Councilmembers Chi Ossé of Brooklyn and Justin Sanchez of the Bronx have been elected co-chairs of the City Council’s LGBTQIA+ Caucus, the City Council announced on Feb. 6.
The leadership change in the LGBTQIA+ Caucus comes just days after co-chair Erik Bottcher of Manhattan left the City Council to join the New York State Senate. The rest of the caucus includes former co-chairs Crystal Hudson of Brooklyn and Tiffany Cabán of Queens, along with Lynn Schulman of Queens and David Carr of Staten Island.
Ossé, who represents District 36, was first elected in 2021, while Sanchez just joined the City Council in January following his election victory last year in the South Bronx’s District 17 — first in a competitive primary and then in the general election.
“I’m honored to serve alongside my colleagues as co-chair of the LGBTQIA+ Caucus,” Ossé said, adding that the caucus’ “responsibility is to protect LGBTQIA+ New Yorkers, invest in the services they rely on, and ensure young queer people in this city can grow up safe, supported, and affirmed.”
“We owe that to the generations who came before us and to the generations coming next,” Ossé added.
Ossé has passed several LGBTQ-related bills as a city lawmaker, including two pieces of legislation he carried last year: one requiring the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs to assist newly arrived TGNCNBI migrants, and another requiring the city health commissioner to address health inequities impacting TGNCNBI individuals.
Both co-chairs are emphasizing the role of local government at a time when the Trump administration and the GOP control the White House and both houses of Congress. Sanchez said the community “is on the front lines of hate and division handed down to us from the Trump administration,” while Ossé described local government as “one of our strongest lines of defense” when “the LGBTQIA+ community is under attack by those wielding the highest levers of power.”
In an interview with Gay City News on Feb. 9, Sanchez said he is “thrilled” about the “opportunity to serve the city and serve the LGBTQIA+ community in a deeper and more meaningful way.”
“I was approached by my colleagues upon winning an election about the possibility to serve in this role, and after much discussion with them and with many leaders in the queer community at large, folks encouraged me to step up,” Sanchez said, adding that he was “excited to take on” the opportunity.
Sanchez, for his part, is just entering the City Council — but he’s not new to leadership roles in the LGBTQ political scene. He previously served as the president of the Stonewall Democratic Club of New York City, which is a citywide LGBTQ political club, and he chaired the LGBTQ+ Caucus of the Young Democrats of America. Sanchez is the first Bronx councilmember to serve in the LGBTQIA+ Caucus since Ritchie Torres, who left the City Council at the end of 2020 to join the House of Representatives.
Reflecting on his journey from serving as president of Stonewall Democrats to leading the Council’s LGBTQIA+ Caucus, Sanchez said it shows that queer political clubs can serve as a training ground for future political leaders.
Notably, Sanchez pointed out that the LGBTQIA+ Caucus would finally have a member from every borough if City Council candidate Carl Wilson emerges victorious in the race to succeed Bottcher in District 3.
“I think it’s super exciting to show diversity of this community through all five boroughs,” Sanchez explained.
On X, Ossé shared a graphic featuring a photo of the new co-chairs in a post announcing the caucus’ new leadership.
“We’re honored to lead the caucus at a moment when local government must be the first line of defense for LGBTQIA+ New Yorkers,” Ossé wrote in the post.
