In his Tuesday night victory speech, New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani promised to stand up for transgender people, echoing his campaign promises to make the city a pro-trans “sanctuary city.”

“In this moment of political darkness, New York will be the light,” Mamdani said. “Here, we believe in standing up for those we love, whether you are an immigrant, a member of the trans community, one of the many Black women that Donald Trump has fired from a federal job, a single mom still waiting for the cost of groceries to go down, or anyone else with their back against the wall. Your struggle is ours, too.”

Related

Republicans tried to make Virginia’s elections all about trans people. They lost everything.

Mamdani’s win may also indicate strong public support for transgender rights and that Democrats need not consider it politically dangerous to stand by the trans community.

During his campaign, Mamdani pledged to spend $57 million on medical centers that provide gender-affirming care and $8 million more to develop new and broader resources. While campaigning, he attended a Trans Day of Visibility rally in March and a trans community town hall in May.

Insights for the LGBTQ+ community

Subscribe to our briefing for insights into how politics impacts the LGBTQ+ community and more.
Subscribe to our Newsletter today

Mamdani – whose campaign heavily focused on making the city more affordable – also vowed his administration would expand and protect gender-affirming care, make the city an LGBTQ+ sanctuary city, and create an Office of LGBTQIA+ affairs.

Near the end of a two-minute video he released in October honoring trans activist Sylvia Rivera, Mamdani said, “Since taking office, Donald Trump has waged a scorched-earth campaign against trans people. The man with the most power has expended enormous energy targeting those with the least.”

“New York will not sit idly by while trans people are attacked,” he continued. “We will deploy hundreds of lawyers to combat Trump’s hate, make New York City an LGBTQIA+ sanctuary city, and create the office of LGBTQIA+ affairs to allocate millions for youth and adult housing programs as well as gender-affirming care.”

Sanctuary cities often offer trans residents a place where they can pursue gender-affirming care and enjoy municipal recognition of their genders without fear of city officials assisting anti-trans investigations from out-of-town transphobic government officials.

Advocate noted that, while serving as a state representative for New York’s 36th district, Mamdani supported repealing the state’s anti-loitering law (called the “Walking while trans” law), which police used to harass and arrest law-abiding trans people under the pretense of discouraging prostitution. An overwhelming majority of those arrested under the law were Black and Latina women.

Mamdani also cosponsored the Gender Recognition Act, which created a gender neutral “X” option and streamlined gender changes for trans and nonbinary people on their government-issued documents. He also supported a state shield law forbidding government agents and medical providers from assisting out-of-state investigations into those receiving or providing gender-affirming care.

Exit polls show that LGBTQ+ people overwhelmingly voted for Mamdani and helped deliver his win. While non-LGBTQ+ voters were split nearly evenly between former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Mamdani, 81% of LGBTQ+ voters cast their ballots for Mamdani, according to NBC News’s exit poll results.

Subscribe to the LGBTQ Nation newsletter and be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.