Adams looks to controversial ally to run mental health office

Mayor Eric Adams is considering appointing a former City Council member who has taken anti-gay positions to lead the relatively new Office of Community Mental Health, formerly known as ThriveNYC.

Fernando Cabrera, a Christian pastor who represented the Bronx in the Council, would oversee an operation that was previously run by former police official Susan Herman. Herman was credited with improving the sprawling, expensive and disjointed project run by former First Lady Chirlane McCray. She stepped down from her post in December 2021, and Adams is expected to replace her with a controversial figure who supported him during his contentious mayoral primary last year, two people familiar with the matter confirmed to POLITICO.

LGBTQ groups have long railed against Cabrera, who briefly challenged Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in 2020 before dropping that for an unsuccessful bid for Bronx borough president. Chief among their concerns are remarks he made in 2014 after visiting Uganda. At the time he posted a video to YouTube from overseas praising the government as "godly" and remaining steadfast in the face of what he characterized as pressure from the United States to get the nation's leaders to back same-sex marriage.

"Godly people are in government. Gay marriage is not accepted in this country, even when the United States of America has put pressure, and has told Uganda, ‘We are not going to fund you anymore unless you allow gay marriage,’ and they have stood in their place,” Cabrera said in that video. “Why? Because the Christians have assumed the place of decision-making for the nation."

Daniel Ravelo