New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and First Lady Charlene McCray made a special appearance on Tuesday, June 29, at Destination Tomorrow, The Bronx’s LGBTQ+ Center, located on East 149th Street in the South Bronx, in celebration of Pride Month.

 

McCray, the first speaker of the program, told a crowd of about 50, “This is really a wonderful day. As I look around at all of you, I feel hope, I feel possibilities, I feel dreams crackling in the air.”

 

After watching a recent episode of the FX series “Pose,” McCray recalled, “During the show, I saw an ad about trans women who [were] interviewing for a job, and I watched two men kissing over a bottle of boy-butter, and I was just…. I mean my jaw just fell open. It’s a new world!”

McCray continued, “When I moved to New York City a year after college, I could not have imagined any of this. It was 1977. I was a poet. I identified as a lesbian but most people couldn’t be out at all in those days, not with their identity at work. If you were out, you didn’t have a job or lost that job.”

 

At the podium, De Blasio said, “This is an amazing moment in history that we are experiencing together. We went through hell last year, all of us, and this community in particular here in the Bronx had such profound challenges, and we all understood we’re dealing with something unlike anything we could have possibly imagined.” The mayor continued, “The fact that it’s 2021, and it’s getting better every day and it’s the summer of New York City and we are making our comeback, that’s how I feel. We are coming back.”

 

De Blasio then said, “And I am so thrilled that we’re having this gathering at Destination Tomorrow, because this is an example to me of people coming together to do something that was needed in this City, that was not easy to create, but was necessary, working, struggling and ultimately victorious.”

De Blasio then asked Destination Tomorrow’s executive director, Sean Coleman, to join him at the podium where he presented Coleman with a special proclamation to mark the occasion.

 

The Mayor then said, “This proclamation is about why Destination Tomorrow is so important, was so historic, so crucial. But I’m not going to restate all of that, you know, but I’m going to read the last sentence, because I love this sentence ’cause it gets to the best part, ‘I proclaim officially as Mayor of New York City, Tuesday, June 29, 2021 in the City of New York as Destination Tomorrow Day.”

Coleman thanked de Blasio, who he called a “faithful ally,” before saying, “I started Destination Tomorrow back in 2009 because I didn’t see me represented in LGBTQ+ spaces in New York City, but more specifically in the Bronx. I recognized the lack of focus for organizations in the outer boroughs, even though most of the need was in these very boroughs. I saw it as unjust that one would have to leave their neighborhood to access affirming safe LGBTQ+ programs and services.”

 

Recalling ten years since marriage equality passed in New York City as well as the current rise in violence against the LGBTQ+ community, and recent anti-trans laws currently being enacted across the country, Coleman told the audience, “The first trial was a riot y’all. I think it’s time to suit up again.”

 

D Blasio also presented a Certificate of Appreciation to Junior Labeija, a member of the 1990 documentary film, “Paris is Burning.”

Dominique Jackson, a cast member of “Pose,” and transgender actor, author and model, then told the crowd, “With support, you never know where someone can go. When you see people, you never know the potential they may have.”

 

For more information on Destination Tomorrow, located at 452 E 149th St 3rd floor, visit the group’s website at www.destinationtomorrow.org. Anyone experiencing depression can also call a new hotline where professionals answer the phone 24-hours a day. The service also has a “queer therapist” if needed. The number is (212) NYC-WELL. Other general numbers are: Toll Free: 833.DT.4LGBT or (646) 723-3325.