bronx

News 12’s Kurt Semder speaks with
elected officials and community advocates about the issues facing the LGBTQ
community. 

News 12’s Kurt Semder speaks with elected officials and community advocates about the issues facing the LGBTQ community.

Bronx

BX | Weather

BXBKWX113023NOON

Another check of that hyperlocal forecast. Definitely not as cold out there today and we have the sunshine too. So overall, this is just about as good as it gets for us. Not a bad way to close off the month, but we start off December with more clouds and a chance for a shower in the evening. It's mostly light rain, but it'll probably be around through the whole evening commute. Then the weekend comes with cloudy skies kind of spritzes and a little bit of drizzle. But as you see, temperatures have been kind of hovering close to 50 this afternoon and then we drop into the mid forties for any evening plans. So 7 p.m. dinner time looks cool but not cold. We're chilly in the morning time on Friday, a few spots close to freezing, but I'm expecting us to stay above it. And then Friday afternoon, temperatures are mostly in the mid forties with high temperatures close to 50 but it won't feel as warm tomorrow. And that's because we have cloudy skies. Here's a look at four o'clock seeing very light showers pass through the city and that will continue kind of on and off for us here in the Bronx at five o'clock, still some light showers tomorrow and then closing off Friday evening with just mainly cloudy skies. Those clouds just are so stubborn. Best chance of seeing the sun is gonna be on Saturday, but there's not much of it expect clouds to build overnight. Saturday with a few showers. If you have late Saturday evening plans, I'm talking after dinner time, Sunday, rain pretty much expected at some point in the afternoon or evening. Definitely not looking like a total wash at this point. But the later you get in the day, the better bahrain risk gets. So you need the umbrella there. Probably gonna need it for Monday morning too. That's still a few days out. But at least temperatures still look quite mild there and we're expecting high temperatures to stay only in the mid forties from the middle of next week. It's gonna be a little cool.

https://vod.chdrstatic.com/transcode/6c0667ab-5af7-4c70-bd15-fd2610742fbf/6c0667ab-5af7-4c70-bd15-fd2610742fbf.transcribe

Weather

Brooklyn

BK | Weather

Article 296349 Thumbnail

Power & Politics Full Show: Celebrating Pride Month

actualPRIDEBXBKbd

Yeah, welcome everyone to power in politics right here on News 12, which for this week is pride in politics as we are celebrating Pride month. Over the next half hour, we're gonna be speaking with elected officials and community advocates about the issues facing the L G B T Q plus community. The progress made over the past year and the work that they say is more important now than ever before. And we're gonna begin our conversation with the first out gay afro latino elected to Congress. Representative Ritchie Torres from the Bronx. It's been almost two years now since he made history. And I started by asking him his thoughts on the state of L G B T Q rights in our country right now. Look, I first took office in 2013, which was before the Obergefell decision. The Obergefell versus Hodges decision which made marriage equality the law of the land. So we're certainly better off today than we've ever been. And here in Congress we have the largest caucus of L G B T. Q. Representatives in the history of the United States Congress. We're certainly making progress, but we have a distance to travel before achieving full equality. Let's talk about that distance to travel here because there's now talk of what needs to be done now going forward. What would you like to see going forward? What efforts would you like to spearhead in Congress as far as L G B T Q plus rights. Well, the highest priority is the Equality Act, which would expand the civil rights act to include the LGBTQ community, right? The Equality Act is based on the principle of equality that no american should be fired or evicted or denied critical services or accommodations simply because of who you are or whom you love. All of us, including the L. G. B. T. Q community should be protected from discrimination in matters of employment, housing and public accommodations. So passing the Equality act is the single highest priority of all the L. G. B. T. Q members in Congress. It's something you've talked about a lot. I know it's something that's very important to you. Absolutely. Another thing that's important and I'm hearing a lot from advocates and other leaders is to protect the rights that have already been gained to protect the gains that have been made over the years. Because there's a lot of concern that there's an effort to roll back some of those rights, especially when we talk about things involving the Supreme Court. What are your thoughts on those kind of fears and those kind of concerns? Justice Alito's draft opinion overturning roe versus wade could have implications far beyond growth. It could represent a frontal assault, not only on reproductive rights but also on landmark L. G. B. T. Q cases like Lawrence versus texas which protects the right to intimacy. And Obergefell versus Hodges which protects the right to marriage equality. Um, so even though we're celebrating how far we've come, we have to be careful not to take for granted the progress that we've achieved because the progress progress remains under threat. And a reminder, you can scan the QR code in the bottom corner of your screen right now for everything. Power and politics. Moving over to the state side of things now and Jabari Bridgeport became the first out gay person of color elected to the new york state legislature back in 2020. And since then he's worked on several pieces of legislation in Albany that he believes will be a great help to the L. G. B. T. Q. Community. It's just one of the topics that the state senator and I discussed. What's your thoughts on the state on the state of rights, especially when we talk about here in our state. Yeah, well, I'm glad you said here in our state because because nationally it's it's really terrifying what's happening, especially with the rights being rolled back for members of the trans community. Uh, new york continues to be a bastion of um, you know, fighting for L. G. B. T. Q. Plus rights. I'm very proud of many of the bills that we passed this year. We passed a bill from Senator Heilman to establish transgender and gender non binary health and equity funds to specifically help out members of the community. Um, and we also passed one of my bills to allow homeless and runaway youth to consent to their own um medical procedures with their doctor without the consent of the parent guardian. Um and also, you know, good old just health care center home. And we passed another bill to um to require that in any insurance company that's requiring that you get the prescriptions is you know, allows for prep and pep. You know, you mentioned it, I brought up state first because that's where you know, you obviously deal with most, you are the state legislator, but nationally the conversation is a little bit more, as you mentioned a little more, I don't know if Dyer's the correct word for it, but what what's your thought on the national scene? I mean, I think we're seeing a major culture war launched from the right to um turn the dial, turn the clock back on L. G. B. T. Q. Plus rights to really paint members of our trans community as villains. Um an attempt by them to you know to don't say gay bill in florida and attempt to silence the community. Take us back to the days where members of the community were fearful to be out and proud and you know, part of pride and this is a pride month is that you know, part of pride is not just out your your prideful about it. You know, you show your stuff and you know that's always been part of the heart of this community, is that when people try to silence you, you get louder and bolder if they try and shove you into the dark, you shine even brighter. Um so, you know, that's what we're doing here in new york and you know, I want us to keep serving as a model for how other states should be treating members of the community. You broke through when, when you were elected and joined the new york state Senate. And so much we talk about how important representation is and so important is to have somebody there speaking for the community at at the governmental level. How do we make that happen? How does that happen? How do we get more people in the state Senate? How do we get more people in the federal government? How do you get more representation? I mean, I think everyone will need to do their due diligence as we have two primaries coming up, one in june and one in august there are some incredible queer candidates, um queer candidates of color running um you know, throughout the states and, you know, in addition to identity, you know, we want to make sure the other progressives as well. That's I mean, um without me tell everyone who to vote for, but I definitely would say there are some great candidates running that people should look up. You know, and I would be honored to have our numbers grow and then we'll get a queer caucus going in the state legislature next now another piece of legislation recently passed in Albany, the transgender and non binary wellness and Equity fund essentially advocates cited a report which found that the transgender community only receives four cents of every $100 that's awarded to L. G. B. T. Q. Causes. Now this fund sets aside $1 million in the state budget for those communities. And I spoke with one of the biggest advocates for the fund at lisa Crispo to find out just how much of a difference it will make. You put a lot of time and sweat and tears and energy into making this happen. And I'm happy to say that we got it done new york is now the second state in the country behind California to have a fund of this kind. This started with a letter to the governor's office back in january And it led to a $1 million April and then we went and wrote a program bill and advocated to make that fund permanent to make sure that it gets funding annually regardless of who's in power. And the most important and beautiful thing is that the entire effort was led by us, by members of the community, by a coalition of trans and gender, nonconforming people from across the state that the new pride agenda put together. So we're super super excited about it and we're hoping that the bill gets signed sometime during this month, during Pride month. So where would you put the state, where would you put the state of trans rights right now? Here in our state? Where where are we at? Right now? We spoke last year, we've spoken many times about this where we are we better than we were a year ago or we were where do you feel we are? I think we're better. I think new york leads the way in protecting the trans community. Absolutely. Does that mean that the work is over? Absolutely not. No. So there are a couple of things that we were not able to get past this session and one of those is the gender identity, respect, dignity and safety act. Actually something that California beat us to as well. And it would just protect people who are incarcerated across the state of new york who identify as trans and make sure that they get commissary items that aligned with their gender identity expression. It would make sure that they are referred to by their preferred pronouns. Um it would ensure that they are housed correctly and according to how they want to be and what makes some feel safe. And so we still very much need to get that done next year. We still haven't passed a curriculum bill that teaches people about L. G. B. T. Q. History, which is so important um in response to what's happening across the country. Um we still haven't decriminalized consensual sex work, which is something that is very common specifically among trans women of color, who often are shut out from the private sector and who need to survive and take care of themselves. Um So there's still work to be done and there will always be work that needs to be done. But of course new york leads the way in protecting trans people, especially when you look at what's happening across the country in places like Alabama, texas florida, you name it, you know, you say the work needs to be done, there's more work to be done. You have always worked for specifically the community as a general but you've always mentioned the trans community of color that there there's some major issues there that need to be addressed that need to be focused on in order not just to make life better but to keep people safe. What issues and and how are they being addressed? Mhm. Look, we always talk about trans people of color for a reason because if you look at the data and the numbers, We are the people who are suffering the most on average trans people of color make about $10,000 a year. We're living in deep poverty. We have high unemployment rates. One out of every two black trans women will experience incarceration at some point in their life. One out of every three are living um or will be living with HIV. So we have major problems in our community despite all of the progress and advances that we've made, we still have work to do occur and that's the that I will continue to repeat that time and time again because I know if I'm lived experience that we are not where we should be. We haven't quite reached our fullest potential and it's not necessarily around discrimination. It's more so around economic justice, gainful employment, housing and equity. All right. We are just getting started here on pride and politics coming up. We're sitting down with two members of the City Council's L G B T Q caucus Geo sae and Crystal Hudson to see what's being done in the five boroughs during Pride month and beyond. No, welcome back to Pride in politics right here on news 12. I'm kurt sender. Well, when we speak with lawmakers and advocates about L G B T Q rights representation in government, it almost always comes up and with good reason. According to the Victory Institute, there are just over 1000 L g b T Q elected officials nationwide. That's just 2/10 of a percent of the total number of elected officials in the country. Now, the states with the most representation California pennsylvania Illinois and right here in new york. Let's take the new york City council for example. There are currently seven members of the L G B T Q caucus, seven out of 51 seats now that actually matches the previous high that was set In 2017. I spoke with two of those members who are currently in their first year in the city council. Let's start with Brooklyn Council member, you know, I think the state of LGBTQ rights in our city are probably the best out of any other state in this country. Um That's not to say that we still have a long way to go um in terms of achieving uh you know, the total rights that that we as a community both deserve and need. Um I will say something that is more important, especially as the L G. B. T. Q. Elected um in the state as progressive as as new york state is, um as we have to continue to be the model uh for what true L G. B. T. Q. Um legislation and advocacy and rights looks like I'm especially given um everything that is happening across our country and more specifically in in some of our conservative states, in your opinion. What's the biggest issue that's facing the community right now? The biggest issues, especially facing our community right now here in new york city, I would say, is uh homelessness, um and housing issues for L. G B. T. Q people, trans folks, and especially our our young populations. Um you know, there are large rates of young people that um you know, whether they come out in their family that may be more conservative, sometimes they're they're kicked out of their homes and a lot of these young people struggle to either find jobs or places to sleep at night. So um that is a pressing issue for our community. It speaks to my demographic and um it's definitely something that I'm working on um alongside my colleagues in the council to hopefully find a solution to for lack of a better term. Do you feel a sense of pride being a member of the L. G. B. T. Q. Caucus in the city council? Absolutely. And it's something I wear on my chest, it's something that um you know I fight for on a daily basis. You know and I think many people think that when we as L. G. B. T. Q. I. Elected um are elected that we are only here to fight for people in our community but every issue whether it's housing, whether it's public safety, whether it's um you know homelessness um that impacts all of us. Um And sometimes we see those rates impacting the L. G. B. T. Q. I. A. Community at a higher rate. So I take great pride in being in this position because I know that there is so much work that needs to be done and I'm able to do this work uh for my community because I'm from that community. Um and can see it through a different lens rather than some of my other college and G. O. Say not the only council member from Brooklyn in the L. G. B. T. Q. Caucus. I sat down with one of its co chairs crystal Hudson it means a lot. It's, you know, we're at a time where we have two out queer women of color who've been selected to be co chairs of the L. G. B. T. Q. I. A. Plus caucus in the city council. I'm pretty sure that's unprecedented. Um And so it's a real true show of our values um and that it's an opportunity for Tiffany Carbon and I to step into our leadership in this capacity as you undertake this position and this leadership and at a time in our city when there's a lot of attention being paid to, you know, quality of life, to public safety to education to so many issues. But what would you how would you put the state of L. G. B. T. Q. Plus rights right now in the city. How would you what would you say about the state of them right now? Well, first of all, I would say that every issue is an L. G. B. T. Q. Issue. So all of the areas that you just mentioned all pertain to the L. G. B. T. Q. Community, I think, you know, we've come a very long way and we still have a far way to go. Uh there are, you know, homeless LGBTQ youth uh you know, uh black and brown, trans women, um gender non conforming folks who are all quite literally, you know struggling every day to stay alive in New york city to feel safe here in new york city um to attend schools that affirm them and see them and support them. Um and also to find jobs that do the same. And so until all of those folks have safe and secure housing and affordable housing until they have, you know, access to schools that are supportive and curriculum that reflects who they are. Until they have the ability to get you know jobs with a living wage um and to stay safe in the city then we haven't really, you know, uh finished the fight. Is there a one overarching issue that directly impacts you in your opinion? One issue that really impacts the community and needs to be addressed from your perspective and from your capacity in the city council. I think certainly thinking about the safety of black and brown trans women um whether walking in the streets trying to go about their business or even for those who find themselves incarcerated, you know, safety is a big issue. Um and and quite honestly staying alive. And so until we have a city that is truly safe for black and brown trans women, like I said, we've got a long way to go crystal, how do we keep these issues and these conversations going all year round? I mean, well I'm gay every day. I'm not just gay in june, you know, and so I think we need to absolutely continue talking about the issues that impact the L G B T Q community. I know I certainly do because every issue is an L G B T Q issue. Um every issue, you know, like I said pertains to our community And we don't stop talking about those issues, we don't stop living uh you know, the issues that, that we face um and we don't stop fighting for the progress that we have yet to see and so you know, I encourage everybody to join me in talking about these issues every day of the year, 365 days of the year And coming up, we're going to introduce you to the president of the Stonewall Democrats of New York City and he's just 30 years old. Stay with us more pride in politics in just a bit. Welcome back to power in politics everyone. And finally today he is the president of the Stonewall democrats of new york city a Bronx site and he's just 30 years old News twelve's Mersa Marcelino introduces us to Justin Sanchez community is where the heart is and we have to give back to our home. That's the Foundation for Bronx born and raised Justin Sanchez passion and drive and informs the work that he does as the chief of staff for assembly member natalia Fernandez and the president of the Stonewall democrats, he's always on the go just the way he likes it. The best way to get anything that you want in this life and the best way that you're going to live happy and full life is just being yourself. Sanchez says he's proud to lead the largest LGBT political club in the city in the Stonewall democrats and wants to make sure people know policy decisions shouldn't be siloed. Every issue is an LGBTQ issue when we're talking about housing, when we're talking about food insecurity. As the grandson of immigrants. He is proud to say he's living the american dream and is inspired by his grandmother's legacy. He says his personal goal is for people to just be their authentic selves. The LGBT community is not just one thing. It's everybody from all walks of life, all shapes and sizes, all backgrounds, skin tones, belief. Sanchez just finished up a master's at N. Y. U. And public administration and ask for what's next. He wouldn't be opposed to a run for office one day, but right now he's just laser focused on the work ahead In Melrose Marisa Marcelino News 12. And a quick thank you to all of our guests today and a reminder to scan this QR code for more power and politics content over at news 12 dot com. Well that's all this week. Thanks for watching everyone. I'm kurt sender have a great rest of your day and happy. Pride

https://vod.chdrstatic.com/transcode/e657f3ea-8af0-4b08-9f8d-e980cbeca4cb/e657f3ea-8af0-4b08-9f8d-e980cbeca4cb.transcribe