Corey Johnson

Corey David Johnson (born April 28, 1982) is an American politician and lobbyist.

Johnson made national headlines in 2000 when, while co-captain of the Masconomet Regional High School football team, he publicly came out as gay.

His story was reported by major national news outlets, including The New York Times and 20/20.

He graduated from high school in 2000.

In 2004, Johnson was diagnosed as HIV-positive.

In 2005, he joined Manhattan Community Board 4 (CB4).

From 2008 to 2010, Johnson was the government relations director at GFI Development, a Manhattan-based real estate developer.

In 2009, he acknowledged to himself that he had been addicted to alcohol and cocaine for six years and had to stop, deciding to become sober.

Johnson spent less than one month at George Washington University before dropping out.

He then moved to New York City and engaged in LGBT rights activism.

He was a contributor and eventually the political director of the LGBT blog Towleroad.

He was elected chair of CB4 in 2011, becoming New York City's youngest community board chair at the time.

The same year, City & State profiled him as a "rising star" in New York City politics.

Johnson was first elected to the council as the member for the 3rd district in 2013.

At the time, Johnson was the first out gay man to serve as speaker, and the only openly HIV-positive politician in New York State.

In 2013, Christine Quinn ran for mayor of New York City, as her term in the city council was expiring.

Johnson, then chair of Community Board 4, ran to succeed Quinn in the 3rd district, and was elected in November 2013 with 86% of the vote.

He took office in January 2014.

Johnson's district includes all or part of the West Side neighborhoods of Chelsea, Hell's Kitchen, Greenwich Village, west SoHo, Hudson Square, part of the Upper West Side, Times Square, FlatIron, Hudson Yards, the Theater District, and the Garment District.

Johnson's legislation to require transparency regarding health services administered at Rikers Island was signed into law in June 2015.

In April 2016, Mayor Bill de Blasio signed into law Johnson's bill prohibiting the use of smokeless tobacco products, such as chewing tobacco, at sports stadiums and arenas that host events that require a ticket for admission.

The legislation effectively banned chewing tobacco from professional baseball in New York City.

A similar ban had previously been enacted in San Francisco, Boston, Los Angeles, and Chicago.

New York Yankees pitcher Andrew Miller noted: "It's a completely legal substance. It's available to purchase at any 7-Eleven", and his teammate third baseman Chase Headley wondered, "How is it legal around town, around wherever else, but just at the ballpark it's not?"

New York Mets outfielder Curtis Granderson said, "The only question we have is, the guys who do it, how do they know what's going on? ... if a player accidentally chooses to do it, will he get a citation? Will we stop the game? And will the same thing happen to the fans in attendance? That hasn't been identified yet, so we're still waiting to hear that."

In 2017 Johnson along with others occupied the offices in the U.S. Capitol of Senate Republicans to protest efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, and was arrested and zip-tied.

During the protest, Johnson screamed: "'ACT UP!' 'Fight back!'".

He later tweeted, "By occupying offices of Senate Republicans, we demand they cease attempts to strip health care from millions!"

He was charged with "misdemeanor incommoding, a District of Columbia statute that prohibits demonstrations inside the Capitol complex."

A member of the Democratic Party, he was Speaker of the New York City Council from January 2018 to January 2022.

The third district includes Hell's Kitchen, Chelsea, the West Village, as well as parts of Flatiron, SoHo, and the Upper West Side of Manhattan.

The council elected him speaker in January 2018.

He was the first out gay man to serve as speaker.

At the time, Johnson was also the only openly HIV-positive politician in New York State.

As chair of the council's Committee on Health, Johnson oversaw hearings on health issues such as the proliferation in the city of synthetic marijuana, also known as K2.

He also concurrently served as Acting New York City Public Advocate for a few weeks in early 2019.

In 2019, Johnson announced he was running for mayor of New York City, but he stopped fund-raising in March 2020, and in September 2020 withdrew from the race, saying he had had depression since May 2020 and did not think he could campaign and be effective as speaker while monitoring his mental health.

He instead ran unsuccessfully for comptroller.

Johnson was born in Beverly, Massachusetts, and raised in nearby wealthy Middleton, by his mother, Ann Queenan Richardson (who worked at a variety of jobs, including at a thrift shop that she founded and manages), and his stepfather, Rodney Richardson, owner of Middleton Tire Service and a truck driver.

Johnson's father, David Johnson, the son of an American father and a Korean mother, left the family when his son was very young.