Cy's Plan For The Future

LGBT Issues

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My vision of community-based justice includes not just connecting the DA’s office with Manhattan’s neighborhoods but with its many communities that transcend geographic boundaries especially the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered (LGBT) communities who have a history of unequal treatment in our society that must end.

I fully support:

  • marriage equality in New York and the repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act
  • passage of a statewide anti-bullying bill that covers sexual orientation and gender identity
  • passage of federal civil rights legislation
  • passage of the state Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act
  • full inclusion of people of transgender experience in the New York State's hate crimes law

As Manhattan DA, I will:

  • Establish a Hate Crimes Unit in the Manhattan DA's office and conduct and annual bias summit. We need to devote special attention to these crimes so that we can stop them at their roots. The Hate Crimes Unit will be staffed by ADA's with special training in building these cases. And the perpetrators of these crimes must receive more than punishment. We need to turn them around with creative sentencing that diminishes their prejudice. You can read more about my proposal for a Hate Crimes Unit here.
  • Prevent false arrests and entrapment. My community based justice model will help the office spot trends like the apparently false arrests of gay men for prostitution that were uncovered this year, by making it easer to identify the sources of problematic police reports more quickly and affording ADA's greater familiarity with local precincts. Furthermore, I believe we must work with the police to establish strong, universal evidence gathering techniques will improve the quality of evidence and help in both convicting the guilty and exonerating the innocent. The videotaping of police interrogations and wearing of a wire during stings would have left little dispute about what is actually happening when these arrests are made.
  • Appoint an LGBT Advisory Council. I and my staff will meet regularly with leaders in the community to both listen to your concerns and collaborate on making our City safer and our criminal justice system more fair.
  • Help LGBT Victims of Domestic Violence and Their Families. I believe domestic violence in LGBT relationships is just as much of a public health crisis as it is in heterosexual relationships. My "Plan to Stop Domestic Violence" (which you can read here) explicitly includes LGBT partners.
  • Promote Diversity in the Hiring of ADA's. For the DA’s office to be effective, it must reflect the tremendous diversity of our borough and that emphatically includes our LGBT communities.
  • Work Closely With Schools to End Bias-Based Bullying and Violence. Students, teachers, and staff must feel safe in all schools and the DA’s office must do all that it can to design and implement strategies to prevent and root out violence and bullying.
  • Appoint a Youth Advisory Council That Includes LGBT Young People and Service Providers. LGBT youth are an especially vulnerable population and will be included by my office in our efforts to listen to and work with young people and those who serve them on a regular basis.
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  • "I support Cy Vance in this year’s election because I believe he is the best qualified, by his experience and his views, to keep this office the strongest in the nation."

    Endorser Name & Title: 

    Robert M. Morgenthau
    Manhattan District Attorney

  • "Cy is the most experienced candidate in the race, and he has the support of those who best understand what is needed in our next DA. He has served as an outstanding prosecutor, criminal defense lawyer, commissioner for sentencing reform and community leader. But perhaps most importantly, through his long career, he has maintained the ability to combine pragmatism and idealism to achieve justice."

    Endorser Name & Title: 

    Caroline Kennedy
    Activist, Author, Attorney

  • “Cy Vance is an accomplished lawyer, a passionate advocate and a true progressive. But most importantly, he embodies a characteristic that I believe is essential for the Manhattan DA: fairness. "

    Endorser Name & Title: 

    Hon. David Dinkins
    Former Mayor, New York City

  • "Cy will be the kind of progressive D.A. that Manhattan needs – a lifelong opponent of the death penalty and supporter of the rights of women, LGBT people, and people of color. Throughout his career as a distinguished trial lawyer, Cy has embodied the principles of fairness and integrity that have long been central to the Manhattan D.A.’s office. He will work tirelessly to protect our communities."

    Endorser Name & Title: 

    Betsy Gotbaum
    Public Advocate, New York City

  • "The people of Manhattan expect and deserve a DA that will handle criminal justice issues with fairness and integrity... Cy has spent his career working on these issues [crime prevention, alternatives to incarceration, economic crime and financial fraud] from inside the courtroom, and his expertise is second to none. Manhattan DA is an important job, and it demands a leader with unparalleled legal skill and the utmost integrity."

    Endorser Name & Title: 

    H. Carl McCall
    Former Comptroller, NYS

  • "It's clear that Cy Vance has the experience and judgment necessary to lead such an important office. He has spent a lifetime in the courtroom, working on both sides of complex cases... We are endorsing Cy because we trust that he will look out for working families to make sure that they are safe and justice is being served."

    Endorser Name & Title: 

    Gregory Floyd
    President, Teamsters Local 237

  • “Cy's innovative vision of how to forge a greater partnership between prosecutors, police and the community is exactly the type of forward thinking that we believe will make this city an even safer place to live and work... Of all the candidates in the race, Cy is the only one with the right experience to run this office.”

    Endorser Name & Title: 

    Ed Mullins
    President, Sergeants Benevolent Association

  • “…an attorney in the tradition of Hogan and Morgenthau who will carry on a policy of fairness and toughness as chief law enforcement officer for New York County.”

    Endorser Name & Title: 

    Eleanor Jackson Piel
    Veteran Civil Rights Attorney

  • "Cyrus Vance has the experience and wisdom to understand that the public safety that New Yorkers deserve will not be achieved as the accidental by-product of business as usual prosecutions.  Cy Vance has long advocated the kind of proactive engagement with local communities that can produce dramatic crime reduction in the areas of our city most in need.”

    Endorser Name & Title: 

    Zachary Carter
    Former U.S. Attorney,
    Eastern District of New York

  • “We can be confident that Cy Vance will continue the traditions of effective law enforcement, fairness and justice that have defined and distinguished the Manhattan DA’s Office.”

    Endorser Name & Title: 

    David Boies
    Chairman of Boies, Schiller & Flexner, LLP

  • "Cy Vance's advocacy of reform of the draconian Rockefeller Drug Laws will help addicts get the treatment that they need instead of the prison time that turns them into hardened criminals."

    Endorser Name & Title: 

    Rev. Reggie Williams
    Chairman of the United Missionary Baptist Association’s Commission for Human and Economic Development
    Pastor - Charity Baptist Church of Christ

  • “Cy Vance is clearly the best qualified, most experienced, and most decent candidate to meet the enormous challenges and responsibilities of the office of District Attorney of New York County.”

    Endorser Name & Title: 

    Victor A. Kovner
    Former Corporation Counsel of the City of New York under Mayor David Dinkins

  • "As a superb prosecutor and leading member of the defense bar, Cy Vance is the candidate best qualified to lead this great office."

    Endorser Name & Title: 

    Author Linda Fairstein
    Former Chief, Sex Crimes Unit, Manhattan DA's Office

  • "Cy Vance has the experience, judgment and integrity to preserve the best traditions of this office and to ensure public safety and fairness.  Cy Vance is my choice for District Attorney.”

    Endorser Name & Title: 

    Michael Cherkasky
    Former Chief, Investigations Division, Manhattan District Attorney's Office

  • Endorser Name & Title: 
    “Cy Vance has the integrity, the experience and the energy to be a great District Attorney and a very worthy successor to Bob Morgenthau.”

    Robert Fiske
    Former United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York

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