Nation’s Largest L.G.B.T.Q. Advocacy Group in Turmoil Over Cuomo Ties

Alphonso David’s work for Gov. Andrew Cuomo helped him become leader of the largest L.G.B.T.Q. advocacy group in the country. Now those ties could cause his dismissal.

When Alphonso David became president of the nation’s largest L.G.B.T.Q.+ advocacy organization in 2019, his long experience as Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s chief legal counsel and secretary on civil rights was seen as a huge advantage. In his nine years working for the governor, Mr. David had helped to propel many of Mr. Cuomo’s triumphs in L.G.B.T.Q. rights, from marriage equality to a ban on conversion therapy, which was a large part of why the leadership of the organization, the Human Rights Campaign, said they had hired him. But now the close ties between Mr. David and Mr. Cuomo are roiling the organization, with some calling for his dismissal. Mr. David’s name is mentioned some two dozen times in the New York attorney general’s report, which accused Mr. Cuomo of sexual harassment. He is one of several former members of the governor’s staff who the report said were enlisted to discredit one of the accusers.