For the first time in its history, the Ulster County Legislature officially declared June to be Pride Month in Ulster County, honoring the annual celebration and achievements of the LGBTQ+ community.
As part of its Pride presentation on Tuesday, June 13, the legislature honored Trans Closet of the Hudson Valley, established in 2018 as, in the words of Trans Closet’s Berrie Sattler, “a small anarchist mutual aid organization run by a handful of trans volunteer organizers.” It provides clothes, gender-affirming supplies and other resources to the trans community without cost.
“The meaning of pride is at the forefront of our minds and hearts,” said Sattler. “To us, pride means survival, and the Trans Closet is a survival project. Pride means helping each other survive for long enough to build community. And we recognize that gender-affirming clothing and care are basic survival needs. Pride also means joy. Helping create moments of gender euphoria, even small and fleeting ones is central to our purpose of facilitating self-actualization. We try to give our community as many chances as possible to be who we are as we are.”
Sattler claimed far-right politicians are fueling rising anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment across the nation. It was more important than ever that their community not have to stand alone locally.
“We call on our allies to take substantive action beyond recognition in the eyes of the law and rainbow capitalism,” Sattler said. “We call on you to protect trans and gender non-conforming people in immediate material ways.”
The night began with a rally outside the Ulster County office building in support of a legislative public hearing on the Drag is Not a Crime Act, the proposed local law to expand the existing Human Rights Law to include gender expression as a category protected from discrimination. The rally was led by legislative vice-chair Peter Criswell, author of the proposed law.
“The already vulnerable populations of Two-Spirit, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer/Questioning, Intersex, and Asexual+ (2SLGBTQIA+) individuals have fallen under attack with introduction of discriminatory legislation across the United States,” reads the text of the proposed law. “The American Civil Liberties Union has identified the introduction of 452 anti-2SLGBTQIA+ bills in 2023, with more introduced every day, endangering the health, safety and well-being of non-heterosexual and gender non-conforming individuals.”
Criswell, former executive director of the Hudson Valley LGBTQ Community Center in Kingston, said the far right’s recent efforts to ban drag performance were “yet another way to harm the LGBTQ+ community,” and said the legislation would extend housing and employment protection to what he last month described as the county’s “very robust” Human Rights Law.
The rally was attended by supporters of the legislation, including Ulster County executive Jen Metzger, who said, “This is a scary time. We’re seeing incredible discriminatory, cruel laws passed across the country, and while in New York I don’t think we’re in danger of seeing those kinds of laws anytime soon, the hate is still there, and it affects people’s lives daily. No one should have to live in fear for being who they are, and expressing who they are.”
Inside, supporters of the Drag is Not a Crime Act filled the gallery on both sides of the room. During the public hearing, the legislature heard from a dozen supporters of the proposed law and no detractors.
Andy Isenson, senior legal director at the Chosen Family Law Center and clinical instructor at the LGBTQ Advocacy Clinic at Harvard Law School, described a divisive political climate where transgender and gender nonconforming people have significant protection and recognition, yet simultaneously face “unspeakable attacks” from “conservative states and municipalities trying to legislate us out of existence.”
Isenson described the Drag is Not a Crime Act as about much more than drag performance.
“This is about body autonomy for all of us,” Isenson said. “Queer and trans people are on the front lines of this, but it’s not just about drag. These legislative and violent attacks on body autonomy are escalating on every front … If you think this isn’t going to reach your door, you’re wrong. So what we can do is pass this bill. Passing this bill sends a message not only to trans and gender non-conforming communities in Ulster County saying this place is safe for you, It also sends a message to the anti-trans right, to the right that is coming for the rest of us as well, and tells them: Not here, not now.”
Fran Divine described herself as a “PFLAG mom,” the nationwide organization founded in 1973 to support and advocate for LGBTQ+ people and their families and allies. Divine urged the Legislature to adopt the Drag is Not a Crime Act.
“Every layer of protection you can give this community is necessary,” said Divine. “These are the most vulnerable people in our community, and that’s what you’re here to do as legislators, to protect the most vulnerable, These are human beings. They can’t help who they are, they, who they are. We love them unconditionally. We want them safe. That is really what we’re always looking for, their safety. So I urge you to pass this next layer of protection for the parents, because we worry about our children.”
Timmy Bruck, a Kingston resident and drag performer as Pinky Socrates, has hosted a drag queen story time since 2017, She bristled at the idea that there was something inherently wrong with that.
“The main reason I host events for children is to teach them about the radical idea of freedom,” Bruck said. “Freedom of self-expression, freedom of self-love, and freedom of self-government in our oppressive, hypocritical society … Drag as an art form is being demonized, but anyone who has a passing knowledge of history knows that something far more insidious is recurring.
Bruck said support for the Drag is Not a Crime Act should be the “bare minimum” for the legislature.
In a June 14 legislative press release, chair Tracey Bartels said she’d been deeply moved by the speakers the night before. “Yesterday’s public hearing perfectly underscored the importance of this critical piece of legislation,” Bartels said. “With its passage next month, we will send a message to our neighbors that they are seen, valued and protected.”
In the same press release, Criswell said passage of the Drag is Not a Crime Act by the legislature on Tuesday, July 18 was critical.
“As we see increased blatant displays of intolerance and hate legislation targeting LGBTQ+ people passing around our country, it’s clear we need strong gender-expression protections here in our county,” said Criswell. “We must codify gender expression into our human-rights laws so that drag performers, and anyone of any gender-expression expressing any gender, is protected. I’m confident we will pass this into law at our next session.”
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