Proud to Announce DSNY’s Newest Benevolent Society: Pride of Sanitation

by Sanitation Foundation Team

On June 29, 2022, Commissioner Jessica Tisch officially signed Pride at DSNY into becoming the NYC Dept. of Sanitation’s newest benevolent society!

The public acknowledgment and solidification of the association seems long overdue; indeed, the LGTBQIA+ community at DSNY has, throughout history, faced an uphill battle for recognition — for which reason the Sanitation Foundation was especially excited to feature the society as Pride Month drew to a close.

We were honored to have a conversation with some of the group’s founding members, Dzara Melcone (SMART Field Support, Bureau of Information Technology) and Justin Portelli (Operations Control, Solid Waste Management), to learn more about their experience as LGTBQIA+ individuals in the Sanitation workforce, and understand the journey to official recognition as a Department Benevolent Society. Read on for their story!

(From left to right): NYC Sanitation Commissioner Jessica Tisch, Dzara Melcone, and Justin Portelli.

Celebrating signing Pride at DSNY!

Sanitation Foundation: What brought you to DSNY?

Portelli: DSNY wasn’t my first pick — I originally wanted to join the NYPD and attended college to earn the required 60 college credits that were required to join. But my brother-in-law, who now has over 20 years with DSNY, encouraged me to take the Sanitation test. I was on the fence but eventually took the test and scored really well. 

I was in the process of joining the NYPD when the 2007-2009 recession had a huge impact on the City. During the hiring freeze, I realized that joining the NYPD may not be best suited for me, and in 2012 I was able to join DSNY and till this day I am thrilled with this decision. 

Melcone: A childhood friend of mine convinced me to take the Sanitation Worker exam by telling me I’m good at test taking. So my entire career was built on an appeal to my ego. Thank goodness he did though, because five years into a rocky career in film and video, I wanted stability and a realistic prospect of retirement. If the hiring freeze hadn’t happened in 2007, I would have turned the job down to pursue a pipe dream. When they got to my list number in 2013, I’d had enough of chasing that dream and was looking for a way out. We can only connect the dots in retrospect; I took the test out of ego and I took the job out of humility. Jerry, I still owe you dinner!

Melcone & Portelli at the NYC Pride Parade.

Sanitation Foundation: How has your experience as a member of the LGTBQIA+ community been at DSNY?

Melcone: Being transgender is something that you can only understand when you live it. It affects every aspect of your life at a very fundamental level and there is no part of your life to retreat to in order to find relief from its impact. Society as a whole has come a long way but it still has a long way to go when it comes to its treatment of transgender people.

It’s no different at DSNY. As an example, I can share an anecdote: I was promoted in October. Each promotional class member gets their picture taken in uniform and put up on DSNY’s site. My picture was taken from the site, passed around to others in group texts and mocked and insulted. News of this happening traveled to me from a district on the opposite side of the city.

And, I’ve heard stories of high-level meetings involving personnel I’ve never met or worked with discussing matters of my transition.

These are just isolated incidents. What it’s like at work is how it is at home, at the store, on the bus, in a cab, in a restaurant, at a coffee shop, in a building lobby or elevator, at weddings and funerals and house parties and holidays. Everywhere, everyday, there’s something. Sometimes it's a small thing, sometimes it's a lot of small things that add up. Every now and then there is something egregious. And then there are the truly bad days. They’ll force you to look back and consider how easy you had it before you grew the conviction to step into yourself.

“Being transgender is something that you can only understand when you live it.”
—Dzara Melcone

Because I had a very visible role for years as an instructor before transitioning, I don’t think it is an exaggeration to say that thousands of people have discussed my being transgender in conversations I’m not a part of. That creates challenges for me in the workplace.

There were times I considered quitting. Someone very dear to me told me that when you run from your problems, they will follow. I kept that in my heart during the low points.

That said, there are also shining examples of incredible support and inclusivity without which I would have given up. With time and effort, my work environment became an area of my life where I felt accepted and supported. Being able to pour myself into my career and enjoy success here gives me relief from other areas of life where my struggles are ongoing. It gives me a voice as well, a chance to say that transgender people are just normal hardworking folks that, like anyone else, want to do a good job and try to make our city run better.

Now I feel like my transition is going really well, and my treatment by others has improved tremendously — not just at work but in public and in my personal life. I’m grateful that things are getting better. I certainly feel the best I’ve ever felt before.

I do have mixed feelings about that though. It's clear to me that the difference in how I’m treated is in part because with time I have become more conforming to feminine gender conventions. For people who can’t conform to those standards, poor treatment by society is a permanent part of their life.

“Being shunned if you don’t look a certain way is a lot of pressure to put on a person’s body and appearance. That’s not fair, and it needs to change.”—Melcone

Portelli: At first it was a bit difficult. I felt so out of place. Here I am in “Garbage school” at Floyd Bennett Field with a class of 124 other Sanitation Workers and I’m probably the only gay person in here. I was nervous because at that time I didn’t want anyone to know about my sexuality. Working for a department which is very male-dominated made me feel very insecure. At that time, I didn’t want to be judged simply because I was gay.

When assignments came out, I was thrilled to find out I was assigned to M4 garage, because M4’s district covers Hell’s Kitchen and Chelsea. I remember saying, “Yass I’m going to be with HK and Chelsea Kweens!” That part made me happy because I knew that I would be working in my community and probable run into some of my friends while they are at happy hour at “GYM Bar” or “Hardware” and I’m working a 4-to-12 basket route.

Working at M4 was exciting but I was still feeling insecure for the first few months and a bit lonely mostly because I wasn’t my true self, until one day I said, “Screw this! I don’t care what others think about my sexuality and I don’t want to pretend anymore.” That's when my insecurities subsided. I felt like a huge weight was lifted off my shoulders and I was able to make true genuine friendships at work. Since then, working for this department has been mostly kind to me. Before my current assigned location at Solid Waste Management Operations Office, I also worked in Sanitation Police for seven years, and everyone has been very accepting. Looking back, I never would have imagined that I would have this feeling of acceptance — they understand that the only choice I made is being my true self.

Portelli & Melcone and DSNY friends at the this year’s Pride Event hosted by the Mayor at Gracie Mansion.

Sanitation Foundation: What or who inspired you to create Pride at Sanitation?

Melcone: I had to work pretty closely with the Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) office during some of my tougher moments. All due respect to OEDI Director Ryan David. He is an incredible guy with a very difficult job and he has always made me feel like he has my back. He runs a small office with a huge task.

Seeing them work, I realized I couldn’t realistically expect them to just transform our culture themselves. We would need to work together if we wanted to make things better for LGBT folks, but I’ll be honest – that didn’t really drive me to get started yet on Pride here.

What drove me to start is when a closeted gay man on the job confided in me his fears and told me he was amazed by the courage and conviction I had to transition and present myself as a transgender woman while working at DSNY.

I didn’t think I was being courageous. For me, it was a matter of survival. If I could have stayed in the closet I would have, but my transition became very obvious with time. I did think, though, that I could be courageous for him. I already paid whatever it would have cost me to be his shield and the shield of every other LGBT person that works here.

“I don’t want anyone to feel like they need to hide who they are or who they love just so they can come to work without being harassed, mistreated, excluded or undervalued. That feeling made me want to bring my vision, my talent and my heart and soul to DSNY Pride.”—Melcone

Portelli: Pride at Sanitation was always a dream, and to a point, I always thought that it would remain as a dream. Back in October 2021 when an email was sent out that the Department of Sanitation was looking for volunteers to participate in showcasing in the DSNY calendar, I felt comfortable enough to reply to my chiefs that I would like to be considered but I added, “But not to sound like a big DIVA, I want to do June month which is Pride month.” That is how comfortable I felt about my sexuality. Robin Brooks and I started our conversation about the shoot and she asked me if I was comfortable taking a photo with the Pride flag and my reply was “I was hoping that we would.” For me, that was the small step that showed that this Department wanted to be more inclusive and I wanted to be part of that movement. So I was honored that I was featured in the calendar.

[The official creation of] Pride of Sanitation was still a dream for me at that moment, but little did I know, Dzara was making this dream of mine a reality. “Who is this Dzara? I must get to know her.” Dzara went in full force because she had a different story and she wanted to build this wonderful organization where we all can feel welcomed and accepted, something I wish I had when I first started. Till this day there are other Sanitation employees who still don’t feel comfortable to be themselves. We want everyone to be the best version of themselves.  

“[We] wanted to build this wonderful organization where we all can feel welcomed and accepted…till this day there are other Sanitation employees who still don’t feel comfortable to be themselves. We want everyone to be the best version of themselves.”
—Justin Portelli

NY Sanitation Commissioner made the DSNY Pride Association official on June 29, 2022 in a live signing event with other members, Board members, and allies.

Sanitation Foundation: Tell us about the approval process and other DSNY community members who have supported you along the way.

Melcone: I had a tremendous amount of support right from the start. I talked about Ryan David who is a clear standout, but we also had Ryan Merola to help organize and to communicate the Commissioner’s ardent support as well. Ryan Merola is the Commissioner’s Chief of Staff here at DSNY, but he also happens to be the executive director of GOAL, the NYPD LGBT society. Ryan had a lot of resources and connections to offer, but he also communicated to me how closely tuned in to the society forming that Commissioner Jessica Tisch was. That made what I was doing feel important and seen. Once the highest office in the Department was on board with my vision, I felt unstoppable. My chief John Gabriele, the president of the Columbia Association, stands out as an absolutely extraordinary leader. He has consistently gone above and beyond to make me feel included and supported in BIT, but he didn’t stop at that. He also helps me tremendously with his connections, relationships, organizational understanding and experience from leading the Columbia Association. I rely on him constantly for advice and insight. He’s been a shoulder to lean on for me too, just as Ryan David has been. Finally, all the folks who responded to my ads on the district displays looking for members to join the society: I feel very lucky to have been able to connect with them. I couldn’t have done it without them, and their pride and desire for community is what keeps me moving forward.

Portelli: We had support from a lot of community members however Dzara brought us all together and we had our first e-meeting followed by our first in-person meeting where all members nominated and voted to form a Board. Dzara was very driven and determined to get DSNY established and recognized by June since it was Pride month. She put so much work into this and we are all very proud of her.

Sanitation Foundation: What was the approval process and how long did it take to make Pride of Sanitation Association official?

Melcone: We managed to get it approved through Pride month. I got to work at the beginning of the month and finished in the last week of it. The approval process is documented pretty clearly in PAP 2020-01. Getting a nonprofit started is hard! Once the pieces fell into place though, we had all the support we needed. The application was approved within a week. Kudos to the commissioner’s office and OEDI for that. Awesome work all.

Sanitation Foundation: What do you hope to accomplish with Pride of Sanitation? And is there anything you want to say to future DSNY workers in the LGTBQIA+ community?

Melcone: My hope is to make LGBTQIA+ folks feel like they belong. Ultimately I want to transform the culture here to be unambiguously accepting and inclusive. I recognize that’s a lofty ambition. What that would actually achieve is just making us feel like we belong and we can be ourselves and that to me makes the grand ambition seem more achievable.

“If you’re LGBTQIA+ on this job, I want to tell you that you’re seen, supported and loved. You do an important job for the city, and you don’t have to hide or feel ashamed of who you are while you do it. Thank you!”—Melcone

Portelli: I am hoping that we can show more awareness and inclusivity not just within the Department but also to the public. Till this day there hasn’t been any department representation during the NYC Pride parades, but we are planning on changing that!

Additionally, Dzara mentioned, we want to do community outreach! Would love to work with LGBTQ+ youth organizations and talk about our careers. Maybe one day they would want to work for the Department.

Sanitation Foundation: How has the general DSNY community responded to Pride at DSNY? 

Portelli: The response has been very great — so many friends & co-workers reached out stating how thrilled they were that this Association was formed, and that it was also “About time!” As a matter of fact, other NYC department agencies reached out to congratulate us!

Are there any additional elements of the history of Pride within DSNY you would like us to include?

Portelli: We want to thank all the Board Members who put so much time and effort into making this organization happen. We have Hilda who works at the Action Center and is our Treasurer, Wanda (who is assigned to Bronx Borough) is our Secretary and countless other Board Members who showed so much passion, pride, and support for this organization. Without they/them we wouldn’t be where we are at this moment. ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜🖤

“For LGBTQIA+ people considering working for DSNY, yass!! Join the trash queens! We clean up nice! LGBT folks know that when we stick together we can make a big difference. We need more amazing folks like you in uniform to sweep the streets and clean up LGBT-phobia!”—Melcone

Pride at DSNY will no doubt be a large source of support for LGTBQIA+ members of our DSNY community. The group will hold monthly community events, lead social outings, provide career support, offer study seassions for promotional exams — and march in New York City’s Pride Parade! Interested in getting involved in the DSNY LGBTQ+ community – or being an ally? Email dsnypride@gmail.com