The next few months should see a political maturing of our community. After all, we have an interesting choice that few communities have had to face. First, let me be clear before I put down the facts in this issue. As the saying goes, I do not, at present, have a horse in this race. Like many of you, it is my intention to examine the facts and listen very carefully to the discussion in our community in order to form an educated decision.
A couple of weeks ago, Brian Sims announced in this paper that he would challenge long-time state Rep. Babette Josephs for the seat she has held in the 182nd District since 1985 — some 26 years.
The House of Representatives along with our state Senate are the bodies that pass legislation and, if signed by the governor, become law.
The 182nd District is considered one of the most liberal in the state. In the last primary for the seat, Josephs was challenged by Gregg Kravitz. That became a national story when Josephs challenged Kravitz’s assertion that he was bisexual, claiming he was pretending to be bisexual to win votes. As the national LGBT advocacy organization Victory Fund stated to the Associated Press at the time, this could openly happen in three districts in the entire country: San Francisco, Dupont Circle in Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia’s 182nd.
So here’s the issue. This is a district that is overwhelmingly LGBT, but not the majority, with the remainder of voters being LGBT allies. Will they elect — and winning the Democratic primary in this district is tantamount to being elected — someone with a firm LGBT activism background over the current representative, who is arguably the standard bearer of gay rights in the state House and has been since she arrived in 1985, when it was not a popular position to take?
Add thanks to her seniority, she now is in leadership as the Democratic chair of the State Government Committee. Can Philadelphia lose another elected official in leadership?
The flip side is, when is it time for a progressive lawmaker to make way for a new generation with similar positions? Or to be on target, a seat that can be easily won by a member of the LGBT community could become the first out member of the state House.
So here’s the discussion in a nutshell. Do we not back the woman who has supported this community for 26 years in order to elect the first openly gay member of the state House?
Let the discussion begin.
Mark Segal, PGN publisher, is the nation’s most-award-winning commentator in LGBT media. He can be reached at [email protected].