Mayor Eric Adams announced Friday that his record $101 billion budget includes a new investment of nearly $6.7 million to provide services for the LGBTQ+ community — including money for nonprofits, legal services and support for homeless youth.
“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,” said Adams Friday at Destination Tomorrow, The Bronx’s LGBTQ center.
The new funding includes:
- $3 million for a “Peer Navigator Program” funding 16 young adults to work at eight runaway homeless youth drop in shelters and a financial literacy program
- $1 million for legal services tied to housing, employment, assistance with government benefits
- $1.5 million in educational workshops, parent support groups aimed at family acceptance
Right now, total city spending on LGBTQ services tallies up to roughly $25 million.
Meanwhile, Adams doubled down on condemning anti-drag queen comments from Councilwoman Vickie Paladino (R-Queens), who recently said the city-funded drag storyteller program in public schools is promoting childhood “grooming” and “sexualization.”
“We should lean into, not only drowning out comments like that, but also how do we lean into continuation of education, it’s about education,” said Adams.
But he stopped short of backing calls for Council Speaker Adrienne Adams to either formally censure Paladino, or strip her from committee assignments.
“Adrienne Adams is the speaker, let the city council deal with their issues,” the mayor said.
When asked if parents should have the option to pull their kids from the program, depending on the district, as Paladino has advocated for, Adams said it’s up to individual school principals to navigate controversial teachings.
“I am really optimistic on where we’re going as a city, where we are going to lean into those uncomfortable conversations and come up with better children to get better results.”
