Vladimir Martinez
2:04:38
Thank you chair Lewis, council member Hanif, and colleagues in the advocacy space for the opportunity to testify today.
2:04:45
More than ever in the recent past, this is an important conversation that New York City can and should lead the nation on.
2:04:52
My name is Vladimir Martinez.
2:04:54
My pronouns are he and him, and I am the director of policy and government affairs at the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Community Center, or the Center, located on West Thirteenth Street.
2:05:05
New York City's LGBT community formed the center in 1983 in response to the AIDS epidemic, ensuring a place for LGBTQ plus people to access information, care, and support that they were not receiving elsewhere.
2:05:19
Now we are the largest LGBT multi service organization on the East Coast.
2:05:24
In 2024, we served almost 700 TGNC community members across our support our social support services.
2:05:32
I'm submitting our full testimony for inclusion as part of the hearings record where we outline more about our services, respond to today's bills today's bill package in detail, and make recommendations about the city's course of action.
2:05:47
But I wanna focus my brief remarks today to call on the city council to do a few important and timely things.
2:05:54
First, we call on the city council to invest in TGNC leaders and services.
2:05:59
The center joins all the calls that have been made today for the expansion of the council's trans equity initiative this year.
2:06:06
We call on the council to increase that initiative to at least $10,000,000 and to prioritize new initiative spending on trans led grassroot grassroots organizations that are serving New Yorkers and that are leading the way on achieving justice for trans people in New York City.
2:06:23
The council should work with our coalition and with trans community leaders to review and analyze the current beneficiaries of the trans equity funding and to promote equity in that context.
2:06:35
Number two, this New York City Council well, that was faster than I wanted it to be, but the last thing I will say is we are calling on the city council to just use its bully pulpit in this moment to express public solidarity for TGNC people.
2:06:50
That is one of the important ways that the city council can support trans people by making real the lives, the tribulations, and the dreams of trans New Yorkers for their neighbors.
2:06:59
I'll submit the rest for the record.
