NYC's LGBTQIA+ office leader poised to tackle 'entrenched disparities'

New York City's first-ever office for LGBTQIA+ Affairs opens this month under the leadership of civil rights attorney Taylor Brown.

Brown, 35, who was appointed by Mayor Zohran Mamdani, comes to the role from the New York state attorney general’s office, where she served as an assistant attorney general in the Civil Rights Bureau.

She recently sat for an interview with "Morning Edition" host Michael Hill, and their conversation aired earlier this week on International Transgender Day of Visibility.

Here is a transcript of their discussion, which has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Hill: International Transgender Day of Visibility is designated to raise awareness about the contributions of and discrimination against trans people. In your new job, you are the highest-ranking openly trans person in the history of New York City government. As a suddenly very visible trans person, how is that feeling to you this year?

Brown: I think it is feeling long overdue. When you think about the history of trans people, especially here in New York City, the birth of the modern LGBTQ civil rights movement, trans women have been leading that and have been leading the way in civil rights issues across the spectrum. And so I'm extremely proud, I'm honored, and I also understand what this visibility means to my community, but also to what we hope to accomplish here in New York City. So, I'm excited and, again, just truly, truly honored.

What do you want to accomplish in this role as director of this new office?

I want to accomplish everything that I started out wanting to accomplish when I became a lawyer, and that is advocating for my community and obtaining justice. On a large scale, I think of two, sort of bigger concepts. The first concept is meeting the moment, as I keep saying. Obviously we're aware that the transgender community across the country, and even here in New York City and New York state, is under attack by various entities, including the federal government. I think we have to pay special attention to those needs as they are critical, vital and urgent.

I think the second part of it — and this comes from my history in civil rights litigation and understanding all the ways in which, from the history of our country, we have oppressed various minorities — is addressing long-standing inequities that have arisen from the historical treatment of LGBTQ people. And when I say treatment, I primarily mean discrimination in law, in society, in the private sector. And those disparities, again, have been long-standing and kind of exacerbate what's going on now. But it's all intimately linked. But I think both take different approaches.

What do you see as unique struggles in New York City for LGBTQIA+ people? (The acronym stands for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer/Questioning, Intersex, and Asexual, and “+” represents identities not listed.)

First and foremost are attacks on gender-affirming care. Gender-affirming care is lifesaving care for transgender people. It's something that saved my life, something that I know intimately and something that I had to fight for for myself. And so I think whenever we're unable to access gender-affirming care or gender-affirming care goes undertreated or underdiagnosed or not diagnosed at all, gender dysphoria, that is — the way it can impact someone's life and their ability to do all of the things that we need to do in life, education, employment, relationships, and things like that — that is really a top focus and I think a top focus in many places and a top focus not only in the city of New York, but in the state of New York and states and cities across the country. I think when you look at the data about employment, homelessness, dealings with police, educational outcomes, all of those disparities when you sort of layer the lens of LGBTQ status, especially trans status, and then when you double-layer it with race, there are always disparities for LGBTQ people and especially LGBTQ, people of color. These are not things that happened overnight. They are long-standing. But I look at this office as a firm commitment by the mayor to really dig in and tackle these entrenched disparities.

How do you address those? How do you tackle those disparities?

There are several ways. I think through law enforcement, and that means civil law enforcement, like the kind of work that is done at the office of the attorney general, at the New York State Division of Human Rights, and, of course, here locally at the New York City Commission on Human Rights. I think it’s making sure that agencies are aware of their obligations under our antidiscrimination laws and civil rights laws, and are making sure that programs created and funded by taxpayer money are addressing the unique needs of individuals and individual communities. And I think it requires a certain level of innovation, and I think that innovation comes in many, many different forms. That can be policy, that can be legislative initiatives. Again, a whole host of tools I think that we have at our discretion. But it requires a government that is committed and willing, and I do believe the Mamdani administration is very much that. And so that is one of the reasons why I was pleased to accept this appointment.