NYC Invests $6.7M In LGBTQ+ Programs, Services: Mayor

NEW YORK CITY — New York City will invest $6.7 million in new and expanded programs for LGBTQ+ people at a time when discrimination and hate is growing, Mayor Eric Adams said.

Adams announced the investments Friday amid a swirling controversy over Council Member Vickie Paladino's comments that Drag Queen Story Hour events constitute child grooming.

Paladino's false assertion drew widespread condemnation, including from Adams himself, but fits within a growing wave of right-wing rhetoric that echoes an age-old homophobic trope.

The mayor, in his announcement, said LGBTQ+ people facing discrimination across the country will always be welcomed in the city.

"Come to New York," he said.

“Discriminatory legislation should not be allowed to stand and we need to fight against it,” he said.

The investments include $3 million for peer navigators and financial literacy programs for runaway and homeless youth, as well as $1.5 million toward a family acceptance initiative of LGBTQ+ youth.

Adams said family rejection is one of the main causes of homelessness among LGBTQ+ youth, who account for 50 percent of the city's homeless young people. He said 90 percent of those homeless are Black and Brown youth "twice disadvantaged."

“This is a downstream solution to an upstream problem,” he said.

Another $1 million will go toward culturally sensitive legal services for LGBTQ+ people, officials said.

A faith-based healing initiative for LGBTQ+ New Yorkers who experienced religious hate will receive $350,000, HIV and sexual health services will receive $400,000, among other programs, officials said.