Honorees Include Brooklyn Nets Center Jason Collins, Education Activist Christine Marinoni and Theater Producer David Rothenberg<\/p>\n
City Hall\u2014New York City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, the Council\u2019s LGBT Caucus and the City Council today announced the honorees for the Council\u2019s Annual Pride Celebration. Hosted by the City Council every June to honor leaders in the LGBT community, this year\u2019s Pride Celebration will be hosted by Carmelita Tropicana and will feature performances by the cast of Avenue Q, Lavender Light Gospel Chorus, The Door and the New York City Gay Men\u2019s Chorus.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe City Council\u2019s LGBT Celebration is an opportunity to highlight leaders in the city\u2019s LGBT community, and this year\u2019s honorees represent courage, vision and leadership in the fight to bring equality to all New Yorkers,\u201d said Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito. \u201cI\u2019m proud to live in a city with so many strong advocates for the LGBT community and thrilled that the City Council will be able to give these honorees the recognition they deserve.”<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s honorees include Brooklyn Nets Center Jason Collins, former Stonewall Democrats Club Vice President Paul del Duca, transgender Latina LGBTQ organizer Bianey Garcia, education activist Christine Marinoni, Campaign to Stop the False Arrests founder Robert Pinter, Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club President Allen Roskoff and theater producer and LGBTQ activist David Rothenberg.<\/p>\n
The 2014 City Council Pride Celebration will be held at 5:30 PM on Wednesday, June 18th in the Great Hall at Cooper Union. Members of the public wishing to RSVP can call 212-442-1649 or email eventscoordinator@council.nyc.gov.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs the LGBT movement continues to shatter barriers we must remember that our march toward full equality continues,\u201d said Council Majority Leader Jimmy Van Bramer, one of Queens\u2019 first openly gay elected officials. \u201cOur 2014 honorees have made great strides toward helping our City and nation achieve full equality. The accomplishments of all of our honorees as well as Jason Collins\u2019 historic season are a tremendous inspiration to thousands of LGBT New Yorkers. I\u2019m proud to come together with Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito and my colleagues in the LGBT Caucus to honor New Yorkers who continue fighting to make our City more inclusive of our LGBT brothers and sisters.”<\/p>\n
\u201cHonoring David Rothenberg at the Council\u2019s annual LGBT Pride event is truly an honor,\u201d said Council Member Daniel Dromm. \u201cMy objective is to help LGBT people understand that we are all in this struggle together. David, as an openly gay man, has devoted his life to helping the formerly incarcerated reenter society. LGBT people were similarly rejected from society and, in many ways, were at one time outlaws, too. The Council\u2019s pride event gives us the opportunity to connect the issues and I am really looking forward to our event.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAs an openly gay elected official, I\u2019m proud to be joining my colleagues in this year\u2019s LGBT Pride Celebration in the City Council,\u201d said Council Member Corey Johnson, who represents the West Village, Chelsea, and Hell\u2019s Kitchen. \u201cThis year marks the 45th anniversary of the Stonewall rebellion, and it is important that as a legislative body, we stand together to recognize important LGBT New Yorkers. I\u2019m delighted to be honoring education activist Christine Maroni. Christine\u2019s work on behalf of families and children is commendable, and it is wonderful that as a member of the LGBT community, she works hard for all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEach June, my pride in the LGBT community of New York City is reinvigorated as we come together as a City to celebrate the diversity, and successes of our community, and shed light on the important work still left to be done,\u201d said Council Member Carlos Menchaca. \u201cAs the first openly gay Council Member from Brooklyn, I am proud to join the members of the LGBT Caucus and the Speaker in organizing an event that represents the diversity of experiences of the LGBT community of our city. This event will highlight the lived reality of our friends, neighbors, and allies, and will celebrate the progress we have made since that historic week at the Stonewall Inn just 45 years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI am proud that the NYC Council will honor Robert Pinter who spoke out and exposed the police practices that unlawfully profiles and arrested gay men in adult video stores,\u201d said Council Member Rosie Mendez. \u201cRobert\u2019s bravery, determination and outrage led him on a long journey to obtain justice not just for him but for all those that were afraid to speak up.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt brings me a great pride to recognize and celebrate the extraordinary contributions of New York City\u2019s LGBT communities. I am especially honored that this year we will recognize my borough\u2019s very own Paul Del Duca, a tenacious Bronxite who has worked fearlessly and tirelessly to advance gay rights and expand LGBT services in the Bronx and citywide,\u201d said Council Member Ritchie Torres, the first openly gay elected leader from the Bronx.<\/p>\n
Honorees:<\/p>\n
Jason Collins
\nJason Paul Collins is a professional basketball player in the National Basketball Association. In 2013, Collins bravely became the first openly gay professional athlete in a major American sports. In April 2014, Collins was featured on the cover of Time Magazine as one of the \u201c100 Most Influential People in the World\u201d for his courageous leadership on behalf of the LGBT community. Collins currently plays for the Brooklyn Nets.<\/p>\n
Paul del Duca
\nPaul J. del Duca, formerly the vice president of New York City\u2019s Stonewall Democrats Club, is a long standing champion of LGBT rights. An early advocate for the LGBT community, del Duca was president of the Kingsborough Community College\u2019s Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Association. Del Duca currently serves as Chief of Staff to Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr.<\/p>\n
Bianey Garcia
\nBianey Garcia moved to the United States at age 14, escaping transphobia in Mexico. At age 19, she began attending transgender support groups and worked with community leaders to educate them on STD prevention. Garcia now works as the LGBTQ Justice Organizer at Make the Road NY. She has been an outspoken advocate for the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people, and communities of color in New York City.<\/p>\n
Christine Marinoni
\nEducation activist Christine Marinoni, formerly the New York director of the Alliance for Quality Education, currently serves as the Special Advisor for Community Partnerships within the Department of Education. She is responsible for engaging community partners, including businesses, nonprofits and community-based organizations on major education initiatives.<\/p>\n
Robert Pinter
\nIn 2008, Robert Pinter and at least 30 men, most of whom were men of color, were profiled as gay by the NYPD and falsely arrested for prostitution by male undercover vice squad officers around several adult video stores in Manhattan in an unlawful attempt to close the stores down. Pinter founded the Campaign to Stop the False Arrests to fight this injustice. Since then he has become a leading LGBT police reform activist in New York City.<\/p>\n
Allen Roskoff
\nAllen Roskoff is an LGBTQ activist and president of the Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club. The organization works to secure the human rights, dignity, and freedom for all people. Roskoff\u2019s involvement in the LGBTQ movement dates back to 1970, when he joined the Gay Activist Alliance and served as the chair of the Municipal Government Committee. Since then, Roskoff has participated in numerous demonstrations highlighting discrimination against the LGBTQ community.<\/p>\n
David Rothenberg
\nDavid Rothenberg is an accomplished theater publicist\/producer and LGBTQ activist, particularly for the rights of incarcerated persons. Rothenberg produced the dramas Fortune and Men\u2019s Eyes, which examined the treatment of homosexuality behind bars in a candid manner. David founded The Fortune Society in the same year (1967), an organization which provides services and advocacy for formerly incarcerated people. Rothenberg was a mediator during the Attica Prison uprisings in 1971. In 1985 Rothenberg was one of the first openly gay candidate for New York City Council.<\/p>\n
Chase Strangio
\nChase Strangio is a Staff Attorney with the ACLU\u2019s LGBT & AIDS Project. Chase\u2019s work includes impact litigation, as well as legislative and administrative advocacy, on behalf of LGBTQ people and people living with HIV across the United States. Chase has particular expertise on the treatment of transgender and gender non-conforming people in police custody, jails, prisons and other forms of detention.<\/p>\n
Host<\/p>\n
Carmelita Tropicana
\nCarmelita Tropicana is an award winning Cuban-American stage actress who has been a vocal advocate for the LGBT community for years. Tropicana has performed in venues Institute of Contemporary Art in London, Hebbel Am Ufer in Berlin, Centre de Cultura Contemporanea in Barcelona, the Berlin International Film Festival, and the Mark Taper Forum\u2019s Kirk Douglas Theater in Los Angeles, but calls New York City home.<\/p>\n
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Honorees Include Brooklyn Nets Center Jason Collins, Education Activist Christine Marinoni and Theater Producer David Rothenberg<\/p>\n
City Hall\u2014New York City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, the Council\u2019s LGBT Caucus and the City Council today announced the honorees for the Council\u2019s Annual Pride Celebration. Hosted by the City Council every June to honor leaders in the LGBT community, this year\u2019s Pride Celebration will be hosted by Carmelita Tropicana and will feature performances by the cast of Avenue Q, Lavender Light Gospel Chorus, The Door and the New York City Gay Men\u2019s Chorus.<\/p>\n
…<\/p>\n