On Sunday, November 29, a temporary proposal to include 4 gender neutral County Committee seats in each Brooklyn assembly district was passed by the County Party’s Executive Committee (the entity composed of our elected District Leaders).  

Though the proposal was passed, several LGBTQ and allied district leaders voted no.  We want you to know why, and why voting no was the right thing to do.  

The proposal creates a temporary fix to the county party’s laws requiring that county committee seats be filled only by men and women.  This fix would only be for the 2020-2022 session, leaving the county party’s task force on gender discrimination and inclusion (of which LID President Jared Arader serves as a member) to create a more permanent resolution allowing non-binary people to serve.  

This proposal is designed to appear as progress, expanding the party to include TGNCNB people who were excluded.  However, this proposal includes an amendment shifting responsibility for appointment of all vacant positions to the executive committee, taking this power away from the county committee itself.  Our district leaders, and President Arader, agree that this provision negates the important and inclusive policy behind the proposal writ large.  We strongly disagree with lumping together a proposal advancing equality with one that places power in the hands of fewer members of our county party.  Additionally, it is insulting to TGNCNB people to use an opportunity to advance gender equality as a way to gain power.  

Initially, District Leader Samy Nemir Olivares proposed referring the resolution back to the task force for further study.  This is reflective of a similar proposal put forth by Arader at the November 23 meeting of the task force.  Arader had made the proposal in order to accommodate input from the general public at an open session to be held on November 7 and 8.  

This motion also failed last night.  While the resolution allowing for the appointment of only 4 non-binary persons per assembly district is now the policy of the county party, shifting responsibility for filling vacancies is also policy.  We disagree with the latter.  

The Task Force will be hearing public input on permanent proposals allowing non-binary people to serve on county committee on December 7th and 8th at 7PM.  In order to submit a comment, or declare your intention to present orally at the meetings, please submit your name and a summary of your comment to KingsDemTaskForce@aol.com

For inquiries, please email admin@lidbk.com