Zohran Mamdani, who will hopefully be elected as Mayor of New York on Tuesday, showed that he had ceaseless energy this weekend as he dropped into a number of nightclubs on Saturday night and Sunday morning.  It included a night-time stop at PAPI JUICE  LGBTQ+ bar in Brooklyn  just hours before the polls open on mayoral election day in New York.  Analysts have said if (when!) he wins, it will represent New Yorkers’ desire for a politician who leans further left than the party’s traditional values.

Ever since Mamdani was first elected as a House Representative for New York’s 36th district, he immediately showed his support of the LGBTQ+ community by backing the repeal of the “Walking While Trans” law, which was disproportionately used to target trans women of color under the guise of curbing sex work.  That same year, he co-sponsored the Gender Recognition Act, which, amongst other changes would make it easier for trans and nonbinary folks to change their gender on official government documents.

After Cuono had been forced to resign as Governor, Mamdani voted for New York’s gender-affirming care “shield law” that protects providers, patients and medical records from hostile out-of-state actions. The bill is then signed into law by the new Governor, Kathy Hochul. On this occasion, Mamdani’s vote underscored his opposition to red-state crackdowns on trans health care. 

Last year, Mamdani wrote an op-ed in support of Proposal 1, a state constitutional amendment that bans discrimination “based on ethnicity, national origin, age, disability and sex—including sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy and pregnancy outcomes, and reproductive healthcare and autonomy.” The amendment also introduces legal protections for housing discrimination against LGBTQ people. The following month, Prop 1 passes into law.

Meanwhile, come election campaign time earlier this year, Cuomo did not participate in a mayoral candidate forum hosted by four LGBTQ groups, including The Stonewall Democratic Club of NYC, NYC Pride and Power, Equality New York and Lambda Independent Democrats. His absence speaks volumes and further alienated him from New York’s LGBTQ community.

In May this year, Mamdani announced a protection plan for LGBTQ New Yorkers that includes a $65 million investment for gender-affirming care. The plan also proposes the creation of an Office of LGBTQIA+ Affairs to “expand and centralize the services, programs, and support LGBTQIA+ New Yorkers need across housing, employment and more.” Mamdani says NYC will become a sanctuary city in an effort to “strengthen and uphold the rights of queer and trans New Yorkers.”

In June, after Mamdani attended Gay Pride (that Cuomo skipped out off), he was endorsed by  queer and jewish influencer Matt Bernstein, and other LGBTQ celebrities include Bowen Yang, Cole Escola, Hari Nef, Ben Platt, John Early, and Cynthia Nixon. Bernstein said at the time We need democratic leaders who will stand up for the rights of immigrants and LGBTQ people, not throw us under the bus. We need Zohran.”

At the final mayoral debate, Cuomo, trailing very badly in all the polls tried attacking Mamdani as being divisive for taking a picture with “Rebecca gay killer Kadaga” and asked why he won’t renounce his citizenship to Uganda and call for boycotts, divestments and sanctions against the country known for its anti-LGBTQ policies. In response, Mamdani says his politics are “built on a belief in human rights” and “that extends to queer and trans New Yorkers and it extends to queer and trans Ugandans.

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