Margarita López
Margarita López | |
---|---|
Member of the New York City Council from the 2nd district | |
In office 1997–2006 | |
Preceded by | Antonio Pagán |
Succeeded by | Rosie Mendez |
Constituency | Manhattan: Lower East Side, East Village, Gramercy Park, Rosehill, Kips Bay; southern part of Murray Hill |
Personal details | |
Born | San Juan, Puerto Rico |
Political party | Democratic |
Residence(s) | New York City, United States |
Margarita López is a former member of the New York City Council who represented New York City's 2nd City Council district from 1998 to 2005. The 2nd district comprises the Lower East Side, Alphabet City, and the East Village. López was elected to the Council in 1997. Born in Puerto Rico, she relocated to New York City in 1978.[1] A Democrat, she was the only openly gay Puerto Rican politician on the City Council for some time. During her years of political service, she has particularly emphasized increasing city services, renovating neighborhood libraries, and championing gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender rights.
In 2005, López entered the race to succeed C. Virginia Fields as Manhattan Borough President. Due to a series of articles published in the New York Post, she came under fire for connections to the controversial Church of Scientology, whose members donated sizeable amounts of money to her campaign. Due at least in part to the bad press generated by these stories and the Church of Scientology's views on homosexuality,[2] she lost the Democratic primary election to win her party's endorsement for the general election in November of that year. Democratic candidate Scott Stringer won both the primary and later the general election.
In 2006, Mayor Michael Bloomberg appointed López to a seat on the board of the New York City Housing Authority.[3] López, who once was a critic of Bloomberg, endorsed the mayor in his re-election campaign against Fernando Ferrer, the second Puerto Rican politician to run for mayor of the city (Herman Badillo was the first). She was succeeded in her previous councilmember position by Rosie Méndez.
See also[]
- LGBT culture in New York City
- List of LGBT people from New York City
- Nuyorican
- Puerto Ricans in New York City
References[]
- ^ New York City Housing Authority: Biography of Margarita López Archived 2015-11-09 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Margarita López stays mum through Scientology flap Archived 2017-12-06 at the Wayback Machine from Downtown Express 05/08/2005
- ^ Scoopy's Notebook:López gets the job Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine from The Villager 29/03/2006
External links[]
- (in English) Interview with New York Latino Journal
- (in English) Campaign endorsement from Stonewall Democrats
- Activists from New York City
- American politicians of Puerto Rican descent
- Hispanic and Latino American politicians
- Puerto Rican people in New York (state) politics
- Hispanic and Latino American women in politics
- Lesbian politicians
- LGBT city councillors from the United States
- LGBT people from New York (state)
- LGBT people from Puerto Rico
- LGBT rights activists from the United States
- Living people
- New York City Council members
- Hispanic and Latino American New York City Council members
- Women New York City Council members
- New York (state) Democrats
- People from San Juan, Puerto Rico
- New York (state) politician stubs
- Puerto Rican people stubs