LGBTQ, AIDS Advocate To Be Honored With Forest Hills Street Sign

FOREST HILLS, NY — Queens Councilman Shekar Krishnan’s bill to rename 78 thoroughfares and public places passed City Council Thursday with 47 votes. Among the people having a street named in their honor is Greg Stein, a 30-year LGBTQIA+ rights and AIDS advocate in Queens.

Stein is to be honored with a street co-naming at Queens Boulevard and 77th Avenue in Forest Hills.

The co-naming for Stein will be in the fall and former Councilman Daniel Dromm, one of the city's first openly gay elected officials, is expected to be in attendance, according to Queens Councilwoman Lynn Schulman's Office.

Stein was born Oct. 6, 1948 and died June 30, 2021, according to a City Council report. He served as a treasurer for the Queens Lesbian and Gay Pride Committee and the AIDS Center of Queens County.

Stein was an all around good person, David Kilmnick, president of the LGBT Network and New Queens Pride, told Patch via email.

"He served as the treasurer of the AIDS Center of Queens County almost from its inception," said Kilmnick. "He was the treasurer of the Queens Lesbian and Gay Pride Committee for over two decades. He also served as former Council Member Daniel Dromm's campaign treasurer. Greg never sought the spotlight. He just did the work and he did it at a time when public opinion wasn't always in our favor."

Stein was a devout Roman Catholic and a lector at Our Lady Queen of Martyrs Church in Forest Hills, added Kilmnick.

"His contributions to making society a better place for all deserve commendation and that's why we are grateful that Council Member Lynn Schulman is co-naming this street for him," said the LGBT Network president.

The LGBTQ advocate was also a lectern at Queens of Angels Church in Sunnyside, a math teacher at Russell Sage Junior High School in Forest Hills, an active member of the Phi Kappa Theta Fraternity and served as a volunteer and board member of the Lesbian and Gay Democratic Club of Queens, said City Council.

In a Queens Public Library Memory Project in 2018, Stein shared that having friends with HIV is what led to him becoming an advocate for both the LGBTQ and AIDS movement.

(Patch received permission from the Queens Public Library to publish video interviews with Greg Stein.)