach into our schools and have an agenda that's inclusive, ensure that we lift up all groups. People need to know what Brother Bayard Rustin has done to the Civil Rights Movement. We would not be here right now as a person of color if it wasn't for him, but he was not written into our history. 

We know how we must change the game. That's why I appointed Ronald Porcelli to lead the New York City Unity Project, because when I was a captain, when I was a captain in the Police Department in the 6tj Precinct, I would watch those young children walk over to Christopher Street. When they decided to come out, their parents threw them out. Part of the project will be launching family acceptance of LGBTQ+ youth initiatives, so parents can understand your baby boy or your baby girl did not change in their love for them merely because they wanted to define the lives that they want to live. We want to change that dynamic. 

We want to make sure with Hidden Voices that it gives us the civic intelligence and knowledge that people can sit down and our children can learn the impact of this great community, using our educational system to do so. Also making sure our young LGBTQ+ youth be part of the young employment. I want to thank Commissioner Howard and the SYEP Pride employer participation. 

To the pioneers, earlier this year, for years, there were those who stated that on Staten Island, because of who you are, you could not march in the Staten Island parade. But you know what? [Inaudible], and our entire team, Brendan and [inaudible], they said if we can't march in your parade, we will have our own parade. Because we have a mayor that will allow us to march in Staten Island. Congratulations to you. 

I say we have so much to do in this city but I am excited and enthusiastic because we are committed and dedicated. We will live off the rich traditions of those who came before us to fulfill our commitment in this marathon. Now the baton is in our hand. We must do what is right with that baton to make sure never again will we allow anyone to be left off this relay. I thank you as a community. I thank you as the mayor. I thank you as the city leader. I tell people all the time, to be gay and proud, there's only two places to do it, in New York City and those who wish they were in New York City. We love it every day. Thank you.

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