New York City Lebowitz has been critical of the
gentrification and changing
culture of
New York City. She explained that the main difference between "Old New York" and "New New York" is the influence and dominance of the culture of money. While New York was always an expensive city, people who were not rich could live in Manhattan and "you didn't have to think about money every second." This was because, among other reasons, "there were a zillion bad jobs. That doesn't exist any more. I mean, I could wake up one afternoon with zero money—I don't just mean in the house, I mean to my name—and know that by the end of the day, I would have money." She has been critical of New York
mayors Rudy Giuliani and
Michael Bloomberg for making New York more "suburban" and accelerating gentrification in Manhattan. She has also been critical of the large numbers of wealthy people in New York City, as she believes they do not create anything of value but only consume things. Of Bloomberg, she said: Of Giuliani's law enforcement policies she said, "When Giuliani was the mayor, every five minutes an unarmed black man was shot in the back." Lebowitz abhors New York City's high number of tourists, calling the shift in the 1980s toward promoting the city as a tourist destination "an incredibly horrible idea".
Impact of HIV/AIDS In the 1980s and 1990s, many of Lebowitz's gay male artist friends, including Peter Hujar,
Paul Thek and
David Wojnarowicz, died of
HIV/AIDS. She has discussed the impact that the
epidemic in New York had on
American culture. In particular, she has spoken about the cultural void that was left behind from losing a generation of talented artists and intellectuals. Many of these men not only produced art and intellectual culture, but were also the passionate audiences that nurtured such culture. As she explained in a 2016 interview:What is culture without gay people? This is America, what is the culture? Not just New York. AIDS completely changed American culture... And with AIDS, a whole generation of gay men died practically all at once, within a couple of years. And especially the ones that I knew. The first people who died of AIDS were artists. They were also the most interesting people... The knowing audience also died and no longer exists in a real way... There's a huge gap in what people know, and there's no context for it anymore.
Feminism Lebowitz has been called the "opposite of lean-in feminism". Of the
MeToo movement, she said, It never occurred to me this would ever change. Being a woman was exactly the same from Eve till eight months ago. So it never occurred to me that it would change. Ever. I can tell you that it's probably one of the most surprising things in my life. The first forty guys who got caught—I knew almost all of them. and is often critical of moderate
Democratic politicians and policy. She has been a vociferous critic of the
Republican Party for many years and more recently of President
Donald Trump. She has said that Trump's appeal to his voters is "racism, pure and simple", and described Trump campaign rallies as reminiscent of those held by the
Ku Klux Klan and
George Wallace. She has called Trump "a cheap hustler", "stupid", "lazy", and "a little crazy, but mostly he's dumb". Of Trump's election in
2016, she said, "It was horrible. I felt that strongly affected emotionally for at least a month. My level of rage, always high, is now in fever pitch all the time." Lebowitz has been critical of many other politicians. She has expressed antipathy for
Bill Clinton's
presidency for moving the Democratic Party to the right, saying, "to me he seemed like a Republican...when he signed that
welfare bill I went insane. He was a successful moderate Republican president." She walked back her comments later in the program. Lebowitz voted for
Zohran Mamdani in the
2025 New York City mayoral election. ==Personal life==