Stephen Glassman handed in his resignation letter last week after a successful run as Pennsylvania’s highest-ranking openly gay official.
Glassman is set to begin a new venture as president and CEO of the nonprofit design agency Community Design Center of Pittsburgh, tapping into his 25-year career as the owner of an architectural firm.
After eight years as chair of the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission, which enforces the state’s nondiscrimination law, Glassman said the move was a natural one, precipitated by the recently elected Republican administration.
Gov. Corbett will have the opportunity to nominate a current commissioner as chair or fill one of the two vacancies on the commission and then nominate that individual. Glassman will remain a commissioner until his term expires next summer.
Although he will work out of Pittsburgh, Glassman will maintain his Philadelphia residence and said he is committed to keeping up ties to his colleagues and friends in the area.
“I’m certainly not going to be abandoning Philadelphia, but I’ll be adding Pittsburgh to my life in an exciting way,” he said.
Glassman was originally appointed to the commission by former Gov. Mark Schweiker in 2002, becoming the first openly gay individual in Pennsylvania to receive a Senate-approved gubernatorial appointment. In 2003, then-Gov. Ed Rendell named Glassman as the chair of the agency.
Throughout his tenure, Glassman worked to bring the concerns of the LGBT community to a statewide audience.
He strongly backed the state effort to include sexual orientation and gender identity as classes protected from discrimination, and worked with local-level legislators and activists across the state to secure municipal LGBT-inclusive ordinances, which are now on the books in 20 jurisdictions.
Ted Martin, executive director of Equality Pennsylvania, said the successful push for the adoption of local nondiscrimination measures will be one of Glassman’s strongest legacies.
“I think the community owes him a great debt of gratitude,” Martin said. “He’s worked tirelessly to pass local ordinances and really been out there as a spokesperson for the community. I’m personally grateful and salute all of his hard work and respect him for everything he’s done.”
Glassman said he is also particularly proud of the executive order Rendell asked him to craft at the beginning of his first administration, which was the first of its kind in the nation to extend nondiscrimination protections to transgender state employees.
Stacey Sobel, the former executive director of Equality Advocates, which is now Equality Pennsylvania, said Glassman’s leadership on LGBT causes elevated the state’s consciousness of the community.
“He was able to educate people about the need to treat LGBT people fairly and equally and about the need for our laws to protect LGBT people from discrimination,” she said. “He is a tireless and passionate advocate for equality and he will be missed from the commission, along with the work he did on a daily basis.”
Outside of his LGBT work, Glassman led the PHRC’s 2004 adjudication of a predatory-lending case, which resulted in a $900,000 fine, the largest ever at the time, for a mortgage broker who was illegally targeting African Americans, and he also spearheaded the 2009 investigation of the high-profile racial discrimination case at the Valley Swim Club.
He noted that the PHRC’s recent work with the U.S. Department of Justice on the racial violence at South Philadelphia High School has provided a model for the rest of the country on the collaboration among local, state and federal bodies to contend with school harassment and bullying.
Under Glassman’s leadership, the PHRC established the Disability Stakeholders Taskforce, the first of its kind in the nation, and in 2006, Glassman was appointed as the vice chair of the Governor’s Cabinet on the Rights of People With Disabilities.
Glassman worked to establish the nation’s first Accessibility/Disability website, an interactive outlet that allows individuals to navigate local, state and federal nondiscrimination laws to determine possible courses of action.
He also oversaw the creation of the Minority Police Chiefs Taskforce to fuel progress in testing, hiring and promotion oF minorities and women in local police forces.
Andy Hoover, legislative director for the Pennsylvania American Civil Liberties Union, said Glassman’s work has extended to all corners of the struggle for civil rights.
“Steve has been a fierce advocate not only for the LGBT community, but for all minority communities during his time at the PHRC,” Hoover said. “A lot of folks may know him because of the work he’s done for the gay community, but I’ve also watched his work on immigration, and the energy and passion he brought to the table on both these issues has been a huge help to our efforts. Any time there’s an historically marginalized community that’s facing a rollback of rights, Steve has been right there to advocate.”
Glassman, who has degrees from Brown and Yale universities and is a graduate of Harvard University’s JFK School of Government program for senior executives, was this week given the Humanitarian Award by Shomrim of Philadelphia and the Delaware Valley, the local Jewish police association, the latest in a long line of honors that includes the Statewide Pennsylvania Rights Coalition Lifetime Achievement Award, the Philadelphia Bar Association Cheryl Ingram Award for Community Service, the Human Rights Campaign’s Outstanding Person of the Year Award and the Governor’s Award for Outstanding Public Service in Fighting HIV/AIDS, among numerous other commendations.
While he’s eager to move on to his next endeavor, Glassman said he had mixed emotions about stepping down from the PHRC.
“It’s certainly bittersweet,” he said. “I’ve loved the position and the opportunity to serve the residents of the commonwealth. It’s been a privilege to be able to offer whatever talents and expertise I have to improve conditions for minorities and women throughout Pennsylvania and to have an impact throughout the country in the human-rights field. But I’m looking forward to new challenges and new opportunities to make different contributions to the commonwealth where there’s a need.”
Jen Colletta can be reached at [email protected].
