In this year’s mayoral race, it is easy to endorse the most pro-LGBT equality ally that this community has ever known, Jim Kenney. Since arriving on the political stage when running for Philadelphia City Council in 1991, Jim Kenney was out front with his support for our equality. He was only one of four on City Council who initially sponsored domestic partnership legislation, when fellow councilman Michael Nutter refused to. Then, he introduced the nation’s strongest LGBT rights law, and this week took another step forward by signing legislation for the trans community. We strongly and proudly endorse Jim Kenney.
We also endorse Rochelle Bilal for sheriff and Tracey Gordon for Register of Wills.
The only real election is that for City Council. Voters are able to select five candidates. We endorse four of the five Democrats: Helen Gym, Isaiah Thomas, Derek Green and Katherine Gilmore Richardson.
We cannot endorse Democrat Allan Domb, who wrote a 31-page vision of the future of Philadelphia, which he distributed to media, and didn’t mention the LGBT community once. That leaves one open endorsement.
Four years ago that endorsement would have easily gone to Sherri Cohen who has been a fixture in our community for more years than this newspaper, but her campaign this time lacks funding and full community support. The enthusiasm in this election seems to be for progressives running under the banner of the Working Families coalition. Unfortunately, we recall too well that in the primary progressives didn’t support trans man Henry Sias for Court of Common Pleas, nor trans woman Deja Alvarez or the gay man at the top of the ticket Adrian Rivera-Reyes for City Council. It seems progressives weren’t that progressive. Therefore, even though she has had a flawed run, we endorse Sherrie Cohen in hopes that so-called progressives will learn that we in the LGBT community refuse to be invisible anymore.