What You Need To Know

• Jackson Heights is home to the Queens Pride Parade


• The parade grew out of a horrific hate crime — the murder of Julio Rivera, a young gay man killed in Jackson Heights in 1990


• Initially the attack was not identified as a biased crime. But due to public outcry, it was the first gay hate crime to be tried in New York state

“Being super liberated, I decided to do my transition because Jackson Heights is that for me, it’s a safety place,” said Garcia.

Her experience was difficult, that’s why she’s dedicated her life to fighting for transgender people.

She’s an early organizer of the TransLatinx March in Queens, which will mark its 12th year in the borough this summer.

“It’s a safety space for trans people to demand their rights,” said Garcia.

Jackson Heights has a long history of LGBTQ activism.

Former City Councilmember Daniel Dromm co-founded the Queens Pride Parade in Jackson Heights in 1993.

“We needed a way to put a face on the tens of thousands of LGBTQ people who live here in the borough of Queens,” said Dromm.

The parade grew out of a horrific hate crime — the murder of Julio Rivera.

In 1990, he was beaten to death for being gay. A street corner in Jackson Heights now bears his name.

Initially, the attack was not identified as a biased crime. But due to public outcry, it was the first gay hate crime to be tried in New York state.

“This really got the community to really, in a sense, come out of the closet and really become more visible and bring this case the attention that it deserves,” said Amanda Davis, the project manager for New York City LGBT Historic Sites Project.

Dromm found himself thrust into the headlines in 1992, after coming out as a gay public school teacher, in support of the Children of the Rainbow curriculum — a guide teaching children to respect gay people.

“There were no really out gay teachers in the borough of Queens. It was a very big story,” he said.

While New York has come a long way in terms of LGBTQ rights in the past 30 years, advocates say there is still work to be done.

Recent protests at the drag story hour at the Jackson Heights library left some members of the community on edge.

“They are engaging in such hateful, vile actions that are especially offensive because Jackson Heights is the birthplace of the LGBTQ plus movement here in Queens,” said City Councilmember Shekar Krishnan, who represents Jackson Heights.

Dromm, who is a former teacher himself, said he has a lot of hope for the next generation.

“I said, well, what is a drag queen? And the kids said, a drag queen is somebody who reads stories to you. How innocent, how perfect. And that’s all they saw. They haven’t been taught to discriminate or to hate yet,” said Dromm.