Get the latest Syracuse news delivered right to your inbox.
Subscribe to our newsletter here.

Since Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh announced the establishment of the city’s LGBTQ+ Advisory Board, its members have been trying to determine the board’s mission.

The 19-member board, created on Oct. 13, 2021, will serve as a liaison between Syracuse’s LGBTQ community members and the city government to solve issues they might have, according to a press release from the mayor’s office.

“Too often, the interests and concerns of our LGBTQ+ community have gone overlooked,” Walsh said in the release. “The Advisory Board will help to change that and ensure we are living up to our vision of being a growing city that embraces diversity and creates opportunity for all.”

Too often the voices and interests of LGBTQ+ people have gone unheard in our community. I’m proud to announce the formation of the LGBTQ Advisory Board to ensure the issues, concerns and opportunities facing LGBTQ+ people in Syracuse are kept visible and addressed. #Pride2021 pic.twitter.com/pTnh2autJ1

— Ben Walsh for Syracuse (@walsh4syracuse) June 27, 2021

The creation of four subcommittees — community space, outreach and education, business and employment and city policy — will help define the mission and put capable board members in the community to provide any aid needed, said Leonardo Sanchez, the board’s co-chair. The members in each subcommittee will bring their years of experience to the community with their specializations, Sanchez said.

The field of each subcommittee was chosen through discussions with members collaboratively. Every subcommittee is evenly dispersed with either six or seven members, Sanchez said, and each member can join two subcommittees.

The co-chairs each took two different subcommittees to cover all four areas. Sanchez is part of community space and city policy, while the other co-chair, Michael Sgro, is in business and employment as well as education and outreach.

“The idea right now is let’s hear our population and our community and access where we need to go,” said Chris Kukenberger, a board member and an associate professor at Onondaga Community College. “That will help us understand what our mission long term really is.”

Certain community initiatives have already begun, Kukenberger said. The board has started a conversation with the Syracuse Police Department to help create new, updated training on working with the LGBTQ population, particuarly the transgender population, they said.

While some committees have started operations, others are still defining their goals. The community space committee has been trying to find an operation center that’s inclusive to members of the LGBTQ community.

The pandemic will make finding a physical space difficult, Sanchez said. In the meantime, a website will be created to provide the community with direct contact to the board. Board members’ emails will be made publicly available on the website, which will also have pages with resources for the LGBTQ community and provide board updates for transparency.

“We don’t want to try to create something that already exists,” said Coran Klavers, an associate professor and the chair of Syracuse University’s English department. “We want to find out what already exists and find out what the needs of the community are.”

Klavers, the only SU faculty on the board, also hopes that the university can get involved. She wants to connect SU and the city of Syracuse on the board issues and utilize the university’s resources to provide meaningful help to the board’s operation, she said.

While the mission of the board remains open to public input, there is a common goal between all members to provide representation for those who previously did not have a voice in the government.

“We’re trying to break down barriers. I came from New York City where you saw all different people of all colors in love, and when I moved here people were shocked that I was married to a man and we were an interracial couple,” said Sanchez. “We want this discomfort and fear LGBT people have towards being themselves to stop.”

Published on January 30, 2022 at 10:34 pm

Contact Grace: gdkatz@syr.edu