A controversial pastor with a historical past of bashing the LGBTQ group, Erick Salgado, was appointed to be an assistant commissioner within the New York Metropolis Mayor's Workplace of Immigrant Affairs (MOIA) by Mayor Eric Adams.

Reverend Salgado, a socially conservative minister, ran for NYC mayor in 2013 criticized "mortal sins" like abortion and homosexuality as a part of his platform, in keeping with the New York Every day Information. Salgado has made quite a few anti-LGBTQ feedback prior to now sparking issues of authority in his new position.

Salgado says his views have modified over time and vowed to help all immigrants locally.

"I'm proud to serve on this administration below the management of Mayor Adams and share his long-held values of tolerance and inclusion," Salgado stated in a written assertion put out by the mayor's press workplace. "My views have developed as society has developed. As MOIA assistant commissioner, my mission will probably be to carry up immigrant communities throughout our metropolis, together with LGBTQ+ immigrants, who usually face limitations to accessing wanted companies."

Salgado's change of coronary heart hasn't impressed New York Metropolis's LGBTQ organizations.

Erick Salgado
Erick Adams, a controversial pastor with a historical past of bashing the LGBTQ group was appointed to be an assistant commissioner within the New York Metropolis Mayor's Workplace of Immigrant Affairs. Adams (C) is seen right here throughout a debate subsequent to former NYC Mayor Invoice de Blasio.Getty Photos

The Middle, a company that has served New York Metropolis's LGBTQ group since 1983, is anxious concerning the mayor's determination to nominate Salgado. Senior Director of Advocacy & Group Engagement Trevon Mayers says NYC wants leaders who signify your complete group.

"With the appointment of Erick Salgado, we're extraordinarily involved concerning the message that this sends concerning the Mayor's help for the LGBTQ group," Mayers instructed Newsweek. "We want proof of help from Mayor Adams and his administration, as leaders whose job is to serve all of us in a vibrantly numerous metropolis like New York."

"Phrases about tolerance and inclusion usually are not sufficient—the group calls for actions that show a dedication to affirmation, dignity, and respect for LGBTQ New Yorkers."

Natalia Aristizabal Betancur, the deputy director of the nonprofit Make the Street New York, a company that works with a big group of LGBTQ immigrants, says she worries about how Salgado's views will affect his work.

"As a queer immigrant it is actually disturbing to me that the Adams administration would appoint somebody who has made terrible homophobic remarks for any company within the metropolis however much more so in MOIA," Aristizabal Betancur instructed THE CITY.

In 2016, Salgado made a transphobic tweet criticizing then-Mayor Invoice de Blasio for enacting transgender-inclusive lavatory insurance policies.

"Invoice DeBlasio desires you to permit your daughters to share the toilet with a transgendered," Salgado wrote. "Disgrace on him."

Salgado is not the one New York Metropolis politician who has made anti-LGBTQ remarks who the mayor thought of for a place in his administration.

Adams additionally deliberate on appointing Councilman Fernando Cabrera as town's high psychological well being official. Adams modified his thoughts after Cabrera obtained backlash from LGBTQ activists.

New York State Senator Brad Hoylman, a Democrat representing Manhattan, voiced his opposition of Cabrera on Twitter. "As an LGBTQIA elected official, I might be outraged if the Mayor of New York Metropolis — the world capital of tolerance and multiculturalism — appointed an avowed homophobe to any place in metropolis authorities," Hoylman tweeted earlier this month.

Newsweek reached out to Salgado and Mayor Eric Adams' workplace for remark.