Political Evolution

New Paltz Mayor Jason West marched in Queens in 2005.

Boro LGBT Politics Changed Since ’90

Daniel Dromm can’t help but flash a euphoric grin every first Sunday in June.

He watches as an assortment of different groups in Queens, the nation’s most diverse county, wave their flags in chest-pounding joy. Dromm gazes out and can barely remember the day when this vision, this accolade on his long-standing resume, was merely a pipe dream.

The openly gay activist, likely the most influential in Queens’ history, is the founder of the Lesbian and Gay Pride Parade that runs through Jackson Heights. Each year, Dromm considers it a symbol and march toward further equality.

“I never set out thinking this was going to become as political as it has become, but I understood that to really change something you had to affect the political structure,” said the 51-year-old social studies teacher.

Dromm has been a revolutionary in the gay community. Most notably, he became the first openly gay elected official in the borough by winning the seat for Democratic District Leader, who sits on the Executive Committee on the Queens County Democratic Organization. He has birthed numerous social support and political groups and has helped the gay community in Queens blossom into acceptance.

However, back in 1992, before any of this ever came to fruition, Dromm could never foresee the success he and others would have in changing the face of gay politics.

The Early Days

On July 3, 1990, Julio Rivera, a gay bartender from the Bronx, was bludgeoned to death with a hammer in the school yard of PS 69, an elementary school in Jackson Heights. Three gay bashers made a grisly statement, but in turn revolutionized the gay rights movement in Queens.

There were no outreach groups for the LGBT faction in those days, no one to defend the murder of a then-silent and fearful community. That spurred Dromm to ignite the fuse for gay politics.

“There were some very small groups, like gay friends and neighbors, mainly social groups,” Dromm said. “Then when Julio Rivera was murdered there wasn’t even an organization to form a response to the murder.”

In addition to being the founder of the Queens Lesbian and Gay Pride parade, which brings out between 30,000 and 40,000 people each June, Dromm helped create numerous other groups. In 1993 he started the Parents, Family and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, an outreach group in the immediate circle of gay relatives, which now boasts dozens of national chapters.

In 1994 he ventured into the ever-important realm of politics with the Lesbian and Gay Democratic Club, and later started the Queens Pride House and Queens Rainbow Community Center: community houses for LGBT community. Generation Q Youth Services also helps adolescents dealing with their sexuality.

“I felt in 1992 that we needed to have a visible display of our numbers in the borough,” Dromm said. “I just knew it was the right time.”

The most influential group, Dromm said, was the Democratic Club. It began to chip away at the political realm, which would really infiltrate an area that otherwise had been unreachable.

“That was a big seat change in terms of opinion....Before that we had very difficult time getting elected officials to attend our meetings,” said Dromm.

Recent History

In addition, the Democratic Club set up his run for Democratic District Leader in Jackson Heights in 2002. He stressed he has not used his pulpit as an avenue for merely gay issues, but issues surrounding everyone in the community.

“I’m not just a gay District Leader, I am a District Leader,” he said. “All of the issues are interrelated. Working for immigration rights you don’t know that many LGBT immigrants don’t have rights. LGBT [people] can’t have partners come into the country. Anyone who is a minority or faced discrimination or prejudice can relate to these issues.”

New Paltz Mayor Jason West marched in Queens in 2005.

Dromm and other gay leaders made a huge dent in the local political forum by backing Christine Quinn, who is the first woman and gay Speaker of the New York City Council.

“Last January [2006], I was chosen by my colleagues to serve as Speaker of the New York City Council,” Quinn said at an Empire State Pride Agenda meeting in Rochester on May 19. “They didn’t choose me because I’m openly gay, or because I’m a woman. They chose me because they felt that I had the qualifications and ability to best represent the Council and the people of the City of New York.

Dromm said electing Quinn was “the biggest thing we did” and “she would not have been elected without the support of the Queens County Democratic Association. That is probably our biggest accomplishment” in the sense that she was elected, not that she was gay.

In light of Staten Island Borough President Guy Molinari calling Karen Burstein “unfit” for the office of State Attorney General because she was “an admitted lesbian,” Quinn’s election was a bold statement.

Gay Marriage

Even with political strides, the most divisive issue in the gay community today is marriage. As it stands today, only Massachusetts has recognized same-sex marriage since 2004. Connecticut, Vermont, New Jersey, and California have created legal unions that, while not called marriages, are explicitly defined as offering all the rights and responsibilities of marriage under state law to same-sex couples.

Maine, Hawaii, the District of Columbia, and Washington have created legal unions for same-sex couples that offer varying subsets of the rights and responsibilities of marriage under the laws of those jurisdictions. Still, 26 states have banned gay marriages and unions between same-sex partners.

Chris Goeken, an attorney whose practice specializes on the rights of the LGBT community, said that though he and his partner Glenn Magpantay are joined through a civil union, it’s not the same as being married. Some rights, though, are better than none at all.

Goeken recalled working on a case in 1992 in which a map of the United States was used as a prop. States that had any form of gay rights protection, including marriage and unions, were marked with colors. There weren’t many.

“Now you look at that same map, those protections have spread,” Goeken said. “The map looks a lot different. I think it’s become a lot easier for gay people in general, especially with more protections.”

Dromm said when he first heard about the marriage push that he “didn’t think it would ever succeed or get as far as it has gone.”

“Because of the grass-roots community activism that’s gone on right now it’s unbelievable,” he said. “The overwhelming majority of elected officials support gay marriage.”

Dromm held a rally at the Jewish Center of Jackson Heights for a marriage bill last September and more than 200 people showed up, including elected officials. He said that 75 percent of Queens officials are endorsing gay marriage and “15 years ago that was inconceivable, even to a gay person like myself.”

“Recent studies have shown that 60 to 65 percent of New Yorkers show some recognition of marriage rights,” he continued. “There are near 1,000 rights that heterosexual couples are afforded that gay couples are not because of the marriage license.”

The Defense of Marriage Act, passed under the Clinton Administration, states that no union between a same-sex couple would be recognized by the federal government. It prevents same-sex couples from collecting from federal programs, like Social Security if their partner dies.

“We have people that have been married in Massachusetts, Canada, countries like Spain, who come here and whose rights aren’t as certain,” Dromm said.

“There’s no chance anytime soon that it’ll be repealed,” Goeken said. “States are trying to pass their own versions.”

Still, Goeken and Magpantay adopted a baby in November, a privilege not always afforded to gay couples.

Other Gay Issues

Dromm said another point of discussion in the community is gays in the military. When Bill Clinton introduced the initial proposal to allow gays into the military he was well-intentioned, Dromm said. However, the strategy didn’t completely work out because of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, which has resulted in more people being discharged from the military than before it was implemented, Dromm explained.

“Gay people are accepted in the military in countries like Israel and England,” Dromm said. “It’s highly discriminatory…Sometimes when they are outed by something else the military gives them the boot.”

Dromm said it is easier for gay police officers to assimilate. They face some of the same prejudices, but there’s been more progress in the machismo world of the NYPD than other military factions.

Even Dromm faced a backlash in 1998 when District 24 School board Vice President Frank Borzellieri tried get Dromm canned.

“I admitted that if a kid approached me and asked me, I would acknowledge my sexuality to them,” Dromm said. “He went after me and wanted me fired from my teaching position. He did everything in his power to try and stop me.”

Dromm obviously is still around and was humbled when the parents in the district supported and backed him.

“Sometimes people say I have courage; I call it stupidity,” he said with a hearty laugh. “This is what I have to do, I don’t give a damn.”

Looking Ahead

This June 3 in Jackson Heights Dromm will be a visible presence, as always. Ironically, the parade takes place in the same neighborhood where Rivera was slain, the accompanying festival touching the playground where he was beaten to death.

These days, Dromm knows that he has places to turn to for help, and that he feels much safer.

“A gay person from my generation always thought that we were the only ones,” Dromm said. “I grew up as a kid; I never saw gay people, never saw them on television, and never knew they existed. That’s why I started these organizations,” he said. “We could never ever go back to the way it was when Julio was murdered and that there was no response.”

“It’s been a journey, and this has gone farther than I could have ever believed,” he added. “Our goal is for the future and to get younger people involved. Once marriage comes…it’ll be interesting to see where we go from [there].”