Washington, DC –Tonight, openly LGBTQ public defender Tiffany Cabán beat an incumbent and five other primary opponents and is now poised to become the first openly LGBTQ district attorney in New York City history. LGBTQ Victory Fund was among the first national organizations to endorse Cabán in her race for Queens County District Attorney – which eventually attracted other high-level endorsees including The New York Times, U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, and U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. She ran on a platform of criminal justice reform and an end to mass incarceration. She will almost certainly win the general election in November and will represent more than 2.3 million people.
Mayor Annise Parker, President & CEO of LGBTQ Victory Fund, released the following statement about her win:
“Tiffany Cabán pulled off an upset victory because of her deep connection to the community and her desire to reform a system that for too long failed the people it was meant to serve,” said Mayor Parker. “As a queer woman and a Latina, she understands the inequities of the criminal justice system in Queens County – its terrible and disproportionate impact on people of color and transgender people – and will use that to implement real policy reform. Tiffany is a tireless advocate and leader and her impact will extend well beyond the borders of Queens County.”
Cabán was born in Richmond Hill, Queens, to Puerto Rican parents who grew up in the Woodside housing project, a residential neighborhood in Queens. Her father worked as an elevator mechanic while her mother watched and cared for other people’s children. Tiffany earned a B.S. in Crime, Law, and Justice from Penn State, and a J.D. from New York Law School, and returned to Queens to serve her community. Tiffany has served as a public defender for seven years and represented over 1,000 indigent clients in cases ranging from turnstile jumping to homicide.
Read an interview with Cabán on Victory Fund’s Agenda blog.
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LGBTQ Victory Fund
LGBTQ Victory Fund works to change the face and voice of America’s politics and achieve equality for LGBTQ Americans by increasing the number of openly LGBTQ elected officials at all levels of government.
victoryfund.org
