Andrew Yang fails to win LGBTQ group's endorsement in New York City race: 'Like tokenizing us'

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Andrew Yang may be the front-runner in the polls in the race for the New York City’s Democratic mayoral nomination, but he lost out in the hunt for the endorsement of a prominent LGBTQ organization.

The group, the Stonewall Democrats of New York City, is supporting New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer, one of Yang’s leading rivals ahead of the June primaries. The endorsement came after what was described as a "cringeworthy" interview between Yang and members of the group on Wednesday evening.

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Stringer on Thursday tweeted, "I’m so honored to receive your endorsement, @SDNYC! We’ve been in the trenches together for decades to advance equality for all New Yorkers — now let’s continue the fight for LGBTQ+ New Yorkers and work to build a city for 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦𝑜𝑛𝑒."

A partial recording of Yang’s interview with the Stonewall Democrats was tweeted out by Harris Doran, a filmmaker and member of the group that attended the endorsement session.

He wrote, "Andrew Yang’s cringeworthy Stonewall endorsement meeting" in the tweet accompanying the video.

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"It was like he never met a gay person in his life, even though he kept reminding us people on his staff were gay," Doran told NBC News. "It was like tokenizing us."

"We're involved, smart people, and you can't show up like you haven't studied for the exam," he added. "He was talking to us like we were children or aliens."

The New York Times was first to report on Yang’s interview with the Stonewall Democrats.

According to a Spectrum News NY1/Ipsos poll released Monday, the 46-year-old New York City entrepreneur and former presidential contender grabbed the support of 22% of likely NYC Democratic voters, topping a crowded field of mayoral candidates.

Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams stood at 13% in the poll, with Stringer in third place in the survey, at 11%, and Maya Wiley, who served as a top attorney in term-limited Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration, at 7%.

Former Citi executive Ray McGuire, former Obama Cabinet member Shaun Donovan, former nonprofit leader Dianne Morales and former Sanitation Commissioner Kathryn Garcia were knotted up in the mid-single digits, according to the poll. Just over a quarter of those surveyed – 26% – said they remain undecided.

Yang topped the list when it comes to familiarity among voters – at 77% – thanks to the national attention he grabbed in 2019 and early 2020, as the one-time longest of long shots for the Democratic presidential nomination saw his campaign briefly soar due, in part, to his push for each adult American to receive $1,000 a month as a part of a universal basic income.

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Sixty-one percent of those questioned said they were familiar with Stringer, and 53% said they were familiar with Adams, who rose to the rank of captain during his two-plus decades in the New York City Police Department and who was the first Black person elected borough president of Brooklyn.

The winner of the Democratic primary will be considered the front-runner in November's election, as the city is a Democratic stronghold.