LGBTQ Advocate And Mother Of Queens Councilman Dies At 85

JACKSON HEIGHTS, QUEENS -- As Queens Councilman Daniel Dromm mourns the loss of his mother and biggest fan, the rest of the borough grievd alongside him the loss of one of its fiercest LGBTQ advocates.

Mary Andrew Gallagher, mother to Dromm (D-Jackson Heights), was laid to rest at the Conway Funeral Home on Monday after she died on Jan. 4 from a massive heart attack, according to a statement from the New York City councilman. She was 85.

Dromm called Gallagher as his "Rose Kennedy," referring to the former president's mother who often hit the campaign trails with him. He credited her for his election to the city council, saying everywhere he went, "people always asked me about my mother."

"My mother knocked on over 1,500 doors to help me get elected, wrote a beautiful letter to seniors in the district and was constantly seen campaigning with me," Dromm said.

When Gallagher wasn't fiercely advocating for her son, who is openly gay, she did so for the LGBTQ community. She helped launch the Queens chapter of PFLAG - a support, education and advocacy group for parent, families and friends of LGBT people - and its treated its members like family.

Larry Nelson, PFLAG Queens' outreach and media director, said Gallagher was known among the chapter for making everyone feel welcome.

"From the get-go, Audrey was a very outspoken parent who wanted to show the world the unconditional love she had for her gay son," Nelson said. "The chapter will miss the love and devotion she shared with others over the years."

Gallagher was born in Brooklyn on Sept. 6, 1932, but lived in Long Island City until her family moved to Rego Park when she was 7 years old. She attended St. Margaret’s Elementary School in Middle Village and The Mary Louis Academy in Jamaica.

Gallagher married her first husband, Warren Dromm, shortly after graduating from St. John's University in Jamaica, where she studied to be a teacher. The two had Daniel Dromm, their first child, soon after.

"She and her Danny were very close," PFLAG Queens President Anne Quashen said of their relationship. "She was one of his main supporters since he came out to her at age 17."

Gallagher would later have four more children -Lori, Marybeth, John and Joseph - taking time off from her job teaching in New York City's public schools to raise them.

The following years would include a series of moves for Gallagher. The first was to Manhasset, Long Island, where she'd start her own nursery school and help the unionize the city's day care center directors. A second marriage later uprooted her to Port Jefferson, Long Island, where she headed a paraprofessionals' union and successfully fought for their 72 percent pay raise.

But it was her move back to Flushing in 1992 that spurred what would become a decades-long commitment to the LGBTQ community. Gallagher has been browsing local apartment listings when she came across a full-page Newsday article about her son that stated he was gay and actively supporting the Children of Rainbow curriculum, which taught tolerance of lesbian and gay people.

The following year, Gallagher marched in Queens' first Lesbian and Gay Pride Parade, which was organized by Dromm. The parade's atmosphere would move her to help organize a PFLAG chapter in the borough with her son and the organization's founder Jeanne Manford.

She would soon become a familiar face at every Queens Pride parade and PFLAG gathering, said Brendan Fay, a member of the Lavender and Green Alliance celebrating Irish LGBTQ. Fay, who knew Gallagher through the St. Pat's For All parade, said she always offered hugs and encouragement to LGBT children "struggling in a world of prejudice."

"When the history of the LGBT movement in Queens is told, there will be the story of a community activist and gay man Danny Dromm, and of an Irish American mother, Mary Audrey Gallagher, who embraced us and our cause for equality as her own," Fay said.

Photo courtesy of the New York City Council.