Zohran Wins! New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani has Pro-Transsexual Record and Policies

The newly elected Mayor of New York City’s policy proposals would benefit and proactively protect queer people and transsexuals, while recognizing their specific needs.

By Artemis T. Douglas

NYC, New York - Nov 4 | By Artemis T. Douglas

Zohran Mamdani will be New York City, the United States’ largest city’s, new mayor.

The election was called at 9:10p today, Nov. 4. Mamdani’s win, with 51% of the vote at the time it was called, reflects that Democrats who stand up, win.

Mamdani’s policies for trans people, especially transsexuals, are ambitious and proactively defensive. 

Mamdani was elected a time when Democrats are telling themselves that victory requires running away from minority issues- especially trans rights.

Leading up to tonight’s election, Mamdani’s campaign published policy proposals to make NYC a LGBTQIA+ sanctuary city, expand and protect both access and funding for transsexual medicine (the campaign calls it ‘gender affirming healthcare’) citywide, and create a citywide office of LGBTQIA+ affairs.

As for transsexual medicine, the campaign proposed $65 million in funding.

“The Mamdani Administration will budget $65 million in funding to explicitly support and expand access to Gender Affirming Care (GAC) in NYC. It will direct $57 million of funding to public hospitals, community clinics, federally qualified health centers, and nonprofits providing GAC.”

According to the policy memo, the other $8 million of that total would go to creating telehealth options, adding telehealth benefits for what the campaign calls gender-affirming coverage to the hospital plans in the city, and creating a citywide hub for connecting people to providers.

Mamdani’s policy proposal to codify New York City as a sanctuary city is based on existing legislation and models from several other U.S. cities, according to the campaign. Prior reporting, including from The Advocate and Newsweek confirms that other U.S. cities have implemented trans sanctuary laws or policies.

Another element of the pro-queer policy proposed by Mamdani’s campaign was $87 million to create the office of LGBTQIA+ affairs. Over 1/3rd of this new office’s proposed budget would be for ensuring housing support for queer people and trans people, including transsexuals.

These policies don’t come out of nowhere. The Needle spoke to Mamdani’s campaign. [A spokesperson for the campaign/Mamdani told The Needle xyz.]

The policies are tied to clear and specific objectives- including funding amounts and goals, revealing a candidate- now Mayor-elect- who understands the importance of concrete policy. 

Mamdani’s policy proposals show that he either deeply understands the issues he is attempting to fix, listens to experts, or both.

As an Assembly Member, Mamdani voted in favor of legislation that repealed the “walking while trans law”- sections of penal law that effectively made trans people- especially transsexual women- targets of disproportionate policing, including sexual exploitation by police.

In Mamdani’s legislative comment on that vote, back in 2021, he stated-

“I vote for every trans woman that has ever faced police harassment as a result of this law and for every trans woman whose dignity has ever been taken from them by our carceral state. And as it is always the case with the carceral state, it is black and Latinx people who are most targeted. In 2018, 91% of people arrested under this statute were black and Latinx. 80% identified as women.”

On the campaign trail, Mamdani released pro-trans messaging that honored Sylvia Rivera and included music from SOPHIE.

The housing policy proposed by Mamdani’s campaign during the election was to freeze the rent in rent-stabilized units, fast-track 200,000 affordable housing units, and implement zero-tolerance policy for landlords who don’t follow housing law.

As proposed, exceptionally abusive landlords could see their properties forced from their control and placed in public stewardship through litigation, negotiation, or buy-outs.

Considering that homelessness and housing discrimination disproportionately impact queer people, having enforcement of anti-discrimination and fairness regulations could change a lot of queer lives.

Mamdani's campaign website quotes him saying "This campaign is for every person who believes in the dignity of their neighbors and that the government's job is to actually make our lives better."

If Mamdani follows through, these policies would promote the dignity of queer and trans lives and make life better for many in NYC.