Liberty City Endorsements

The LGBT political organization picks its crop of candidates in time for the PA primary

With the Pennsylvania primary approaching next week on May 17, the Liberty City LGBT Democratic Club announced their endorsements for the local election. To be considered for an endorsement, each candidate submitted answers to a questionnaire that gages their support for Philly’s gay community.

“Liberty City has an entire endorsement process governed by our by laws,” explains the club’s Chair Adah Bush. Details about the process are available online.

The club endorsed two openly gay candidates this month, Sherrie Cohen for council and Christopher Mallios for judge, but did not endorse openly gay council candidate Malcolm Lazin who’s running on the Republican ticket.

They also addressed Mayor Nutter publicly, saying that while they chose to endorse his re-election bid, they do so with caution. “The membership expressed disapproval to the way the city has handled and continues to handle the Cradle of Liberty Council vs. City of Philadelphia case involving the public discrimination by the Boy Scouts against gays and others,” reads the letter. “We ask that you seek input from the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community about further actions and decisions by the City of Philadelphia as related to its relationship with the Boy Scouts. Selling a building to an organization that can and will continue to discriminate is in itself aiding discrimination.”

Here’s the list (click here to read each candidate’s questionnaire):

Mayor: Michael Nutter

1st District City Council: Joe Grace

2nd District: Kenyatta Johnson

7th District: Maria Quinones Sanchez

8th District: Cindy Bass

City Council At-Large: Blondell Reynolds Brown, Sherrie Cohen, Bill Green, James Kenney, Andrew Toy

City Commissioner: Stephanie Singer and Bernard B. Talmadge

Commonwealth Court: Kathryn Boockvar

Court of Common Pleas: Diana Anhalt, Jonathan Irvine, Angelo Foglietta, Christopher Mallios, Barbara McDermott, Carolyn Nichols, Drew Aldinger, Giovanni Campbell, Sayde Ladov and Leon King

Municipal Court: Judge Kenneth Powell

Traffic Court: Robert Tuerk

To find out where you vote, click here.