CM Cabán on trans rights campaign and historical context of erasure
Chair Cabán (stepping in for Finance Chair) discusses the historical context of trans erasure, referencing Nazi Germany's targeting of LGBT organizations. She asks about the trans rights campaign budget and measurement of effectiveness.
Stepping in for the Finance Chair, before I start my own questioning, I just wanted to welcome and thank the WIN NYC advocates who are up in the balcony today.
Appreciate you all being here.
You know, I want to pick up, I think, where...
The council member just left off in terms of support for our trans, gender nonconforming, gender expansive community, gender affirming care.
You know, Commissioner, you said it really well when you said that there is this concerted effort to erase.
Folks from existence.
And I just want to put this in the context of the past because this has happened before and it is also the reason why our community struggled to this day.
And, you know, so for folks who don't know this, before 1933, Germany was a center of LGBT plus community and culture.
And they had a bunch of renowned organizations serving and supporting trans and gender nonconforming people.
And it was under Hitler's Nazi government that they were targeted.
And it's the same argument of like, we have to protect youth and raising healthy families.
And they use that as a mechanism for genocide, right?
And that included just decimating the Institute for Sexual Research, which was founded by a Jewish doctor.
And that was where like the first modern gender affirmation surgeries were done.
And they swarmed the Institute.
They burnt over 20.
20,000 books, and it was irreversible, right?
Like it set back the progress of the work, not just medically, but socially along ways.
And so here we find ourselves today.
And so I just, I want to root it in how important it is and how it's not different.
It's not that different.
So you said that you guys have launched the trans rights or human rights public awareness campaign in partnership with the Office of LGBTQIA plus affairs and DOHMH.
I just want to know what the total budget allocation is for the campaign and what funding source is being used and how the city is going to measure whether the campaign leads to increased awareness of legal protections, increased reporting of discrimination, mental health.
What are the things that you're looking at?
In that.