 You're going to open. Good morning. Welcome to Destination Tomorrow, the Bronx LGBT Center. It's an honor to be chosen to host this press conference. Normally, we'd have to go into Manhattan for any LGBT related news. It is great to know that this administration recognizes that outer borough also has a thriving LGBT community and a rich history. We are actually standing in the space of the first Bronx LGBT Center, the Bronx Community Prize Center. When that center closed in 2012, it was my mission to make sure the Bronx residents were not experiencing a gap in services, those services that they had become accustomed to. At that time, Destination Tomorrow was just three years old. Just getting our feet wet, we walked into this work expecting a warm reception, expecting to be embraced for the work that we had been doing and what we had projected to do, what an awakening we were in for. But we persevered. And today, we are the LGBT Center of the Bronx. We got our old space back and have added two more locations, as well as the new DT South in Atlanta, Georgia. We persevered like our LGBT ancestors, Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson. Folks loved to throw their names around at this time of the year, but what they won't sell you is how those two trans women of color were treated, how they were ostracized, booed off stages, and left behind in a movement that began as a riot led by them. I walk with that knowledge, knowing that I am acceptable as far as and as long as I am useful, useful to an agenda that doesn't include my black body but needs my black narrative. I understand the assignment. I understand, especially during Pride, the focus on making sure black and brown LGBT folks are taking off the menu and move to a seat at the table. So here we are, working with the new administration, dealing with the same challenges from before. What does equity look like in our community? How do we create equitable solutions? Mayor Adams, you and I are a lot alike. In so many different ways, both black ball men from Brooklyn, both passionate about community with ideas and solutions we believe can begin to address some of these challenges. We both have to figure out how to show up in this world without our passion coming off as aggression. We have to create solutions that are rooted in what's best for all, even when all are not rooting for us. As black men, we carry the weight of the world on our shoulders while being asked to give more, do more, say more, and don't forget to smile. I understand the position you're in, working to see all of us while also working to ensure that those that have historically not been seen come forward. So on today, I just want to say thank you. While I know you won't always get it right, Mr. Mayor, I pray you realize you have LGBT family that guide you and offer suggestions on the way forward. Forgiveness is divine. Ignorance can even be tolerated. As long as your intention is good and your goal is to do better, I'll take this as a first step toward doing better. So on this morning, I'd like to introduce our mayor, the brother from Brooklyn, Mayor Adams. I know we have a sound person. We have this stationary mic, but I hope you can give me a mic so I can drop the mic, because brother, you laid it down. You laid it down. And that's our challenge. It's our challenge. Everyone wants to tell our story. And by you giving that history, some of the same folks that have dismissed my history in this movement now stands outside and demonized me. Demonized me. Forget about my push to get gender in the state center. Forget about my push to get marriage passed. Forget about the millions I put into Brooklyn Pride, Stonewall, and other organizations. They just want to dismiss. And they want to look at my record. The record they should look at is the history of how black and brown people were treated in this movement. Don't want to talk about that, but they have a mayor that likes to talk about those things. And honest conversation will get us to our destination. And that's why I'm up here in the Bronx today, because the days of not seeing you and living through the invisible man concept and woman concept and those who are of your community concept, those days are over. You need new folks at the table that's going to include everyone at the table. And so Bronx Pride Week, we are doing this in the BX. We're not doing it downtown. We're not doing it in the traditional locations where people have defined what this movement is about and what it looks like. You were at both of the roundtables. Out of one of the roundtables, you raised this issue. We did a follow-up roundtable. And this helped us carve this important agenda that we are putting in place today. And just a few days ago, in response to the hateful legislation passed in conservative states, President Biden signed a bill to prevent the rights of LGBTQ plus people from being trampled on. We need to continue to do that. Discriminatory legislation should not be allowed to stand. And we need to fight against it what I have done throughout my entire life from the days of standing with gold as a member of the New York City Police Department. The history is rich in fighting on behalf of the men and the women of this important community. But in the meantime, we're telling people who are having fights across the entire country come to New York. This is a place where we open our arms and accept and embrace all who want to live here. Equity, justice, and responsibility to those who need our help is the most important hallmark of this administration. This is something I believe in and will continue to fight for. And when you sat down as a community and spoke with us, we heard, we listened, we implemented, and took action. Today, I'm proud to announce nearly $6.7 million for new and expanded programs supporting the LGBTQ-plus community. The initiatives are the results of the roundtables, the conversations, and my long history of hearing about the discriminatory practices within the movement that was just discussed. The marking expansion of the role of the New York City Unity Project, which is now part of the Mayor's Office of Equity. That's an important initiative that we're going to expand on and give teeth and resources to. So here's what we're doing for LGBTQ-plus neighbors in all five boroughs, not just in Manhattan. All five boroughs in general, specifically places like the Bronx. First, we are making a vital investment of $1.5 million in programs that promote, support, and educate families to accept LGBTQ-plus youth. As a captain and executive officer in the sixth precinct, I will often spend time in the park on Christopher Street and seeing young people who fled home because after they came out, their families threw them out. And giving them instructions and directions and spending time and sitting down with them throughout the night on the midnight towards of duty and stopped the harassment of police officers who harass them every night. Being there for them, I know how serious this problem is with young people who identify and they are removed from their families. Family rejection is one of the main causes of homelessness amongst the youth in this community. Roughly 50% of homeless youth are LGBTQ-plus New Yorkers. And 90% of the group are black and brown. These young people are twice disadvantaged. And we want to give them the support they need. They need our help. And this initiative is the starting point of ensuring they get that help. We will educate families and promote family acceptance, which would keep families together and give families the support they deserve. We support our vulnerable youth. And we directly impact one of the main causes of our youth homelessness. It would directly impact if we get this right and we believe we're going to get it right. We're also putting $3 million towards peer housing navigators and financial literacy for runaway and homeless youth. So important as you get your home, how to stay in your home, how to navigate the finances to do so. Because when you are prematurely removed from your home, you're not receiving those foundational instructions that allow you to have the financial wherewithal as you move forward. Since LGBTQ-plus youth make up such a large percentage of our homeless youth, this program would directly benefit these vulnerable young people. This is a downstream solution to an upstream problem. And we're going to take the solution upstream and fix it when it's available or present downstream. We're committing $1 million to providing the LGBTQ-plus community with culturally sensitive legal services. So if you are an LGBTQ-plus person and have experienced discrimination because of your gender or sexuality in housing, in employment, or refusal of services, and you cannot afford a lawyer, we're going to be there to help you and support you to navigate the legal process. This is a groundbreaking initiative, and I'll tell you why. The city will be connecting and paying for LGBTQ-plus legal service providers to represent the community. They understand the issues that the community is facing, and we want to make sure that they get a legal representation that they need. We're also investing of over 180,000 in transgender, non-conforming, and non-binary nonprofits to expand and improve the services they provide to the transgender, non-conforming, and non-binary communities. This community has been historically underfunded and overlooked. And that's exactly what you have been talking about over and over again. One of the first of their kind grants will be support local TGNC slash NB groups, which directly serve members of their community. We will be putting 400,000 towards expanding our HIV and sexual health services, and 350,000 towards efforts for LGBT, TQ-plus New Yorkers who have experienced discrimination in their places of worship. Pastor Gil Morose and other pastors we have met with, it's time for us to come to the table and lean into what we agree on. I'm going to say that over and over again. It is time for us to come to the table and sit down and have real conversations to come to real results. We'll be reviewing and updating the LGBTQ-plus healthcare bill of rights in the transgender health booklets. Individuals, families, communities in the city who believe they don't receive the support they deserve with saying it's time for us to come together to combat hatred, to change minds and foster acceptance, and to provide concrete, meaningful services to those who need the assistance that we are calling for. New York is the city of Stonewall, but it's also the city of these great organizations that are in and out of boroughs that have been on the front line fighting for these important issues. And so we say happy Pride Month. We're looking forward to the continuing celebration during Pride Month, and we're looking forward to continue to listen, to hear, and to move in the right direction. And out of everything you say, one thing is profound. We won't always get it right, but we will always do right by sitting down and learning. This is a new place for us all. And those who hold on to stagnant beliefs will never be able to face the future that's in front of us. We enjoy the conversations we had with the larger group and the smaller group. And these are the results of those conversations, and my life work on dealing with these issues that has faced this community for far too long. And I'm happy to be the mayor of one of the most diverse cities on the globe, and we're going to continue to look after all New York is in the process. And so I would turn it over to open any questions, or do we have another program we wanted to follow? Because you know me. You go and invite the next person. Yeah, I know it's my house, but every now and then I will relinquish it. So our guests can do what they need to do. All right, thank you again for that commitment. We appreciate it. And for the first time in many years, we actually feel heard, so I appreciate that. Next up is gonna be the commissioner of the Office of Equity, Commissioner Sherman will come and give us a few words. Thank you so much. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. And happy Pride Month. I'm really excited to be here in the Bronx, celebrating Pride, but really celebrating this announcement, that's focused on new and expanded services for the LGBTQ community. And I wanna thank you, Sean, for having us, and also thank you for your fight to make sure that these important services stay in the Bronx. So New York City has a history of being a place where people can find community, a place where people can find a sense of belonging and an opportunity to be their authentic self. And now more than ever, as the mayor shared, particularly in the face of harmful legislation that's happening across our country, it's important that in New York City, we not only affirm these values, but we make investments that ensure that LGBTQ plus New Yorkers can thrive. I think Sean, you said earlier, what do we mean when we say equity, right? Equity is not necessarily making sure that everybody has the same thing. It's making sure that everybody has what they uniquely need, right? And so that means having legal services from providers who are from the LGBT community and understand the discrimination you have experienced. That means having peer housing navigators who share your lived experience and having providers that are able to be culturally competent and work with you and your family to ensure that you can stay connected and that young people don't fall into homelessness. It also means supporting transgender, non-binary, led non-profits, particularly by people of color, right, who are credible, who are authentic in their communities so that they can continue to do this important work. This package that you hear and this announcement is really the result of listening. It's the result of listening to members from across the LGBT community and making sure that we are working across our administration to really respond to the specific needs that were heard. This is also the result of our Unity Project, which you'll hear more about later, but Unity is really working across city agencies and systems to address the priorities and make sure that we have a focused effort on the issues and the concerns of the LGBTQ plus community. And so, you know, on this stage here today, you see members across a variety of city administrations and this really speaks to the mayor's commitment of making sure that we're breaking down silos and we're working together to ensure that we deliver for New Yorkers. So this is a partnership between the Office of Equity and the Unity Project, the Department of Health, the HRA, the Department of Consumer Worker Protection, the Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice, a variety of city agencies, DYCD, all of these agencies who have come together to make sure that we address the comprehensive needs that we see across the LGBTQ plus community, particularly when it comes to our young people and it's only just the beginning. So I want to thank the mayor for this long commitment in history and continued commitment to this important work. I want to thank our agency partners and I want to thank our amazing team at the Office of Equity and Unity Project for all the work that you do to make sure that we have an equitable city and show it for New Yorkers on a daily basis. Thank you so much and happy pride. Thank you, Commissioner Sherman. We appreciate you. Next up, we've heard about the Unity Project and now you'll get an opportunity to have a discussion. Hopefully, at some point we open Q&A with Juan Rano Parcelli. He's the Senior Policy Advisor for the New York City Unity Project. Thank you. Then we see Unity Project. Then we see Unity Project is the LGBTQ plus interagency coordinating body at the mayor's office. The Unity Project works on LGBTQ plus policy, programs, communication and outreach. All around the nation, this community is experiencing and feeling hurt and pain. I have felt this pain and right now in the nation, there are LGBTQ plus youth that are being bullied in school for who they are that are worried about being accepted for who they are and are wondering if they will have a future. And all around the nation, this community comes to New York City and sees New York City as a beacon of light and hope. And this is my story. These investments ensure that New York City is able to live up to its legacy as the home of Stonewall and the LGBTQ plus rights community while also ensuring that this community is empowered and supported. I am very grateful for these investments in these incredible initiatives and the expansion of the Unity Project and for its ability to continue to serve and empower New York City's brilliant and vibrant and diverse LGBTQ plus community. Thank you and happy pride. We're gonna invite some of our advocates to actually come in and say a few words. At least just one. See, in my house, they're bullying me. I'll just play with you. My buddy, Elisa Crespo is gonna come out and speak about some of the wonderful work she's doing at the new Pride Agenda. Elisa, please. Good morning, my name's Elisa Crespo. I'm the executive director of the new Pride Agenda. And I'm really happy to be here. I had no idea I'd be speaking, but here I am. I just wanna say thank you, Sean, for all that you do for the LGBTQ community throughout the city, but in particular here in the Bronx. The Bronx has been a place where LGBTQ people have for the most part had to live in the shadows for so long because there weren't safe spaces like this for us. And this place changes that. And that's why this place really matters. And that's why we have to support destination tomorrow and invest in destination tomorrow and create more safe spaces in the Bronx for LGBTQ people. And so, Mr. Mayor, good morning. Thank you for hearing our calls. This is the result of advocates speaking up, demanding more and government listening and hearing our calls and delivering. This is how it's supposed to work. They say the best ally is one with a closed mouth and a big open checkbook. And that's what I feel like what's happening today. So it's just an honor to be here. Sean, I'm here, frankly, because of you, my brother, and I'm looking forward to what we do next. I just wanna say, though, that this city spends $25 million on LGBTQ services. And that's just from the buckets of money that are typically labeled as LGBTQ. That doesn't include aging services. That doesn't include other buckets of money that we don't consider to be LGBTQ funds. But we invest a lot of money. In fact, I think we invest more money in our community here in the city than the state does. And so, many of you know that we just passed a statewide transgender wellness and equity fund. It's the second in the entire country behind California, and we're hoping that it will grow and that it will match the city's trans-equity fund, because, frankly, the city's doing better in that regard than the state is. But good morning, happy pride, I'm happy to be here, and thank you so much for having me. So this is a big event for the LGBTQ community here, but there's a controversy that's going on in the city. And that has to do with remarks that were made by a councilwoman, Vicky Paladino, who was very, make remarks about the drag queen story hour that's been going on in some city schools. She called it degeneracy and child grooming. I wonder what your reaction is to that. And what steps are you gonna take to prevent her from cutting off funds to schools in her district that want to have these programs? Well, I believe the speaker was clear. The comments were inappropriate. And I think we should lean into not only drowning out comments like that, but also how do we lean into the continuation of education? It's about education. We can spend our entire lives of the numerical minority that puts statements out like that or the overwhelming majority in this city that states it's about time for us to openly educate people, to appreciate the diversity that we have. So that's Adrian's issue. That's her councilperson. I know what we're going to do. We're going to continue to promote the understanding of the different cultures, the different lives in our city. And that's where I am. By the city council? As I stated, that's the city council person. I think Adrian Adams is the speaker. Let the city council deal with their issues. I have to deal with my 300 plus thousand people. You feel about a person as a city official? I think I was clear, Marsha. Marsha, I was clear. On that same topic, just in general, and I invite any of the advocates to speak on this as well. What do kids get out of something like drag, weight, and story time? What is the kind of value that you see and is worth continuing? Same thing, they get out of dealing with the history and dealing with the culture of any group. We just put allocation into funding for AAPI community. What we're saying to our young people, we don't want you just to be academically smart. We want you to be emotionally intelligent and appreciate the diversity. If we want to decrease hate crimes in our city, anti-semitism, AAPI, attacks on the LGBTQ plus community, this is how we do it, education. And so to say that, well, what does one get out of it? One gets out of it that you should not attack people based on who they are. And so I support every form of education that we continue to develop our children. That's why adults are so broken right now, is because we believe we have to demonize people and demonize groups. We need to stop that. That means sort of. Two questions. The first one, I think you said $350,000 for looking at discrimination at houses of worship. And earlier in your administration, you hired some folks. You cut a lot of flak for Fernando Cabrera was one of them. Is that money kind of designed to bring religious leaders and people from the LGBT community together? How do you see that working? I mean, it seems like there could be friction there. Like how is that gonna work in a way that's constructive? Well, one, some of the most staunch anti-LGBTQ religious leaders, their choir directors are members of the community. That's the hypocrisy, let's act like we don't see. Those days are over. It's about sitting down at the table and understanding the person who has been doing your books for years is of the community, the person who has been in your choir, leading your choir, the person who has been your staunch, tied and offering person. It's time for us to stop pretending. And so what we want to do is use this as a way of engaging those who don't know each other. We have to start communicating. And some of those conversations are difficult. As I always talked about, my brother-in-law after I passed a marriage, my brother-in-law said, I am not allowed back in his church. This was my brother-in-law. He knew who I was. And it wasn't until years later that he finally said, I was wrong, Eric. I was wrong. And more and more people are realizing they are wrong. And that's the goal of what we want to do. Do you have an on-topic? We're gonna do on-topic? Yes. I mean, it has to do with Paladino. She claims that... She, I'm sorry, who's the she? Vicky Paladino. This is that, you know, many of the parents in her district are against the drag story hour. And so, you know, that's her claim. Given what she's saying, do you feel that parents in that district, other districts, should have the option to opt out or should have some sort of like saying it aside from kind of the process in place now? A principle is in charge of the school. You have community stakeholders. There are pathways to assist in how schools are currently carrying out their level of instruction in education. I think use those pathways to educate yourself and also to understand why that principle is doing what they're doing. And you often hear parents, many parents were concerned about sex head in schools. Many parents were concerned about teaching of African American history in schools. And so, you have to sit down and learn why we're doing what we're doing. And I am really optimistic of where we're going as a city, where we are going to lean into those uncomfortable conversations and come out with better children to get better results. How are you? Jason, you've heard when the decision on guns might be coming down in development. I'm sorry, please. The decision on the gun. Supreme Court? Yeah. I'm not sure the deliberation I believe is still taking place. You've heard me mentioned several times. This is the Supreme Court decision of open carry. I am surprised when I get more attention to how significant this ruling will be. Case that stem from New York. So we believe it may be any day, but the Supreme Court, they act according to their timetable, but I'm hoping they reconsider. In light of what we're seeing taking place across our city and country. Yes, yes, yes. You don't want to deal with this off-topic stuff. So thank you. Appreciate you. All right. Thank you. Thank you. And that was not part of the budget discussion. That did not come up at all in the budget discussion. Based on my observations of moving throughout the city, I have come to a clear conclusion we're not deploying police correctly. And one of the areas of focus is in the transit police patrol. What we did after the assassination of two officers on Tompkin Avenue, we had an overabundance of caution. We doubled up police officers in the transit police because we were concerned about a copycat. We never changed that years later. As a transit police officer, I had single patrol. Some stations, like 34th Street, you need due patrol because of the size of the stations. But those other stations, there's no reason you have due patrol, particularly with the great methods of communication. So we are returning to single patrol with that is going to allow us to do, that is going to allow us to take a department that we almost shrunk in half now to utilize our resources in the omnipresence that I talked about. But that was not a budget decision. That was a decision that the commissioner and I came to after doing observations. So you're showing us more efficient, but also you're going to double the number of people who are going to be able to patrol this subway? Yeah, well, because right now, when we made every patrol, a due patrol, we cut our department basically in half by going back to single patrol. We're now doubling the size and you're going to see the omnipresence and the confidence that riders are going to see based on that. It allows us to cover more ground. And we have some other things that the commissioner's going to roll out in the next few days on how we're going to look at those dangerous trains and stations. We have time for two more. When does that single patrol start? It started after the assassination of Wenzhen's Lou and his partner was killed on Tompkins Avenue. They doubled. After the assassination, they went to double patrol. When is it going to start? As soon as the commissioner announces it. Thank you. How are you? Quite well. How are you? Good, thank you. I want to get your comments on AOC criticizing the city budget. She's taken a bigger approach into talking more about city politics. So I was just hoping to get your thoughts on, you know, her opinion. Well, I thought Speaker Adams answered appropriately. AOC is a congressperson representing roughly 800,000 people, Alexander Acasio Cortez. The speaker's decision represents the needs of 8.8 million people. And I think there's professional courtesy that if there's an issue, you know, don't tweet, speak. Pick up the phone. Call your colleague. And say I'm concerned, you know, this is what I was just in Washington, sitting down with my congressional delegation. I'm sure Speaker Adams would love to sit down with the congressperson. I'm not sure of what is this new form of governance that you tweet your concerns. How about just speaking? How about picking up the phone and asking and giving your advice? I'm sure the speaker will take her call. I'll take her call. I'll take the calls of everyone. And so the speaker, just as I believe, we're not into this, let's just, you know, go on social media and tweet out our concerns. Let's talk to each other. And, you know, as a congressional representative, I think it would be better for her to just pick up the phone and speak with Speaker Adams. So I find to be an amazing communicator and an excellent leader. Bernadette. Good. I have a question about the World Cup. First of all, have you re-opened talks to bring a new soccer stadium to the city? And then also, what's the kind of economic projections that New York City would benefit from having World Cup in what means New Jersey? But in 2026, what does it look like for New York City? Huge, you know, it's predicted anywhere upwards of $200 million, tourism, jobs, hotel, you know, Governor Murphy and I clearly understand that this is a regional win. As they, when they announced, they said New York, New Jersey. These are good union jobs, restaurants, transportation, entertainment. This is huge, particularly when you look at the 48 cities that they looked at. We have representation of all of those 48 cities. Our Ecuadorian folks from Peru, from South America, Central America, soccer is big. When I travel around the city in Queens and Sunset Park, on the Bronx, this is an important part of the culture of many of these groups in our city. And so we're excited. There's a huge economic benefit of having these games here. That's why everyone is buying for it. And it's a win-win for FIFA. They get to put their product on the largest sports stage and that's New York and New Jersey. And we, that was a big win for us. We all should be celebrating. I thought, sure, you guys are gonna have me and Murphy on the front pages of your paper. You know, that's a huge win that we were able to put together the plan to do this. You know, we want to find, we want the final game. That's the big one. One of the games in New York, though, instead of New Jersey, instead of sharing it with New Jersey? People are gonna come, you can't come to New Jersey without wanting to come to New York. New York is it. We had 353,000 visitors to Times Square on Monday. We just breaking the barriers. New York is back up and operating because of what we are doing. So if they go to New Jersey, trust me, people are gonna come right through the tunnel, they're coming to New York. They're coming to New York and they're going to participate in the excitement of New York. We're gonna do fine. Thank you.