Last month, City Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown proposed a bill to make permanent the Office of LGBT Affairs.
Now PGN has obtained a more concrete timeline for the bill and its expected path onto the general-election ballot.
The bill is scheduled for a hearing at 1:30 p.m. April 30 in the Committee on Law and Government. If approved, the bill would be eligible for a first reading in City Council May 7 and, pending that proceeding, would be eligible for a final-passage vote May 14.
If it clears Council, the bill would move to the desk of Mayor Michael Nutter, who has already endorsed it. Once signed, the bill would appear on the Nov. 3 general-election ballot, where voters would be asked: “Shall The Philadelphia Home Rule Charter be amended to establish and define the functions of the Office of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Affairs, headed by a Director of LGBT Affairs?”
The measure would essentially make the office immune to closure by any future mayoral administrations.
“Philadelphia has an international reputation as a city that both celebrates diversity and has no tolerance for intolerance,” Reynolds Brown said. “This bill offers the LGBT community a permanent seat and voice at the table.”