The Metropolis Council’s LGBTQIA+ Caucus, made up of six out lawmakers, has employed an govt director to raise constituent considerations and higher serve New York Metropolis’s queer neighborhood.
Yanery Cruz, an Afro-Latina trans lady who beforehand labored with the New York Transgender Advocacy Group (NYTAG) and has vital expertise working within the LGBTQ neighborhood in New York Metropolis, was employed to function the manager director — a task she says will permit her to listen to straight from the neighborhood about their wants on a spread of points, together with gender-affirming care and immigration.
The brand new place, which is being introduced by the Metropolis Council on April 9, comes lower than a month after Mayor Zohran Mamdani formally rolled out the brand new Mayor’s Workplace of LGBTQIA+ Affairs and launched its new govt director, Taylor Brown.
Cruz spoke to Homosexual Metropolis Information in a telephone interview on April 8, which was her first day on the brand new job. In her new position, Cruz confused that she wouldn’t function in a “silo” — and, in reality, after talking with Homosexual Metropolis Information, she mentioned she deliberate on reaching out to the Mayor’s Workplace of LGBTQIA+ Affairs to get in contact with Brown.
“The City Council and mayor’s office will be working very closely with one another when addressing the concerns of LGBTQIA+ constituents,” Cruz mentioned.
Yanery Cruz speaks at a 2025 candlelight vigil for the late Sam Nordquist.Donna AcetoCruz mentioned the LGBTQIA+ Caucus has been “doing amazing work” through the years, however with “very restricted sources,” and she or he hopes to make a distinction on these fronts as she steps into her position.
Pointing to the varied wants of queer New Yorkers, Cruz supplied a reminder that the LGBTQ neighborhood intersects with communities of immigrants, disabled people, and folks of all races and religions.
“We need to hear their considerations and produce [those concerns] to the caucus and members, but additionally to the speaker,” Cruz mentioned, together with points resembling how the town can higher execute its protections for its residents.
Whereas the position focuses on the work of the LGBTQIA+ Caucus, Cruz mentioned she is primarily working within the Workplace of Speaker Julie Menin.
Cruz mentioned her earlier neighborhood work has outfitted her with the data and expertise crucial for this position.
“At NYTAG, I got to learn a lot about policy and how to work with stakeholders,” Cruz mentioned. “And now, being at this level where I’m next door to stakeholders and able to speak directly with LGBTQIA+ Caucus members and the speaker’s staff, we’re able to bring those concerns to those grassroots organizations.”
Grassroots organizations, she mentioned, are sometimes missed, and she or he hopes to listen to from them as a result of they’re those “that are really on the ground having these conversations with our community.”
Among the many most urgent points dealing with LGBTQ New Yorkers is the supply of gender-affirming care at a time when some non-public hospitals, together with NYU Langone and Mount Sinai, have restricted take care of trans youth and a few adults.
“Right now, we’re in budget season, so we’re looking at where can we assist for gender-affirming care for youth,” Cruz mentioned.
Cruz additional famous that she is planning a gathering with some neighborhood leaders to see tackle gaps on different LGBTQ points.
“One of the conversations that is a little nuanced, but I’m trying to bring to this new role, is how can we support undocumented LGBTQ community members,” Cruz mentioned, emphasizing the deteriorating panorama for immigrants underneath the Trump administration. “They sit in this delicate intersection where people immigrated over to this country for better quality of life, to be living free without prejudice, and now are encountering an administration that doesn’t see their worth. I want to see how this caucus can step up more for immigrants.”
The six lawmakers who make up the Metropolis Council’s LGBTQIA+ Caucus characterize 4 of the town’s 5 boroughs, except for Manhattan. Councilmembers Chi Ossé of Brooklyn and Justin Sanchez of the Bronx grew to become co-chairs of the caucus earlier this 12 months following the departure of former Councilmember Erik Bottcher, who’s now a state senator.
“The work to ensure local government remains a bulwark for queer and trans people will only grow stronger with Yanery Cruz as executive director,” Ossé told Gay City News in a written statement. “As co-chair of the New York City Council’s LGBTQIA+ Caucus, I look forward to working alongside Yanery to ensure our communities are supported and protected in every corner of this city. At a moment like this, that work carries even greater urgency. While the federal government wages a war on the right for queer and trans people to live freely, the responsibility falls on cities like ours to lead. Yanery’s appointment is an investment in the future LGBTQIA+ New Yorkers deserve.”
