Lansdale Borough Mayor Garry Herbert (left) with Councilman Leon Angelichio (center) as Council President Denton Burnell (right) signs the Human Relat
Lansdale Borough Council unanimously passed their highly publicized Human Relations Ordinance on Wednesday evening, joining 44 other municipalities throughout the state of Pennsylvania in closing a gap in protection from discrimination for the LGBTQ community.
Before the vote, Councilman Leon Angelichio — who partnered on the legislation with Lansdale Mayor Garry Herbert — said that he was proud to have been able to work on establishing legal protections for the LGBTQ community within the community, but added that he was disappointed such legislation was required.
"What pains me is that we live in a society where an ordinance like this is necessary,” said Angelichio.
Councilman Steve Malagari echoed Angelichio’s sentiment, and took aim at the state of Pennsylvania for not offering protections at the state level.
"My big hope is that nobody needs (to take advantage of it)," Malagari said. "The state level is not doing it right now, and at least in Lansdale, we can say something about that and provide some benefit to our residents.”
In addition to the pre-vote comments from council members, Lansdale resident Sam Bryant, who also serves as the borough manager of New Britain Borough, used the public comment portion of the meeting to thank Lansdale Borough Council for being proactive on the issue. Bryant, who is in the early stages of transitioning from male to female, also had legally changed his name from Samuel to Samantha earlier that day. (Editor’s note: Asked which pronoun was appropriate, Bryant requested we use "he,” as he is early in the transitioning process.)
"I’m in the process of changing my gender from male to female,” Bryant told the council and residents in attendance. "It’s something that I thought about doing for such a long time, and it took me a long time to find the courage to do because of fear of how the outside world would react.”
Bryant, who received brief applause after speaking, later added that he believes the legislation will benefit everyone.
"I think this is something important for all people, not just transgender people,” said Bryant. "I think it’s going to be a benefit to everyone in the community, no matter who you are.”
Following the unanimous vote, Mayor Garry Herbert offered some words of inspiration.
"Today, Lansdale moves forward together and says with one voice that we will not allow hate to fester in our home,” said Herbert. "For that I am proud, and hopeful that tomorrow will be brighter than today.”
With the establishment of the ordinance -- which also addresses issues of race, age, gender and religion -- the borough now will seek to fill five seats on a newly created volunteer Human Relations Commission. That commission will mediate incidents as they occur, in the hopes of reaching compromise instead of pursuing legal proceedings.
When asked if he intends to apply for one of the seats
on the commission, local
business owner and anti-racism activist Anwar Muhammad smiled.
"That’s a very strong possibility,” said Muhammad, who added that he sees the legislation as a step in the right direction. "We need to keep pressing forward.”
