Independent mayoral hopeful Andrew Cuomo said Monday it’s “hypocrisy” for his opponent, Democratic front-runner Zohran Mamdani, to maintain dual U.S.-Ugandan citizenship, citing the African nation’s anti-LGBTQ laws.
“Why would you keep a citizenship in Uganda, which is a country that outlaws the LGBTQ community — why? Why be a citizen of that country?” Cuomo told reporters in Manhattan.
“I believe in the LGBTQ community and it would be a total act of hypocrisy to be a citizen of a country that abuses LGBTQ people,” he continued. “It’s pure hypocrisy.”
Cuomo brought up the issue of Mamdani’s dual citizenship at a press conference held to highlight a New York Post report about how Mamdani, during a recent trip to his native Uganda, took a photo with Rebecca Kadaga, a local politician who in 2012 pushed to adopt a bill that made homosexuality punishable by life imprisonment.
In response to that report, Mamdani has said he didn’t know who Kadaga was when he took the photo and called her legislative push a “horrific attack on queer Ugandans.”
Mamdani was born in Uganda, but moved to the U.S. as a child and became an American citizen in 2018.
A spokeswoman for Mamdani, who’s polling as the favorite to win November’s mayoral election, argued Cuomo’s focus on the Democratic nominee’s citizenship is a sign of desperation.
“Andrew Cuomo’s recent behavior is increasingly Trumpian — issuing desperate personal attacks to distract from his lack of any vision or plans to address the affordability crisis,” said the spokeswoman, Dora Pekec. “Does Cuomo want every dual citizen in a city of 3 million immigrants to give up their citizenship?”
Cuomo has himself maintained associations with some controversial anti-LGBTQ politicians, including Bronx Rev. Ruben Diaz Sr., who opposes gay marriage and once claimed the City Council is controlled by “the homosexual community.”
Pressed on his closeness to Diaz in light of his Mamdani broadside, Cuomo argued it’s inappropriate to reference Diaz in that context.
“[Diaz] does not support the LGBTQ community,” acknowledged Cuomo, who resigned as governor in 2021 amid sexual and professional misconduct accusations he now denies. But, Cuomo said, “he never said that we should outlaw them or kill them.”
