Parker kicks off LGBTQ+ History Month with 2 executive orders, commission expansion

PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Mayor Cherelle Parker kicked off LGBTQ+ History Month Friday by making history of the old Office of LGBT Affairs.

Parker signed two executive orders renaming the Office of LGBT Affairs as the Office of LGBTQ+ Affairs and the Commission on LGBT Affairs as the Commission on LGBTQ+ Affairs. She also expanded the commission from the current six members to 25 and committed her administration to protecting and defending the community’s rights.

“We continue to fight through policies and processes to make sure that we can become more inclusive on a daily basis,” Parker said.

Parker said she learned through running for office how some people seek to divide others by identity, be it race, gender or sexual orientation, but she also learned to flip the power dynamics on them.

“The folks who would like to use those differences to divide us are super afraid of the power that comes from that coalition,” she said.

Parker said the city has a prominent role in LGBTQ+ history.

“When it was a sacrifice to stand up and fight, when people weren’t proud to be who they were and they weren’t welcomed and encouraged to be who they were publicly, we were fighting in the City of Philadelphia for same-sex benefits,” she said.

Benefits were extended to city workers’ same-sex partners in 1996 by executive order.