Mayor-elect Jim Kenney this week announced Nellie Fitzpatrick will remain at the helm of the Office of LGBT Affairs.
Kenney announced the appointment at a press conference at City Hall Wednesday.
Fitzpatrick was appointed to the position by outgoing Mayor Michael Nutter in January 2015. She succeeded Gloria Casarez, inaugural director since 2008. Casarez died in October 2014 of complications of cancer.
Fitzpatrick previously was the LGBT liaison in the District Attorney’s Office, where she served as an assistant district attorney and prosecutor in the Family Violence and Sexual Assault Unit.
Fitzpatrick said she took over the office with two primary goals, which guided her first year of work.
“I wanted to institutionalize the work that has been done so it can be built upon going forward and also to close the gap between the ‘L,’ ‘G’ and ‘T’ and, in doing so, bring understanding as well to the ‘B,’ which often goes unrecognized,” she said.
A major boon toward the first aim, she noted, was the push for legislation to make permanent the Office of LGBT Affairs; that measure was approved by City Council and subsequently by voters through a ballot question last month.
“That was a remarkable moment for the city and nation. It was an incredible thing on Election Day to watch almost 86,000 Philadelphians vote to make this office permanent, especially the same day we witnessed voters in Houston destroying so many rights and protections because of bigoted, biased views,” Fitzpatrick said, referring to the Texas city’s voters rejecting an LGBT nondiscrimination ordinance. “Philadelphia, being our country’s birthplace, again held up the torch of progress, showing that, while some are taking rights away from others and discriminating, here we are ensuring that we’re only moving forward. No moving backwards.”
In that vein, Fitzpatrick said she has worked to break down barriers for transgender and gender-nonconforming individuals, through initiatives like a guide she created to identify gender-neutral restrooms, and successful legislation to require gender-neutral language on single-stall restrooms in the city.
She has also worked closely with law enforcement to press for appropriate interactions with LGBT individuals and with media to ensure accurate portrayals.
“Seeing homicide detectives not only get it right but actually understand and advocate for a trans-identified individual who is deceased has been remarkable. And then to see the media — who too often gets it wrong — be willing to change and move and grow and understand their responsibility in the information that they’re putting out has been really important,” she said. “And I think over this last year that progress has been swift and effective, and it’s something I couldn’t be more excited about.”
Heading into the new administration, Fitzpatrick said she’ll continue to press for initiatives that unify and empower all facets of the LGBT community, with special attention on citywide issues that particularly plague LGBT people, like poverty, youth homeless and education.
Internal education will also be a priority, she said, noting that the recently created Great Philadelphia Gay Officers Action League is an important step toward that aim.
“I’m incredibly honored and humbled to keep this work going,” Fitzpatrick said. “I feel like I stand on shoulders upon shoulders upon shoulder of people who have been moving this work forward. I hope to continue the really great legacy in Philadelphia that LGBT advocates started decades ago. I hope that I can make those who sat the counter of Dewey’s diner and who marched outside Independence Hall, and those who came before them, proud.”