Allen Roskoff’s Remarks During Private Meeting with Mayor Elect on December 14th, 2025
I come to you not just as an individual, but as someone who has spent decades in the LGBTQ movement—through moments of progress, crisis, and when our communities were told to wait their turn. Jim Owles has been honored to support you over the years and our leadership wants to work hand and glove with you.
Bella Abzug famously said that all issues are women’s issues. The same is true for LGBTQ people: our issues are housing issues, public health issues, education issues, labor issues, immigration issues, and questions of democratic participation. They are about who can live safely in this city and who is pushed to the margins by policies that may appear neutral but rarely land neutrally.
New York has a long history of both refuge and testing ground. We were at the forefront during Stonewall, the AIDS crisis, and fights over public space, zoning, and healthcare. And we’ve seen the importance of structured engagement: Mayor David Dinkins created the city’s first Office of LGBT Affairs to ensure LGBTQ communities had a dedicated voice in City Hall, we are excited that you are committed to its restoration, and we implore you to staff it with leaders picked in conjunction with the activists and elders in the struggle and who we trust to carry our message to you.
As important is regular consultation. Not symbolic consultation. Not a checkbox meeting after decisions are made.
We don’t just want you to appoint people who happen to be LGBTQ. Representation alone isn’t enough. What matters is recruiting the right people: leaders who are deeply connected to communities, who will put community needs first, and whom we trust to bring those needs faithfully to you and your leadership. Let us help identify and bring in leaders who will make policy meaningful and accountable. We want to see LGBT activists atop agencies such as the Division of Consumer Affairs and Workers Protection, at the Rent Guidelines Board, and City Commission own Human Rights.
Equally important, we want you to meet with activists and movement leaders regularly. Ongoing dialogue—not one-off meetings like Mayor Adams—is essential to ensure policies reflect lived realities. You have the opportunity to center LGBTQ voices consistently at the table and signal to queer New Yorkers that their lives are not an afterthought.
So my ask is simple: commit to sustained, structured engagement with LGBTQ leadership. Bring Jim Owles in early. Listen when we disagree. Let us help you recruit leaders who will put the community first, bring our needs to you with clarity and accountability, and meet with you regularly. Just as Dinkins created an office to ensure LGBTQ voices were part of governance, you too can ensure these voices are not just heard but centered.
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