Queens DA’s Office hosts hate crimes forum

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Playwright Moisés Kaufman will serve as guest speaker at the Queens DA’s hate crimes forum on April 17. Photo via Queens DA’s Office.

Playwright Moisés Kaufman will serve as guest speaker at the Queens DA’s hate crimes forum on April 17. Photo via Queens DA’s Office.

By David Brand

The Queens District Attorney’s Office will host a community forum on hate crimes at Queens Borough Hall on Wednesday.

The event, “Using the Power of our Stories to Combat Hate Crimes,” will last from 5:45 p.m. to 8 p.m. and feature special guest speaker Moisés Kaufman, who wrote the acclaimed play “The Laramie Project” about the 1998 murder of gay college student Matthew Shepard.

Kaufman is the founder and artistic director of Tectonic Theater Project. He has earned Tony and Emmy Award nominations and received the 2015 National Medal of Arts.

The forum will also feature a presentation from NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force Deputy Inspector Mark Molinari.

Other guest speakers include Turning Point for Women and Families Executive Director Robina Niaz, CID-NY Certified Ombudsman Yvonne H. Plummer and Holocaust Survivor Manfred Korman, an advisory board member at Queensborough Community College’s Kupferberg Holocaust Center.