Yanery Cruz delivers remarks in observance of Transgender Day of Visibility in March of 2025.
Donna Aceto
The Metropolis Council’s LGBTQIA+ Caucus, made up of six out lawmakers, has employed an government director to raise constituent considerations and higher serve New York Metropolis’s queer group.
Yanery Cruz, an Afro-Latina trans girl who beforehand labored with the New York Transgender Advocacy Group (NYTAG) and has vital expertise working within the LGBTQ group in New York Metropolis, was employed to function the manager director — a job she says will permit her to listen to straight from the group 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 government director, Taylor Brown.
“The City Council and mayor’s office will be working very closely with one another when addressing the concerns of LGBTQIA+ constituents,” Cruz stated.
Yanery Cruz speaks at a 2025 candlelight vigil for the late Sam Nordquist.Donna Aceto
Cruz stated the LGBTQIA+ Caucus has been “doing amazing work” through the years, however with “very limited resources,” and he or she hopes to make a distinction on these fronts as she steps into her position.
Pointing to the varied wants of queer New Yorkers, Cruz provided a reminder that the LGBTQ group intersects with communities of immigrants, disabled people, and folks of all races and religions.
“We want to hear their concerns and bring [those concerns] to the caucus and members, but also to the speaker,” Cruz stated, 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 stated she is primarily working within the Workplace of Speaker Julie Menin.
Cruz stated her earlier group work has outfitted her with the information and expertise mandatory for this position.
“At NYTAG, I got to learn a lot about policy and how to work with stakeholders,” Cruz stated. “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 stated, are sometimes ignored, and he or she 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 going through LGBTQ New Yorkers is the provision of gender-affirming care at a time when some non-public hospitals, together with NYU Langone and Mount Sinai, have restricted look after 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 stated.
Cruz additional famous that she is planning a gathering with some group leaders to see how one can 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 stated, emphasizing the deteriorating panorama for immigrants below 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, aside from Manhattan. Councilmembers Chi Ossé of Brooklyn and Justin Sanchez of the Bronx turned co-chairs of the caucus earlier this 12 months following the departure of former Councilmember Erik Bottcher, who’s now a state senator.
