Mamdani creates NYC’s first LGBTQIA+ office
Credit: Kara McCurdy | Mayoral Photography Office on Flickr
Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Friday signed an executive order establishing the city’s first Mayor’s Office for LGBTQIA+ Affairs and appointed the first transgender person to lead a New York City office. Led by Taylor Brown, now the highest-ranking trans person in city government history, the office will focus on advancing policies that ensure city agencies serve queer New Yorkers while upholding sanctuary protections and supporting individuals fleeing anti-LGBTQIA+ oppression. The move comes amid growing attacks on LGBTQIA+ protections and resources under President Donald Trump’s administration, including incidents in NYC.
Brown, an assistant attorney general in the Civil Rights Bureau at the New York State Attorney General’s Office, has years of experience fighting unlawful discrimination against transgender people in public accommodations and housing, disparities in race- and disability-based discipline in public schools, and federal actions that undermine civil rights protections.
Last year, she assisted in a lawsuit against Nassau County over its ban on transgender women and girls participating in sports at county facilities. In October, a New York appellate court temporarily halted enforcement of the law, as reported by Gothamist.
Before joining the attorney general’s office, Brown spent nearly seven years at Lambda Legal Defense & Education Fund and the national office of the American Civil Liberties Union’s LGBTQ+ & HIV Project.
In that role, Brown led litigation nationwide advancing constitutional and statutory protections for transgender people, with a focus on health care access, education, and employment. Notably, she was part of the legal team behind a historic lawsuit for trans people looking to amend birth certificates in West Virginia.
Under Brown’s leadership, the new Mayor’s Office will help city agencies establish and support liaisons to the LGBTQIA+ community, implement measures to prevent discrimination based on gender, gender identity, or sexual orientation, create legal resources to maintain the city’s LGBTQIA+ sanctuary protections, and provide support for queer individuals and families fleeing persecution.
Mamdani said the new office will also incorporate and expand the NYC Unity Project, created in 2017 under former Mayor Bill de Blasio, to coordinate citywide support for LGBTQIA+ residents.
In a statement, Brown pledged to uphold the city’s legacy as a “beacon of opportunity” for marginalized communities, including LGBTQIA+ New Yorkers.
“I will work every day to ensure that the doors of NYC remain open to all and to continue New York City’s legacy as a beacon of opportunity and hope for those who have been ignored, discriminated against, and intentionally excluded,” Brown said. “I look forward to working across agencies to ensure that we are protecting the LGBTQIA+ community from hostile actors that do not share NYC’s values.”
The creation of the new office comes as NYU Langone Health ceases its gender-affirming care, which it previously offered to children and teens in the area, a decision the state Attorney General’s Office has since ordered the medical center to reverse, according to Gothamist.
The office aims to strengthen protections for New Yorkers amid a broader national rollback of LGBTQIA+ civil rights. In February 2025, the National Park Service removed references to transgender people from its Stonewall National Monument web pages.
Last month, the NPS took down the Pride flag at the Stonewall monument under a policy allowing only the U.S. flag and other “congressionally or departmentally authorized flags.” After city officials re-raised the flag, Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Dan Goldman introduced legislation to make the Pride flag congressionally authorized.
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