De Blasio faces underfunded opposition in the September 12 primary (see page 4) and a little-known Republican state assemblymember in the November general, and hundreds were on hand for a show put together by actor Cynthia Nixon that featured comedians Rosie O’Donnell and Mario Cantone, actors Denis O’Hare, Michael Urie, Taylor Schilling, and Alan Cumming, nightlife maven Michael Musto, and Randy Jones of Village People fame.
Trump’s expense, all in support of the mayor’s reelection. | Photo by Paul Schindler
Introducing the mayor, First Lady Chirlane McCray talked about her own leadership on forging a comprehensive city response to mental health challenges, citing specifically work that program is doing with LGBTQ youth and in the public schools. De Blasio opened his remarks by joking that the raucous and at times bawdy stage show was the “toned-down, more conservative” echo of the 2013 event. That evening, he said, with polls still showing the race a tough one for him, he could feel the sense of “cutting away the bonds of the past and believing that we could make something different for this city.”
The mayor emphasized his work on behalf of the LGBTQ community, including his administration’s work to expand the number of available safe shelter beds for queer youth and his guarantee of access to appropriate public bathroom space for transgender New Yorkers. De Blasio also talked about a speech he gave at Cooper Union shortly after Donald Trump’s election, recalling that he told the crowd, “When we band together, we do change our reality for the better.” Pointing to positive signs — from the largest women’s rights demonstration in US history on January 21 to town halls in red states demanding that Obamacare be protected — he said he’s found reason for those optimistic words. “I just want to affirm to everyone that the spirit we felt in this room four years ago is not only alive and well, it’s growing,” the mayor said.
