Brisport was raised in Prospect Heights,Brooklyn,[3] by a Caribbean immigrant father and a second-generation Brooklynite mother.[4] During Brisport's childhood,his father worked at a sheet metal factory,and his mother was an office manager.[5]
Brisport graduated from Poly Prep,a private high school in Dyker Heights,Brooklyn.[6] He also earned degrees from New York University and Yale University.[7][8]
At age 22,Brisport began organizing efforts in support of a bill to legalize same-sex marriage in New York.[5]
A few years after that,Brisport got involved in the burgeoning Black Lives Matter movement and began organizing rallies and protests,as well as training protesters on what to do if stopped or harassed by the police.[11] In 2017,he traveled to Charlottesville,Virginia,to march in the counter-protest of a Unite the Right rally.[12]
On election night of the Democratic primary on June 23,2020,Brisport led the race with 52.25% of the vote against sitting Assemblywoman Tremaine Wright and former Montgomery staffer Jason Salmon. But there were more absentee ballots than usual due to the COVID-19 pandemic,and on election night there were still 26,000 absentee ballots to be counted.[28] Brisport declared victory on July 23,once the absentee ballots had been counted and his lead over Wright had grown to 10,000 votes.[29] He won the November general election,becoming the first openly gay person of color ever elected to the New York legislature.[30]
Brisport supports the elimination of cash bail,the legalization of injection sites for drug users,the restoration of voting rights for persons who have been incarcerated,elder parole,and the decriminalization of prostitution.[42]
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