Daniel Dromm (born November 27, 1955) is an American politician who served in the
New York City Council
The New York City Council is the lawmaking body of New York City. It has 51 members from 51 council districts throughout the five Borough (New York City), boroughs.
The council serves as a check against the Mayor of New York City, mayor in a may ...
from the
25th district from 2010 to 2021. He is a
Democrat
Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to:
Politics
*A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people.
*A member of a Democratic Party:
**Democratic Party (United States) (D)
**Democratic ...
. The district includes
East Elmhurst
East Elmhurst is a residential neighborhood in the northwest section of the New York City borough of Queens. It is bounded to the south by Jackson Heights and Corona, to the north and east by Bowery Bay, and to the west by Woodside and Ditmars ...
,
Elmhurst and
Jackson Heights in
Queens
Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...
.
Life and career
Dromm was born in
Rego Park
Rego Park is a neighborhood in the borough of Queens in New York City. Rego Park is bordered to the north by Elmhurst and Corona, to the east and south by Forest Hills, and to the west by Middle Village. Rego Park's boundaries include Queens ...
, but his family moved to
Oyster Bay on
Long Island
Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...
when he was 5, and later to
Manhasset
Manhasset is a hamlet
''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in D ...
when he was 9. He attended Catholic schools. Dromm graduated from
Marist College
Marist College is a private university in Poughkeepsie, New York. Founded in 1905, Marist was formed by the Marist Brothers, a Catholic religious institute, to prepare brothers for their vocations as educators. In 2003, it became a secular in ...
and earned his master's degree at
City College.
A resident of
Jackson Heights, Dromm began his first career as a public school teacher in 1984 at P.S. 199 in
Sunnyside. As an educator, he promoted teaching acceptance of LGBT individuals through the Rainbow Curriculum and publicly
came out
Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBT people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity.
Framed and debated as a privacy issue, coming out of ...
in 1992. Heavily involved in the Queens County Democratic Party, he served as Democratic District Leader in the 39th assembly district.
He is one of the first two openly gay City Council members from outside Manhattan.
Dromm was featured prominently in the 2015
Frederick Wiseman
Frederick Wiseman (born January 1, 1930) is an American filmmaker, documentarian, and theater director. His work is "devoted primarily to exploring American institutions". He has been called "one of the most important and original filmmakers worki ...
documentary
In Jackson Heights.
New York City Council
As a
Democrat
Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to:
Politics
*A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people.
*A member of a Democratic Party:
**Democratic Party (United States) (D)
**Democratic ...
, he was elected to the City Council in 2009, representing the
25th district in Queens. Dromm defeated Councilwoman
Helen Sears by 10 points, 49% to 39%, in the Democratic primary. Dromm was reelected in 2013 and served as Chairperson of the Council's influential Committee on Education from 2014 to 2017.
In 2014, Dromm co-sponsored New York City Council bill Intro 253 to create the city's first government-issued photo identification card, later named "
IDNYC." The bill was passed overwhelmingly by the Council and signed into law by Mayor Bill de Blasio. IDNYC aides the homeless, youth, the elderly, undocumented immigrants, the formerly incarcerated and others who may have difficulty obtaining other government-issued ID. IDNYC is recognized ID for interacting with NYPD and allows card holders to gain access to all City buildings that provide services to the public. It is an accepted form of identification for accessing numerous City programs and services such as the Brooklyn Public Library, the Queens Library and New York City Public Library, the three library systems serving the City of New York. Several NYC cultural institutions grant cardholders free one-year memberships; these institutions include a number of museums, zoos, concert halls, and botanical gardens.
In 2015, Dromm said that he is against a bill sponsored by New York City Council Member David Greenfield to allow non-public schools (including religious and charter schools) to request that safety agents from the New York Police Department be posted inside the schools and be funded by the Board of Education. Dromm insists that more NYPD police officers or safety agents in the schools will not solve the problem of increasing situations of hate crimes citywide and be counterproductive.
On December 19, 2017, the New York City Council unanimously passed Dromm's resolution establishing January 30 annually as Fred T. Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties and the Constitution in honor of the late civil rights activist who objected to the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II.
In January 2018, Dromm was unanimously elected to serve as the chairperson of the NYC Council Committee on Finance.
See also
*
LGBT culture in New York City
New York City is home to one of the largest LGBTQ populations in the world and the most prominent. Brian Silverman, the author of ''Frommer's New York City from $90 a Day,'' wrote the city has "one of the world's largest, loudest, and most power ...
*
List of LGBT people from New York City
New York City is home to one of the largest LGBT populations in the world and the most prominent. Brian Silverman, the author of ''Frommer's New York City from $90 a Day,'' writes that the city has "one of the world's largest, loudest, and most ...
References
External links
Official NYC Council WebsiteCampaign website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dromm, Daniel
Schoolteachers from New York (state)
Gay politicians
Living people
New York (state) Democrats
New York City Council members
People from Jackson Heights, Queens
Marist College alumni
City College of New York alumni
American LGBT city council members
LGBT people from New York (state)
21st-century American politicians
Educators from New York City
People from Oyster Bay (town), New York
People from Manhasset, New York
1955 births
21st-century LGBT people