LGBTQIA+ Caucus Co-Chair Chi Ossé delivers remarks throughout a rally on the Stonewall Nationwide Monument flagpole on Feb. 12.
Matt Tracy
Metropolis and state lawmakers packed into Christopher Park on the Stonewall Nationwide Monument on the morning of Feb. 12 for a “Hands Off Our Flag” rally in opposition to the Trump administration’s resolution to take away the Rainbow Flag there earlier within the week.
Bronx Councilmember Justin Sanchez, who not too long ago took workplace and serves alongside Ossé as co-chair of the LGBTQIA+ Caucus, kicked off the rally by declaring that the flag’s removing “is just not right.”
“The federal administration would rather erase us than build us up and show us what America truly is,” Sanchez stated.
LGBTQIA+ Caucus Co-Chair Justin Sanchez joined the Metropolis Council in January.Matt Tracy
Sanchez was joined by his co-chair, Chi Ossé, who stated it’s the duty of the LGBTQIA+ Caucus co-chairs to guard the LGBTQ neighborhood.
“That’s something we will continue to do day in and day out,” Ossé of Brooklyn stated, talking alongside out lawmakers and allies, together with Metropolis Council Speaker Julie Menin.
Two former co-chairs of the LGBTQIA+ Caucus, Crystal Hudson of Brooklyn and Tiffany Cabán of Queens, additionally denounced the flag’s removing on the rally.
Councilmember Crystal Hudson of Brooklyn is a former co-chair of the LGBTQIA+ Caucus.
“We’re here, we’re queer, and we’re not going anywhere,” Hudson declared. Cabán stated the Trump administration is attempting to destroy the LGBTQ neighborhood’s “collective memory.”
“But our roots are alive,” Cabán stated. “We are the living proof that our roots are alive.”
Queens Councilmember Tiffany Cabán, like Hudson, can be a former LGBTQIA+ Caucus co-chair.Matt Tracy
Out state lawmakers readily available on the rally included Assemblymembers Deborah Glick and Tony Simone and State Senator Erik Bottcher — all from Manhattan.
“This is not a fight that we have asked for,” Bottcher stated. “But this is a fight that we will win, because we have been subject to persecution for thousands of years. We’ve always persisted. In the end, we always win.”
State Senator Erik Bottcher simply joined the State Legislature this month after beforehand serving within the Metropolis Council.Matt Tracy
Glick, the primary out state lawmaker in New York State, stated the administration is mounting assaults on LGBTQ individuals and others in an effort to distract from what she described as “an authoritarian regime.” The Trump administration, she stated, is attempting to “tell a community that they are going to come after us and take us into the shadows from which we emerged.”
“We are not going back,” she stated. “We have fought other attempts to make us feel small, make us feel the other, make us feel we don’t matter, that we don’t count. But we know the truth. They’re scared. They see their numbers cratering, so they want to go after marginal groups, whether it’s immigrants, whether it’s the LGBTQ community.”
Manhattan Assemblymember Deborah Glick is the primary out state lawmaker in New York.Matt Tracy
Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal, who accompanied Gov. Kathy Hochul throughout her go to to the Stonewall Nationwide Monument lower than 24 hours earlier than the rally, reminded the group of former President Abraham Lincoln’s quote: “A house divided against itself cannot stand.”
“And we are here because we are not a house divided,” Hoylman-Sigal stated. “We are a house united.”
Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal, now with a borough-wide constituency, beforehand represented the realm across the Stonewall Nationwide Monument when he served within the State Senate.
On the identical day because the rally, metropolis lawmakers have been transferring to go a decision “calling on the United States Congress to respect the true history and significance of national park sites, including the Stonewall National Monument.”
