Outcry Greets NYC Mayor's 3 Appointees with Anti-LGBTQ+ Pasts

New York City Mayor Eric Adams has sparked an outcry with his appointments of three onetime marriage equality foes that LGBTQ+ advocates say have no place in the city's government, The New York Times reported.

Two of the men – Fernando Cabrera, who, during his tenure as a city councilmember, traveled to Uganda in 2014 in support of that nation's draconian laws against gays, and Gilford Monrose, a pastor with a similar history of anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric – are mayoral appointees to the city's "newly created Office of Faith-Based and Community Partnerships," the Times noted, with Monrose in charge of the office and Cabrera serving as a "senior adviser."

The third controversial appointee, Erick Salgado – who is also a pastor, and who has also espoused anti-marriage equality views – has been named by Adams "as an assistant commissioner for external affairs in the Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs," the Times detailed.

Equality advocates slammed the trio of appointees, the Times said, relaying that "the City Council's L.G.B.T.Q. Caucus denounced Mr. Cabrera as a 'bigot,'" while out former City Council Speaker Christine Quinn declared that Cabrera and Mr. Salgado have "horrific records" when it comes to the LGBTQ+ community.

Indeed, the Times piece recalled that when Salgado ran for the office of the city's mayor in 2013, he garnered the endorsement of the virulently anti-gay National Organization for Marriage.

Salgado responded to criticisms in a Feb. 22 statement from the mayor's office, saying, "My views have evolved as society has evolved." Cabrera, meanwhile, took to Facebook on Feb. 21 to offer an apology for "the undue pain and suffering that my past remarks have caused the LGBTQ+ community" and, the Times noted, to claim "ignorance of 'the Ugandan government's historic denial of their LGBTQ+ population's civil and human rights,'" despite having made a video during his 2014 visit to Uganda in which "he explicitly praised the Ugandan government's opposition to gay marriage and presented himself as well-versed in Ugandan history."

Former Speaker Quinn shrugged off those comments from the two, saying that Salgado and Cabrera didn't have "marginal records" or "records that have evolved." Quinn reiterated the opinion that the two have "Horrific, horrific records."

Adams offered no apologies, calling himself a "man of faith" who has long embraced "tolerance and inclusion," and responding to criticism by saying,"I respect your thoughts, but I'm going to do what is best for the City of New York."

Adams has indeed "[fought] on behalf of men and women of the L.G.B.T.Q. community" in the past, as he described himself as having done; the Times recalled that Adams "voted to legalize same-sex marriage in the New York State Senate twice, even delivering a nine-minute speech in support of it in 2009."

Adams did appear to change his plans for Cabrera in the face of backlash from equality advocates; the Times noted that, according to Politico New York, Adams had initially planned on "putting Mr. Cabrera in charge of the city's mental health initiatives" – a move, the Times said, that "is unlikely to quell outrage that has been simmering in the L.G.B.T.Q. community for nearly a month."