Tiffany Cabán
After serving for nearly a decade as a public defender, Tiffany Cabán ran for Queens District Attorney in 2019. “Initially, I ran because three of my homegirls urged me to, and I had to listen to the thing I always tell others: Don’t say no to your homegirls,” she tells GO. Although she narrowly lost that race, her homegirls knew what they were talking about: using the coalition she’d built from her bid for District Attorney, Cabán ran for a seat on the New York City Council in 2021. This time she won, and she now represents City Council District 22. As a city leader, Cabán focuses on safe- ty and opportunity for all, recognizing policies do not match reality, and wants to fight for everyone to have access to affordable housing, quality education and healthcare, and good nutrition. She also knows that being a member of the LGBTQ+ community means bringing her whole self, inter- sections and all, into politics. “The idea is that we bring our whole selves to our endeavors,” she says, “that I do not just face the conditions that our society imposes on women, nor just those that it imposes on queer people, or Latinas, or working-class Queens kids raised by parents who grew up in public housing.” When facing adversity, Cabán reminds herself “that I don’t carry it alone, that people before me, people with me and people yet to come are all part of a massive historical effort together.” There’s much work to do, but Cabán is up for the challenge. –AB
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