Every dollar donated during December will go directly toward paying students to produce stories like this one. Give now and ensure a brighter future for The Daily Orange.

Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh announced the formation of an LGBTQ+ Advisory Board in June, formed to support the LGBTQ community in Syracuse.

The 19-member board aims to serve as a liaison between the LGBTQ community and public offices in Syracuse to help with concerns the community has, according to a press release. Members will likely break off into subgroups based on their preferences, said Michael Sgro, one of the co-chairs of the LGBTQ+ Advisory Board. The board will put together proposals for the mayor and deputy mayor to review.

“All of that work about what we want has to be met with time, research and making sure we know what we’re talking about before we submit those proposals,” Sgro said. “Because we want to make sure that we’re informed and realistic about what things we can accomplish.”

Leonardo Sanchez, the other co-chair, said the board’s mission is to achieve “awareness, education, compassion, understanding and empathy.” He wants the board to provide resources to LGBTQ community members on any issues they face.

Sgro said that the board members, who come from different backgrounds, are still learning about one another and figuring out how they can best work together.

“We’re representative from different cross-sections of industries as well as backgrounds and ages,” he said. “It’s every expression of the human condition that’s represented by the 19 people.”

The board’s co-chairs met to set an agenda before the last advisory board meeting. As one of the co-chairs, Sgro said his job is to ensure arrangements of meetings and proposals move forward while staying on the same page with the mayor and deputy mayor.

The board members are unable to meet in person to discuss their proposals because of the pandemic, Sanchez said. But he added that he hopes to have in-person meetings in the future.

Sanchez said the next step is to get the word out about the board. Going into 2022, the board plans to hold a public hearing to introduce themselves to the Syracuse community. They also want to have their own cards or flyers which include the contact information of the advisory board so that community members can easily contact the board and bring up issues they want addressed.

“If they don’t know who we are, it’s all for nothing,” Sanchez said. “So we want to make sure we get a website up.”

Published on December 8, 2021 at 2:04 am

Contact Wanshi: wzhan104@syr.edu