Candidate Answers to JOLDC: Jessica Haller for City Council District 11

Candidate Name: Jessica Haller

Office Seeking Election for: City Council District 11

Campaign Website: https://www.jessicahaller.com

Explain, based on life experiences and accomplishments, why you believe you are best qualified to represent your district

New York City is facing a health crisis, a financial crisis, an employment crisis, and a housing crisis. Right now it is essential to elect City Council members who have dedicated their careers to work in environmental science, in finance, in management. We are at a point where it is imperative to reject old clubhouse politics that supports the way things have been, and focus on how things must change. Now more than ever, in these very difficult times, it is crucial to vote for candidates who are not indebted to a particular party or to an old world view.

I am a climate activist, tech entrepreneur, and working mom of four.

I have spent more than a decade working on climate change issues. Former Vice President Al Gore named me a leader of the Climate Reality Project, charged with educating the public on the climate crisis. Locally, I have shared my climate expertise with a wide array of community groups and public school children.

As a tech entrepreneur, I founded two companies and helped create jobs. I regularly mentor socially responsible start-ups and helped the NYC Comptroller’s Office implement new technologies for constituent services.

I earned my undergraduate degree in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business and a Master’s degree in Environmental Science and Policy from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and the Earth Institute. I am also a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, LEED, accredited professional with the U.S. Green Building Council.

I am the Vice Chair of the Board of Hazon, the largest faith-based environmental organization in the United States, a board member of the Riverdale Nature Preservancy and an advisory board member of Eden Village Camp, a non-profit sustainable-living "farm-to-table" camp.

As a life-long New Yorker, I will use my environmental experience and technical know-how to build sustainable neighborhoods in the Bronx. I will work to modernize public transit, make our buildings energy efficient and resilient, bring 21st century skills to our public school children, strengthen community for seniors, and promote economic opportunity for all.

Please identify any openly LGBTQ candidate for public office you have previously or presently endorsed?

I worked on Kyrsten Sinema’s senate campaign, from the Bronx. After meeting her, I knew she was absolutely a candidate to get behind, even from afar. I’ve also been supporting local insurgent (straight) candidates like Jamaal Bowman and Alessandra Biaggi.

If applicable, what legislation directly affecting the LGBTQ community have you introduced or co-sponsored? (indicate accordingly)

N/A yet

What LGBTQ organizations have you been involved with, either on a volunteer basis or professionally?

I have engaged with Bronx Parents of Pride, as an ally, to figure out how local elected leadership can help support the LGBTQ community.

Do you consider yourself a member of the LGBTQ community?

I consider myself as an ally to the community.

Have you marched in Pride? Which marches and for approximately how many years?

Haven’t, yet. I look forward to in the future!

Have you employed openly LGBTQ individuals previously? Do you employ any currently?

My business partner for 8 years was openly gay. I was privileged to attend their church wedding, too. At our startup, we employed openly gay members, and I continue to do that on this small council team. We have multiple members of the LGBTQ community employed and in active volunteer roles on the campaign.

What press conferences, demonstrations, rallies and protests in support of LGBT issues, pro-choice legislation, criminal justice issues and the Resist Trump Movement have you attended?

• Local Bronx BLM and George Floyd Marches at Van Cortlandt Park and Inwood, many of them.

• Participated in BLM 7-days long Vigil at the Riverdale Monument with my children and parents

• Local NYC Women’s March

• Occupy City Hall with volunteers on my campaign

• People’s Climate March, 2014, NYC organized communities of faith

• Climate March on Washington DC, organized Bronx community to attend in DC

• My first Washington protest was December 7, 1987 (I was in 7th grade) Solidarity for Soviet Jews.

Have you ever been arrested? If so please explain why and outcome of arrest.

No. I’m a mom. Of 4. It’s not an excuse, but explains many scenarios when I was pregnant or with a little kid. I have taken tiny children to rallies, just not to get arrested. (It's funny to me that I associate this question with civil disobedience and not other forms of arrest.)

Do you commit to visiting constituents who are incarcerated in state prisons and city jails?

yes

Will you affirmatively seek to hire formerly incarcerated individuals?

yes

Describe your legislative and policy vision for combatting systemic racism

My vision for combatting system racism includes addressing both environmental racism, and institutional racism.

Environmental racism and injustice has been ever present in the Bronx. As an environmental activist and sustainability entrepreneur, I know that environmental injustices, including polluted air, are at the root of many inequities, childhood development issues, and health disparities for people of color in the Bronx. If we prioritize the impacts of our transportation decisions, we can immediately make the air cleaner.

Ultimately, we need to reverse years of NIMBY - Not In My Back Yard - that forced polluting infrastructure to low income areas, with YIMBY - YES, In My Back Yard solutions to help communities thrive.

• Improve air quality to reduce disproportionate impacts on BIPOC and low income communities.

• Put people and health first in transportation and planning decisions.

• Flip NIMBY to YIMBY.

In terms of institutional racism, I believe that now is the time to stand with communities of color to correct historical inequalities and oppression. Now is the time to raise our voices to call for resilience and equity throughout our frontline communities. The changes we need to make to our City demand everyone's participation.

Here are three concrete policies we can start with on day 1:

• Use the City Council’s budget-making power to ensure positive change is brought to our communities.

• Hold our police officers accountable to set precedent in every department across the city, so that every new officer knows the bounds of their ability, by moving prosecution to the State Attorneys General office.

• Withdraw from the 1033 Program to demilitarize our police force and put an end to the stockpiling of military equipment.

Will you not seek, and refuse, the endorsement of Bill de Blasio?

Bill de Blasio can’t get anything done. He is the reason we are as deep a hole as we are. I will not seek and will refuse his endorsement.

In view of the fact that Ed Koch has been documented to have caused the deaths of hundreds ofthousands of people with AIDS, and was blatantly racist, would you support and sponsor a bill to renamethe former Queensboro Bridge?

The name of the 59th Street crossing is like the East River itself - water under the bridge. I would look to my LGBT colleagues and organizations, like Jim Owles and Stonewall, to help identify worthy NYC figures to rename the bridge after.

What is your position on removing the Christopher Columbus statue in Columbus Circle and if so, whatshould replace it?

I believe that Columbus Day should be phased out as a holiday, and in fact, when I ran a tech start-up, we did just that. We worked on Columbus day and offered a flex holiday for people to use when they like, and we recommended MLK day. As far as the statue, right now: taxpayer dollars should be used on addressing the life-threatening pandemic we are all facing, rather than the removal of the statue. Once COVID is dealt with, then I would be all for removing the Columbus Statue. More importantly, I would want to rename Columbus Circle all together.

Will you refuse contributions from real estate developers and all law enforcement unions or associations?

Yes. I signed on to Janos Marton’s early pledge to not take donations from NYPD and related unions. Additionally, I will abide by the NYCC Real Estate Pledge to not accept money from Real Estate PACs. Additionally, I signed the no-fossil fuel pledge.

Do you support reducing the budget of the NYPD and if so, by how much?

By the numbers, in the ‘90’s there were 500,000 felonies in NY, and 24,000 uniformed cops. Today, we have 100,000 felonies with 36,000 uniformed officers, three times the size of the next largest force in the country, Chicago has 12,000 officers. So we have 80% less crime, and 33% more uniformed officers for $6BN. There is room in that budget to transition to a smaller NYPD that is just as effective at keeping crime at a low level.

The NYPD’s current budget is over $6 billion. I would be in favor of reducing the budget. See below: If all agencies and departments are facing hiring freezes and budget cuts, as with the 2020 budget, then NYPD should be subject to the same. Overtime is a symptom of poor management. Overtime should be managed within the NYPD and not used as a slush fund. ($900M) Funding required once the other responsibilities are removed is best determined by negotiation and conversation between the City and NYPD, with oversight. In all cases, the current budget is too high.

How would you have voted on the FY21 City Budget?

Our city budget reflects our priorities. The budget crisis initially looked like a hiring freeze for teachers and cuts to social services but no cuts to the Police Department.

I would have voted ‘No’ to that budget for two reasons. First, austerity vs. investment: the moment of the triple crises is the moment to invest in our communities and not withdraw. That budget cycle hit when the city most needed an investment in small business, in people, in resilience and health, in racial equity, and in social services. I would have explored all possible routes to raise revenue either through taxes on the wealthy, taxes on systems we want to eliminate (such as trash in favor of recycling and compost), and borrowing. Second, I would have voted no due to the NYPD situation, as stated above.

Are you in favor of removing police from any of the following? a) Schools; b) Mental health response calls;c) Homeless outreach and social services; or d) Traffic enforcement.

• Schools: Yes, we must stop the school to prison pipeline. Mental Health: I’m heartened to see NYC begin experimenting with using mental health professionals. And we need to go all the way.

• Homeless outreach: Yes - these mental health positions need to be funded

• Traffic Enforcement: Traffic Enforcement Agents are CWA union members and part of the NYPD. TEA is vocally supportive of BLM and the movement, and they need the cover of the NYPD to keep them safe. Those officers are under assault from the public and spent years asking to be transferred from DOT to NYPD. Simply shifting this department into DOT will not have a reforming impact on the NYPD. The PD reforms need to be real, and not just accounting measures that will put people at risk.

Should the NYPD Vice Squad be eliminated?

Yes, the Vice Squad responsibilities overlap with the responsibilities of other Investigation squads such as the Computer Crimes Squad. We just need to make sure that ‘human trafficking” is investigated specifically in one of the other Squads. Additonally their mission to focus on victim based crimes is muddied by the inclusion of prostitution and a decriminalization effort for prostitution, gambling, massage parlors, etc rendor the Vice Squad a superfluous entity that can easily target more vulnerable communities under the guise of its mission.

Should Dermot Shea be fired immediately?

Yes.

Should the NYPD Commissioner require confirmation by the City Council?

Nice idea! Yes.

How would you recommend police officers be penalized for refusing to wear masks in public while onduty, in defiance of city and state rules?

1/Sunlight is the best disinfectant. Publish a public list of those officers

2/ Keep them off the streets, because if they are posing a risk to the public, they should not be in public. That could go as far as a suspension.

What reforms would you make to the Civilian Complaint Review Board? Would you support statelegislation to make CCRB disciplinary determinations binding?

In order to establish the CCRB as a truly independent agency, we need to replace NYPD and Mayor appointed members of the board. The CCRB must evolve to look more like the community that it stands to represent and protect. This includes rethinking the outcomes of CCRB determinations. Given the nominal impact CCRB “recommendations” currently have (superseded by NYPD Commissioner), binding decisions will empower the community to hold NYPD accountable with measurable consequences for PD offenders.

What is your position on the plan to close Rikers and create four borough-based jails?

We should not only close Rikers, but also develop alternatives to incarceration that make new jails a conversation of the past. So I agree with the ‘closing’ piece, and that we can do better than open four new jails. I would explore alternatives to incarceration in stead of new jails. We can expand social services in communities and reduce the pipeline to incarceration.

Closing Rikers not only gives us the ability to reduce the incarcerated population and fight systemic racism, but it also allows us to close neighborhood peaker plants and uproot historic environmental injustices. Moving to a Renewable Rikers will open up valuable land in communities across the city and the opportunity to invest in new affordable housing.

Will you advocate for the Governor to review sentences of incarcerated individuals over the age 55 whohave served in excess of 15 years to determine if they warrant release?

Yes.

It’s common knowledge that New York City’s 311 system is not adequately responsive to the public’sconcerns. How would you alter the 311 system to combat these problems?

311 was a Bloomberg administration tool to allow us to respond to needs and manage what we measure. The needs have outgrown the system’s usefulness. I would propose a complete strategic evaluation of 311, with the goal of integrating new technology (text, app, web, social media if applicable) and the expanded needs on the city - to include COVID.

Council Members should also have immediate access to their district’s data. This is a totally possible technical problem to solve.

Do you support decriminalizing sex work? Will you pledge to oppose the Nordic model?

Yes, I support decriminalizing sex work, and will oppose the Nordic model. We need to make the distinction between prostitution and trafficking, which the Nordic Model fails to do. The Nordic model fails to cut off the demand for prostitution as intended, and instead pushes it further underground, making it more dangerous. Furthermore, does not address important health concerns and needs of the population.

Do you oppose school screening, which exacerbates segregation? Which screens in your schooldistrict(s) will you advocate to abolish?

NYC schools ought to reflect the diversity of our City. Schools are segregated because our communities are. The United States Commission on Civil Rights found that under-funding high-needs schools is racial discrimination. District 11 is due $24M in funding from the State to correct this.

When housing is equitably distributed, and communities desegregated, this will unravel. Students should be allowed to travel where they want for middle school and high school to begin the mix.

When I asked Congressman Bowman how he would approach this, he said, “It’s not complicated. Just Do it.” I would work with him to secure the federal funding to “Just Do It” in the Bronx.

Describe what reforms you would make to the control of the NYC public school system.

Part of the impetus to change public school governance is the complete lack of Mayor DeBlasio’s ability to do anything. And the current system leaves parents disenfranchised. It’s important to construct systems that withstand the test of specific leadership, and not just be reactive to situations. Also, the most important outcome is educated children, and studies have shown that governance has little impact on educational outcomes.

COVID also highlights the challenge of making quality decisions for 1.1 million children in a centralized manner. Private and Charter schools have been able to open and function because there is a delicate enough hand to make localized decisions. So COVID makes clear that we need more localized governance. We also need more checks and balances on the system:

Do you support public funding of abortion?

Yes

Do you support the creation of safe consumption sites? Would you support the use of NYC DOHMHauthority to establish SCSs without NYSDOH authorization?

If the NYC DOH has the information it needs to show that these sites save lives, then I would support the NYC DOH moving without the NYS DOH.

Steps towards decriminalizing drug addicts are helpful in combating the racialization of drugs. Prioritizing safe resources over imprisonment shifts the conversation and reframes imprisonment, an important aspect of the growing Movement for Black Lives.

I look forward to working with Jim Owles to learn more about this issue and how it can create a more equitable and resilient community.

Do you smoke or otherwise consume weed?

See above answer about being a mom. Separately, I support legalization of cannabis and have been supportive of that for a long time.

Have you ever supported any of the members of the IDC? If so, who? What did you do to help defeat theIDC in 2018?

In 2018, after very briefly considering a run against Jeff Klein myself, I threw myself into Alessandra Biaggi’s campaign. My most unique contribution was drafting her environmental policy platform.

What will you do to support nightlife in NYC?

Supporting NYC Nightlife is supporting the beating heart of the city that raised me. It’s not only important to the economic vitality of the city, to an economic sector of its own and the people who work in it, it is also how we can keep our communities safe. People who have places to go and friends to connect with are less likely to cause trouble, at least that’s what my dad told me when I was teen in the late ‘80s in NYC.

Do you commit to speak with restaurant and nightlife industry representatives before taking a position onany policies that affect their businesses?

Yes. Of course. Bringing stakeholders to the table is how I’ve always done my job.

Will you work to place restaurant, bar and club owners on community boards? Will you commit to notappointing or reappointing community board members who are hostile to food and beverageestalishments?

Yes. This is a fantastic opportunity to diversify the voices on the local community boards.

Now that the cabaret law was repealed do you support amending the zoning resolution to allow patronsto dance at more venues and eliminate the restrictions against dancing?

Yes! I miss dancing venues. There are not enough of them. Sometimes we need to make more changes when changes are made. Repealing the cabaret law took too long, and now additional changes need to be made to realize the full intent.

Did you oppose the de Blasio/Cuomo proposal (and giveaways) for bringing Amazon’s HQ2 to Long IslandCity?

Yes. They would have come without the giveaways.

What role do you believe the local member should play in the approval of development proposals beforethe Council?

Land use is a powerful way to create a resilient, equitable and sustainable city. I am in this race to achieve that vision. I will weigh all land use through those lenses - creating affordable housing, stopping gentrification, building for resilience and sustainably. Ensuring that organized labor has a part in both the development and ongoing operations of the development. I will not defer to a local council member on their local decisions if I disagree. Every development in the city impacts the rest of the city. So allowing each Councilmember to weigh in on the impact of development anywhere will make us more resilient and smarter.

As an example, in 2008 as an entrepreneur, my team asked the right questions and provided the information to the City for a community development in Queens to withstand rising sea level. The $3BN Willets Point development is now going to withstand sea level rise through this century because we asked and provided the analysis. So I have already made some mark on the skyline. It’s only one of the tenants of my campaign - and in council I will exercise the other two.

Do you support legislation to prohibit discrimination against formerly incarcerated people in housing?

I support prohibiting discrimination in all forms. I look forward to working with Jim Owles Club to understand all of the complexities to this topic. How do we make tenants feel safe? Where does it leave sexual offenders? Are there exceptions to this that should be implemented or is it the case that the formerly incarcerated have paid their price to society and are rehabilitated? Are there studies and data to help with the first question?

Do you oppose the removal of the nearly 300 homeless individuals from the Lucerne hotel due topressure from some local residents?

I oppose the removal of the homeless individuals from the Lucerne. That story versus what’s going on in the Wakefield section of the CD11 is enlightening. Wakefield carries 11 homeless shelters, including one much like the Lucerne. The impact on the community is worse, since there is less organized communal support, less attention from the city and fewer resources going to the men in the shelter. I also believe that the NIMBY voices are always louder than the YIMBY voices, so we need to listen closely for those YIMBY voices.

What proposals will you advocate for to protect immigrants and further New York as a Sanctuary City?

In ancient Israel there were six cities that were designated as sanctuary cities. These were cities that were set up to harbor those fleeing retribution for unintentional or accidental murder of an innocent person. Most churches in Europe served a similar purpose (expanded to political persecution) until the 17th century and there are many examples historically and globally of safe harbor, and commitment to justice for those who are under threat for acts out of their control.

In our contemporary framework both elements come into play. A safe harbor jurisdiction (a city) where those unduly under duress are safeguarded by local authorities. Local city police and administrators (courts, etc) are prohibited from cooperating and sharing information with the Federal government (ICE) in their pursuit of unjustly deporting immigrants. Sanctuary status strives to serve as a block of ICE and Federal officials from unjustly persecuting, harassing and/or wrongly imprisoning/deporting immigrants.

Do you support a single-payer universal health care system? Please elaborate on what policy andlegislative steps the City can take to expand access and affordability.

Yes, I support universal health care. In the absence of federal movement on the issue, we need a NY State Health Act. When our residents need or want to see a doctor, they shouldn’t be worried about how they are going to afford it. We have a responsibility to expand access and coverage; the NY Health Care Act fulfills that responsibility. The lack of well-funded hospitals servicing lower-income neighborhoods is a direct link to this disparity. Supporting the New York Health Care Act will expand coverage and reduce complications of the current system while saving New Yorkers $11 billion.

Expanding maternal resources to women and families while combating implicit bias is going to reduce disproportionate maternal mortality. Some ways the Council can work on this issue is through prioritizing funding for public hospitals and requiring uniform patient care standards. Patients should not be treated differently across hospitals. Last, I know from my data career that data is like sunlight: transparency helps produce a better outcome, and in this case the outcome is health. Supporting systems and requirements for transparency around Hospital performance is important.

It’s not enough to support public healthcare if there are no physical locations for our residents to go to. We also need to expand community outreach and create more neighborhood clinics staffed with qualified professionals. It also means supporting community practices like midwifery and increasing access to pre and post-natal care. These are just a few things we need to do to ensure our communities are resilient in the face of public health crises. Reversing course on preventable death by reducing local air pollution, reducing the heat island effect, investing in green space, updating building codes, and reducing air pollution. Healthcare, if fact, comes back to environmental justice. The heat island effect kills people every summer, with 50% of preventable heat-related deaths in the Black community.

Who did you support for office in the following primaries or special elections: A) Mayor in 2013 B) PublicAdvocate in 2013 and 2019, C) President in 2016 and 2020 C) Governor and Attorney General in 2018?

2013 Mayor: Christine Quinn, whom I had met during my own tenure in the Comptroller’s Office.
2013 PA: Letitia James
2019 PA Jumaane Williams
President: 2016, Hillary Clinton, and I maintain that Biden should have primaried her then. It would have either 1/ made her a stronger candidate against Trump or 2/ weeded her out earlier;
President 2020: I did give small dollar donations to a range of the democratic candidates. I was in the “let the country tell” camp because I thought it was important that the nominees be electable across the country. I did hours (days) of phone banking with different organizations and jumped in fully with Biden and Kamala.
Governor in 2018: Cuomo. I know that you’d likely want to see Nixon here, but I think her lack of experience for the executive role gave me pause. Legislators can have a different range of experience and still be successful, but as we saw with DeBlasio, an executive role needs past success as an executive - and that could be in government or elsewhere.
AG in 2018: Letitia James

Top 3 issues you aim to address locally and legislatively

Faster, broader and deeper implementation of the Climate Mobilization Act. The Climate Mobilization Act was the single largest carbon reduction bill in the US, and will create many NYC jobs. Yet the timeline for the law is slower than science would dictate, many buildings are left out, and people are left out. I would like to move up the timeline for LL97 to 2027, include more buildings (I advocated for intro 1947, URL), and scale training, jobs requirements and the inclusion of Labor and a Just Transition.

Equal distribution of resources across the City. I’d like to affect the entire legislative process and add a requirement for equitable distribution in (nearly) all legislation requiring the impacts to be rolled out and reported on by income, neighborhood and demographics. In District 11, each neighborhood faces a problem with unequal distribution, whether it’s too many homeless shelters in Wakefield, too little transportation in Riverdale, too few parks in Bedford Park, or too many medical facilities in Norwood.

I am committed to empowering a variety of new voices and faces sitting around the legislative and community tables. We will use the lenses of equity, resilience and sustainability to make sure that ideas are sound and built to last. I will take this approach in all arenas, from transportation, criminal justice reform; public power and renewable energy; educational reform; food scarcity and aging services.

Mayor de Blasio has indicated his intent to call a third Charter Revision Commission, what additionalreforms would you support to 1) the budget process, 2) the land use process, and 3) the powers andduties of municipal offices?

Budget:
We need more transparency in the budget. In order for the public to know what is in the budget there needs to be a transparent way of seeing it. The NYC OMB budget is impossible to review and understand. It’s not clear, it’s not accessible. The #DefundNYPD movement is an example of the result of this inaccessibility. Both DeBlasio’s fake accounting to move things and the people’s inability to get a handle on the change that was needed while the negotiations were happening.
The technology exists to simplify, aggregate, and open up the budget to the people. My corporate career was in data, and I know from working in the NY Comptroller’s office that there are tools the City has to open up data access to people. Sunlight is the best disinfectant.

ULURP:
ULURP needs to be shifted, and like all legislation, each project needs to be measured for equity, resilience and sustainability. There are a few tweaks to the ULURP process that I recommend implementing, even as calls for more drastic change wend their way through.
1) City Planning and the Applicant (aka the Developer) begin the process together, which means that by the time CPC engages the community, they are already ‘friendly’ with the developer, even though they really should be neutral. There should be a step in the process for CPC to engage the community in the early stages of the project so that the relationship with the community is just as strong as the relationship with the Applicant.
2) Time limit the process, which is now creeping beyond 6 months. It needs to stay under six months so that good projects can happen.

Powers of Municipal Offices:
Do we need a public advocate?

Please explain your vision for the present powers of the office you are seeking and how you intend toexercise them?

The City Council role has five primary responsibilities:
Constituent Services - I plan to leverage all possible methods to provide exceptional services to all members of the neighborhoods. From an inviting storefront in a convenient location open when people can actually get there to leveraging communication tools like social media. It is the listening to what’s going on on the ground that informs the best systemic solutions.
Legislation - I plan to legislate for resilience, equity and sustainability. Initial priorities were already highlighted above.
Budget - The budget is a reflection of our values. I plan to budget for resilience, equity and sustainability.
Land Use approval - As mentioned above, harness the land use process to build a resilient, equitable and sustainable NYC.
Bully Pulpit or the power of the office - I will use the pulpit afforded by the office to amplify voices, to convene and connect people who need to meet, to highlight issues and to turn NIMBY into YIMBY.

Do you commit to working with Jim Owles during your campaign and while in office? What role can theclub and the progressive LGBT community play in holding you accountable?

Yes! I do commit to working with you while in office. This questionnaire has proven how valuable the conversations will be. So many of these questions led me to simple shifts in thinking that align with my values and were an “a ha!” Like having bar owners at the table, which fits into my leadership style and now I can also add that perspective. I’ve reached out to the local LGBTQ+ community to ask how I can be supportive as an ally and what they need from elected leadership. This questionnaire did not dig into issues of LGBTQ+ youth, and what I have heard locally is the need for safe space for LGBTQ+ youth and support for parents.

If you receive the endorsement, do you agree to identify the club on all literature and electronic materialswhere you list endorsements?

With pleasure.

What additional information would you like Jim Owles to consider when we are making our endorsementdecisions?

My husband and I are co-founders of a small Modern Orthodox congregation where leadership is irrespective of gender. That means that our Rabbi is a woman (an anomaly in even the Modern Orthodox world.) Our Rabbi holds our tradition of justice and openness and has created a welcoming space within orthodoxy for the LGBTQ+ community that I know is so sadly missing across the religious world. In our small community we’ve celebrated -and supported - one coming-out and two transitions. I want you to know that. I want you to know that I am the kind of person who defies stereotypes, who stands up for humanity, and who is able to build a coalition around the values of equity and justice.