18
CityAndStateNY.com
By Jeff Coltin & Kay Dervishi
T
June 6, 2022
LGBTQ political clubs have become a nexus of organizing power in New York City. We sat down with the leaders of four clubs to discuss their goals.
HE BEST WAY for an LGBTQ New Yorker to get involved in politics with the community? Joining a political club. And that’s now been true for five decades. The Gay & Lesbian Independent Democrats, or GLID, was founded in 1972 as the city’s first gay political club, at a moment when the LGBTQ community was finding its political voice. GLID has faded away, but other LGBTQ political clubs have grown around the city and are thriving. Now, efforts to secure – and maintain – rights for the LGBTQ community, and especially transgender people, have taken on a new urgency in the year 2022, amid a rash of homophobic political rhetoric and an uptick in anti-LGBTQ legislation getting taken up across the country. Ahead of Pride Month, City & State brought together some of the leaders of the city’s preeminent LGBTQ political clubs at the Stonewall National Monument in Greenwich Village. Justin Sanchez, a gay man from the Bronx, has been president of the Stonewall Democratic Club of New York City since February. Derek Gaskill, a queer trans man, has been co-president of Lambda Independent Democrats of Brooklyn since January. Allen Roskoff, a gay man,
founded the Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club in Manhattan, and has been its president since 2004. And Michael Czaczkes, a gay man from Queens, sits on the board of the Lesbian and Gay Democratic Club of Queens, as well as the board of Jim Owles, and is a former president of LID. It was the first time they’d all been together, but it won’t be the last. They talked about organizing a women and femme+ outing for club members. And weeks after getting together, three of the clubs collaborated to boycott New York City Mayor Eric Adams Pride reception, unless he would fire anti-gay appointees and stop sweeps on homeless encampments, among other asks. After meeting at the monument, they moved to the sun-drenched patio outside of The Duplex, a gay bar across the street, for a warm, friendly and poignant meeting of the minds. That included the sometimes contentious history behind their groups, their legislative and political priorities for New York and advice for candidates seeking to avoid Andrew Yang-like flubs when seeking their endorsements. The conversation below has been edited for length and clarity. CITY & STATE: Just an hour ago I saw the Assembly just passed
Portraits by David Urbanke
the bill that allows nonbinary folks to run for party positions. ALLEN ROSKOFF, president of the Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club: Lambda worked very hard on that. DEREK GASKILL, co-president of Lambda Independent Democrats of Brooklyn: I sued the Brooklyn Democratic Party, for county committee! This is for district leader. ROSKOFF: I mean, we all support it! It emanated from Émilia (Decaudin, a trans Democratic district leader in Queens). GASKILL: Two years ago I ran for county committee in Brooklyn. I was denied a seat on county committee, me and six other folks, because I didn’t declare my gender as male or female. The seats were divided between male and female seats for no reason. And I was running in a district that, to my knowledge, has never been filled. We ended up suing the Board of Elections and the county party. But that’s for county committee! This bill is for district leaders, but same thing applies. C&S: Was anyone else involved in the litigation? JUSTIN SANCHEZ, president of Stonewall Democratic Club of New York City:
