Following through on a key campaign pledge, Mayor Zohran Mamdani signed an executive order establishing the new Mayor’s Office of LGBTQIA+ Affairs and announced its first director in front of a packed room at the Brooklyn Community Pride Center on March 13.
The new office will take the lead on coordinating initiatives and resources for LGBTQ New Yorkers across city agencies; prevent agencies from engaging in discrimination on the basis of gender, gender identity, or sexual orientation; and develop legal resources to uphold the city’s sanctuary city protections for LGBTQIA+ individuals, according to the Mamdani administration.
“City Hall will stand with queer New Yorkers today, City Hall will stand with queer New Yorkers tomorrow, City Hall will stand with queer New Yorkers every day that is still to come,” Mayor Mamdani said during an evening press conference at the Brooklyn Community Pride Center’s Crown Heights location.
The office will also oversee and “expand upon” the NYC Unity Project, which was established under the de Blasio administration and championed by former First Lady Chirlane McCray as the first citywide commitment to meet the needs of LGBTQ young people through education, workforce development programs, and health equity, among other areas.
The first director of the Mayor’s Office of LGBTQIA+ Affairs will be Taylor Brown, an attorney who boasts an impressive legal background in support of LGBTQ individuals at the national level. Brown formerly worked for Lambda Legal and the ACLU and now works in New York State Attorney General Letitia James’ office as an assistant attorney general in the Civil Rights Bureau.
Notably, according to the mayor’s office, Brown is the first trans person to lead a city office or agency.
Brown was the main focus of the Friday evening event, which featured a range of LGBTQ non-profit leaders, queer activists, and out elected officials representing constituents at multiple levels of government, including Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal, Manhattan State Senator Erik Bottcher, Manhattan Assemblymember Tony Simone, Brooklyn State Senator Jababri Brisport, and Bronx City Councilmember Justin Sanchez.
“The queer community, as well as the intersecting communities and adjacent communities, are under extreme attack in this country from all angles, it seems, from the top levels of government to society in general,” Brown said at the press conference. “So now, more than ever, in this moment, it is so critical, I think, to have trans leadership because New York City is where the LGBTQ civil right movement started.”
Brown, a biracial Black trans woman who hails from North Carolina, has worked on federal cases pertaining to gender-affirming care, the rights of incarcerated trans individuals, and gender markers on birth certificates, among other areas of focus. In 2024, Brown played a key role in James’ legal battle against anti-trans Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman after he signed an executive order barring trans athletes from participating in sports at county facilities.
Brown recalled moving to New York City 12 years ago with two specific needs in mind.
“New York City has given me everything,” Brown said. “When I moved here in August 2014, having never been to New York City before in my life, I knew I needed a law degree and I knew I needed healthcare, so there was no better place for me to come. New York City is a place that has given me lifesaving healthcare, my education, a career, my chosen family, a home, and a life of purpose and life of opportunity.”
In previewing her work ahead, Brown denounced anti-trans attacks and broader anti-LGBTQ sentiment as she vowed to protect community members across the five boroughs.
“These attacks will not be tolerated in New York City or New York State,” Brown said. “They do not reflect our values, they do not reflect who we are as people, and so that is something that i want to make sure that we all understand. This is not a culture war. We are not your enemy; we are your neighbors.”
In a written statement, Attorney General Letitia James welcomed Brown’s new role, saying she is “proud” to see her “step into this important role serving New York City’s LGBTQ+ community.”
“In her time at the Office of the Attorney General, Taylor has been a tireless champion for fairness, dignity, and equal justice under the law,” James said. “New Yorkers will be well served by her leadership, and I look forward to her continued service ensuring every LGBTQ+ New Yorker is protected and celebrated.”
Brown and the elected officials huddled around a desk at the conclusion of the press conference as the mayor signed the executive order.
“I’m still getting used to executive orders, so I use one pen for all of them,” Mamdani said, before passing out pens to Brown and the elected officials.
Mamdani, who took office on Jan. 1, made the establishment of the Office of LGBTQIA+ Affairs a key piece of his campaign platform during the time leading up to the 2025 mayoral election. He also mentioned it during campaign events, such as a June 1 forum last year at Red Eye NY, and in an interview with Gay City News less than one week before election day. During that interview, Mamdani said he “put forward a plan that would establish the Office of LGBTQIA+ Affairs that would deliver funding and support for housing, legal services, and mental health, as well as putting forward $65 million in funding for gender-affirming care that would replace the amount of funding that the federal government is threatening to strip of this city in an attempt to attack trans and queer New Yorkers.”
The new office comes at a time when access to gender-affirming care has been restricted for youth and some adults at multiple private hospitals in New York City amid pressure from the Trump administration, which first targeted trans care through an executive order in early 2025 and subsequently issued proposed rules intended to comprehensively ban gender-affirming care for youth. Most recently, NYU Langone announced it shut down its Transgender Youth Health Program, while some youth patients at Mount Sinai have also said their care has been restricted.
During the March 13 press conference, Mamdani addressed NYU Langone’s restrictions on gender-affirming care and reiterated his criticism of the hospital.
“I made very clear my opposition to the decisions made by NYU Langone and I will continue to make that clear as the mayor of this city,” Mamdani said. “I’m frankly looking forward to working with our new director and seeing the many ways our city can stand up for queer and trans New Yorkers. When it comes to the president, I will continue to be honest about the fact that we have many disagreements and we are honest about those disagreements. For me, the question always come down to how can I better serve the City of New York and the City of New York would not be the city it is without queer and trans New Yorkers.”
See some more photos from the event below:
