EDGE: Dromm Hopes to Make a Difference as New Gay City Council Member

From EDGE: By Michael K. Lavers

To describe the last few weeks as a whirlwind for New York’s two new gay City Councilmembers is a gross understatement. Inaugurals, new committee chairmanships, press conferences and a trip to Puerto Rico to meet with the family of a murdered gay teenager have certainly kept Jimmy Van Bramer [D-Sunnyside] and Danny Dromm [D-Jackson Heights] quite busy. Both men, however, remain all too quick to point out how much they love their new job.

"It’s been a great experience," Dromm, a former public school teacher who had taught in Queens for more than 20 years, told EDGE. "I love teaching, but this is a wonderful, wonderful job to have."

Dromm and Van Bramer are the newest members of what many affectionately dub the City Council’s "gay and lesbian caucus." Councilmember Rosie Mendez [D-Lower East Side] and Speaker Christine Quinn [D-Chelsea] round it out, and Melissa Mark-Viverito and others have periodically proclaimed themselves honorary members. Both men maintain their election will allow them to use what they categorized as the Council’s bully pulpit to push for marriage for same-sex couples and other LGBT-specific issues.

"There will be opportunities for us to stand up as a unit and express our feelings and express our power-as we did with Jorge Steven López Mercado," Van Bramer said to EDGE earlier this week.

Dromm, who chairs the Council’s Immigration Committee, agreed.

"I’m a strong believer of when people get to know each other, it’s very hard to discriminate against each other," he said. "As legislators, we can bring that home to our colleagues because we’re openly gay."

Dromm added his and Van Bramer’s election broke a glass ceiling, but the question remains: Will they, Mendez and Quinn have any collective power to further advance an LGBT legislative agenda at the city and state levels?

Kenneth Sherrill, a political science professor at Hunter College, became the city’s first openly gay elected official with his election as a Democratic district leader in 1977. He told EDGE gay and lesbian Councilmembers could prove pivotal during the upcoming city and state budget process. They could prove decisive in shaping the discourse over funding for HIV/AIDS services and the city’s Human Rights Commission and the implementation of safer-school programs.

"I would look for members of the state legislature and members of the City Council to mobilize to protect the community from what could be dangerous retrenchment," Sherrill said.

He conceded it is more difficult to determine whether a stronger LGBT legislative presence in Albany, which already includes state Sen. Tom Duane [D-Manhattan] and state Assemblymembers Deborah Glick [D-Manhattan,] Micah Kellner [D-Manhattan,] Danny O’Donnell [D-Manhattan] and Matt Titone [D-Staten Island,] could have secured passage of the marriage bill in the state Senate late last year. Sherrill added, however, their presence inevitably keeps an LGBT-specific agenda on the table.

"You can prevent them from forgetting about the issue," he said.

Pauline Park, co-president of the Out People of Color Political Action Committee and a long-time transgender activist, acknowledged the importance of LGBT people in office. As a long-time critic of Quinn, however, she argued their presence alone does not necessarily translate into progress for LGBT New Yorkers.

"Just because someone is openly LGBT or queer, that doesn’t mean there’s any guarantee they will support a progressive political agenda as an elected official-or an LGBT-inclusive agenda," Park said.

She further questioned whether LGBT Councilmembers actually have any tangible influence in Albany, and even in the five boroughs themselves.

"Holding press conferences doesn’t move legislation," Park added.

Both Dromm and Van Bramer remain optimistic they and their colleagues on the City Council and Albany will be able to advance an LGBT agenda.

"We’re going to be saying to our colleagues; this is important to us and we need you on board," Dromm said.