OITNB stars encourage LGBT voter outreach in Philadelphia

A star from “Orange is the New Black” helped launch an LGBT voter outreach initiative Saturday night in the Gayborhood.

Uzo Aduba, who plays Suzanne “Crazy Eyes” Warren on the Netflix series, kicked off a happy hour at 6:30 p.m. at Knock, when officials announced the LGBT Leadership Council for Pennsylvania.

Hillary Clinton’s campaign spearheaded the council. Similar bodies will operate in all 50 states. Thirty-five LGBT activists from Pennsylvania form part of the council. Each has committed to taking an action in support of Clinton’s campaign, such as phone banking, knocking on doors, writing letters or hosting an organizing event, according to a news release about the council.

President Barack Obama’s campaigns in 2008 and 2012 also utilized LGBT leaders to mobilize voters.

“I don’t think it was as well-coordinated as it is in this election,” Stephen Glassman, an early appointee to the council and a former chairman of the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission, told PGN. “But I think it builds on Obama’s legacy to mobilize voters at the grassroots level.”

Glassman worked with the Clinton campaign to recommend LGBT leaders for the council.

“We want to work toward unifying and coordinating our support for Clinton,” he said. “Pennsylvania is important and everyday it emerges as a more critical battleground state. Voter turnout is going to be key in who wins this election.”

Other council members noted they got involved to prevent the election of Republican nominee Donald Trump, who has embraced an anti-LGBT running mate in Mike Pence. As governor of Indiana, Pence signed into law a religious freedom measure that many saw as a license to discriminate.

Pennsylvania’s representatives to the LGBT Leadership Council include activists like Sharron Cooks, Anne Wakabayashi and Malcolm Kenyatta, who were all delegates from the Philadelphia area to the Democratic National Convention.

Also participating are state Rep. Brian Sims, the first elected openly gay state lawmaker in Pennsylvania; Mel Heifetz, the philanthropist who helped the William Way LGBT Community Center purchase its building; and Mark Segal, publisher of PGN.

People from Pittsburgh, Allentown, Reading, Lancaster and Altoona also form part of the council.

In a statement, Lancaster-based transgender activist Joanne Carroll said, “Hillary Clinton has listened to our voices and knows what we’re up against, whether it’s violence targeted at our community or everyday hurdles like gender markers on identification documents. She has real plans to address our issues, and I’m proud to stand with her today.”

For a full list of members in the LGBT Leadership Council for Pennsylvania, visit Medium

Aduba wasn’t the only “Orange is the New Black” actress promoting LGBT voter outreach this weekend in Philadelphia.

Diane Guerrero, who plays Maritza Ramos in the show, stopped by Equality Pennsylvania’s office at 12th and Chestnut streets to encourage young canvassers as they prepared to knock on doors in Philadelphia and Montgomery counties. She also shared her personal story. Guerrero’s parents were deported to Columbia when she was a child.

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