PGN reached out to both candidates for Philadelphia mayor, David Oh and Cherelle Parker, to discuss LGBTQ+ issues in advance of next month’s election. Parker provided PGN with this exclusive op-ed detailing her support for the LGBTQ+ community. Oh did not respond.
The Philadelphia we know and love does not work for everyone.
I would know. I lived it.
James Baldwin once wrote, “If one really wishes to know how justice is administered in a country, one does not question the policemen, the lawyers, the judges, or the protected members of the middle class. One goes to the unprotected — those, precisely, who need the law’s protection most! — and listens to their testimony.”
When I read that quote for the first time, I felt seen.
I felt seen because it was women who represented the unprotected who taught me about justice, governing, and leadership; women who were mentors in my life: former Councilmember Marian Tasco and Augusta “Gussy” Clark. They took me under their wing when I was in high school and shepherded me through my career. But more importantly, they were bold women who allowed me to see my potential through their grit and fortitude, through their successes and failures.
It is my lived life experiences that prove how representation matters — I saw it as the primary tool for bringing people like me into the conversation and lifting them up. It is what got me into the arena as a young staffer in Philadelphia’s City Council, inspired me to step up as Philadelphia Delegation Chair in the Pennsylvania State House, to continue to push for our city’s excellence as majority leader of Philadelphia’s City Council. And, ultimately, it is what drove me to run for mayor.
As I campaign across the city, I am always reminding people that we are “One Philly.” At the heart of my candidacy is the hope of bringing opportunity and prosperity to every resident. That means, however, that success is only achieved if we all benefit.
That is my message in every corner of the city, even corners where I have not always felt welcome. While I do not personally know the lived experiences of members in the LGBTQ+ community, I have lived as someone who comes from a community that is forced to the margins and who has spent her life at the intersection of race, sex and class. This is why I have long been outspoken on LGBTQ+ issues — before it was safe or accepted, when I was a representative in the Pennsylvania Legislature. I did it in a place and space where some of my colleagues in the State House could not understand the basics of our humanity and how the fight for equity was ongoing and constant.
Fast forward to today, and we can be proud of the progress that we have made in Philadelphia when it comes to the freedoms and opportunities members of the LGBTQ+ community enjoy. But mark my words: We are not done and we have to hold the line against attacks on the rights that we fought so hard for. I think of the aggressions we have seen towards the LGBTQ+ community and, in particular, on trans women in their fight for recognition. Every Philadelphian deserves to live a life free of violence and persecution. Every Philadelphian deserves to live in a city and a community that is safe, clean and green, and provides economic opportunity for everyone.
This is why, as mayor, I will be unapologetic and unwavering in my support of the LGBTQ+ community. So before you go to the polls to vote on Nov. 7, look hard at the candidates on the ballot and ask yourself, what are they saying and what have they actually done?
I stand on my record in support of the LGBTQ+ community. And I am proud of it.