BY MARY ZAKHAROVA
On Thursday, Lambda Independent Democrats of Brooklyn (LID) hosted a virtual meeting to discuss the upcoming New York elections and issues of importance to them.
LID is the largest LGBT political organization in Brooklyn. It was founded in 1978 and now has more than 4000 members. “We have been building relationships with elected officials, endorsing and supporting LGBT and pro-equality candidates for public office, speaking out against bigotry and violence… and building a coalition of LGBT, pro-equality, and progressive political allies,” says LID on its website. https://lidbk.com/about
The first speaker at the Thursday event, Natalia Philatova, Assistant Director at Common Cause New York, went through statewide ballot proposals that will be presented to voters on Nov. 2. She discussed the Amending the Apportionment and Redistricting Process, guaranteeing fair representation for all communities; ensuring that incarcerated people are not political pawns and reducing the power of machine power brokers in the redrawing of district lines across the state.
One proposal, the Eliminating Ten-Day-Advance Voter Registration Requirement, is being pushed so that people will no longer have to register 10 days in advance of election day in order to vote.
Yet another proposal, the Authorizing No-Excuse Absentee Ballot Voting bill, would let voters request an absentee ballot without a checklist of reasons.
Lydia Green, political organizer with LID, said the group is also proposing a law that would prevent discrimination against people based on presumptions/prejudices having to do with weight and height.
Green said she did a survey to get an idea how many people are affected by weight and height discrimination and got “a ton of responses about having trouble with accessing healthcare, discrimination in employment, not getting hired for jobs or being harassed or treated differently, paid less, because of. . . weight.”
Many respondents stated that a bill like this would have a “huge positive impact on their lives,” Green said.
Josue Rivera, a district leader who ran for office as an LGBT candidate, ended Thursday’s meeting saying he is grateful for LID’s support. He said he’s noticed that Brooklynites now feel more positive about LGBT candidates. He said: “What I saw as an LGBT candidate was significant progress with how people interact with LGBT candidates, the issues that they focus on . . .”