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NYC Councilman Erik Bottcher
From a teen grappling mightily with his sexuality, Bottcher is now a ubiquitous presence in New York City.
New York City Councilman Erik Bottcher didn’t always see a future for himself, let alone one that would put him at the heart of the nation’s largest city government, helping craft policy and deliver services to more than 150,000 constituents in Manhattan’s District 3.
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Born in a small town in the Adirondacks where his parents ran a fly fishing motel called The Hungry Trout, Bottcher describes his early years as "a really lovely childhood in a very beautiful place." But when adolescence arrived, so did a crushing sense of fear and confusion.
“Like many LGBTQ people, when I reached adolescence, I struggled a lot,” Bottcher said in a recent interview with The Advocate. “The realization that I might be gay just hit me like a truck.”
The emotional toll was devastating. Bottcher, now a vocal mental health advocate, shared that he attempted to take his own life five times as a teenager.
“I spent a month in a mental health hospital called Four Winds in Saratoga, New York,” he recalled. “That was a transformative and formative moment for me. I was this kid from the middle of nowhere in a hospital with young people who were dealing with gang involvement, substance use disorder, depression. It opened my eyes.”
It was there, among other struggling teenagers, that the seeds of public service were planted.
“I really do credit the experience of being a gay person born in that kind of place, and going through that, with why I ended up in public service,” Bottcher said. “So few people in our country have access to the kind of care I got, especially if they’re poor or Black. Everyone should.”
Now, Bottcher is fighting to expand access to mental health services for all New Yorkers. “Mental health care is preventative,” he emphasized. “Early detection and treatment is everything. They think they’re saving money by underfunding it, but the cost is going to be so much higher, people getting funneled into jails and emergency rooms.”
His lived experience drives his legislative priorities. But mental health isn’t the only crisis that shaped him.
“I came of age in the ’80s and ’90s, when HIV/AIDS was a death sentence,” he said. “I wasn’t an adult who watched my friends die, thank God. But I’m convinced, absolutely convinced, that if I had been born ten years earlier, I would not be alive today.”
His work in LGBTQ+ advocacy began in earnest when he joined Christine Quinn’s office, the first out Speaker of the City Council, in 2009. A year later, Bottcher was “loaned out” to then-Attorney General Andrew Cuomo’s gubernatorial campaign as the LGBTQ+ liaison. Marriage equality became his central focus.
“I remember it like it was yesterday,” he remembered. “Cuomo’s press secretary ran in and said, ‘You won’t believe what Carl Paladino just said.’ Paladino was Cuomo’s Republican opponent, and he had told a group of ultra-Orthodox rabbis that the governor should be ashamed for marching in the NYC Pride parade with his daughters.”
Cuomo made a pledge to pass marriage equality in his first legislative session. And when he won, he turned to Bottcher and said: “You’re coming with me to Albany, and we’re going to get marriage equality passed,” Bottcher said.
And they did. Bottcher helped quarterback the effort to pass New York’s landmark Marriage Equality Act in 2011. “I was really proud to be part of that,” he said.
Over the next decade, Bottcher’s political career continued. He became Chief of Staff to then-Council Speaker Corey Johnson (who is also out), helping to steer New York City policy through one of its most turbulent periods, the COVID-19 pandemic. When Johnson was term-limited out of office, Bottcher ran for Johnson’s seat and won a six-way race with just under 50 percent of the vote.
“I didn’t start out thinking I’d ever run for office,” he said. “When you’re a young staffer, you look at elected officials and think, ‘They’re so talented. I could never do that.’ But over time, I started thinking, ‘Wait, I could do that, and I’d be good at it.’”
Today, Bottcher says he's lucky to be able to work for his community and shape it.
“Being an elected official means having a unique ability to influence policy and make things happen,” he said. “It’s incredibly gratifying to see ideas go from my head to reality.”
He sees public service not just as a job, but as a moral calling.
“The worst-case scenario for me would be being busy with stuff that doesn’t really matter,” he said. “If I’m going to be busy, let it be for something that’s worth it.”
If you follow Bottcher on social media, you will quickly learn that he is a familiar presence in his district, whether responding to constituent complaints, attending community events, or, occasionally, strumming a guitar.
“How many people get to take guitar lessons as part of their job?” he laughed. “But it’s not all fun and games. You have to have skin that’s ten feet thick to be in this job. I don’t know if mine is there yet, but I’m loving the journey.”
When asked what drives him, Bottcher turned philosophical.
“Life goes by so quickly,” he said. “In the grand scheme of things, we’re here for the blink of an eye. So how do we make the best use of the time we have? What more can we do today? That’s how I live every day in this job.”
From a mental health facility in Saratoga to the halls of NYC City Hall, Bottcher’s journey is more than a political success story. It’s a story of survival, transformation, and purpose.
“Whatever I do,” he said, “I just want it to matter.”
If you or someone you know needs mental health resources and support, please call, text, or chat with the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline or visit 988lifeline.org for 24/7 access to free and confidential services. Trans Lifeline, designed for transgender or gender-nonconforming people, can be reached at (877) 565-8860. The lifeline also provides resources to help with other crises, such as domestic violence situations. The Trevor Project Lifeline, for LGBTQ+ youth (ages 24 and younger), can be reached at (866) 488-7386. Users can also access chat services at TheTrevorProject.org/Help or text START to 678678.
