An Erie City, Pennsylvania city councilmember who intentionally misgendered a colleague from the dais last week is suffering the backlash, with dozens of outraged constituents showing up to a Wednesday night council meeting to share their displeasure.
The councilman, Ed Brzezinski, a former school board member and registered Democrat, sat stone-faced through the five-hour meeting.
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“In this country, we have freedom of speech, but that does not mean that we have freedom from consequence,” said Savannah Wilson, an Erie resident. Brzezinski’s behavior “last meeting is permission for discrimination,” Wilson said.
Brzezinski’s insult came toward the end of a heated council debate on June 9 over a bayfront redevelopment project.
Council President Tyler Titus, who is out as transgender and uses they/them pronouns, cautioned Brzezinski with a reminder to limit his interruptions, Erie News Now reports.
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Brzezinski replied to Dr. Titus, “Yes, ma’am.”
News of the slight spread quickly, and had Democrats in the county addressing hateful words from one of their own.
“Being registered as a Democrat is not a shield from accountability by the Democratic Party, as our values mean very little if they are only campaign language,” Erie County Democrats said in a statement.
“This conduct is particularly concerning because it follows prior public concerns about Councilmember Brzezinski’s use of degrading language toward colleagues,” the statement added.
The rebukes continued at Wednesday night’s council meeting, where 58 attendees addressed his behavior during three hours of public comment in the packed council chamber, with almost all the comments directed almost exclusively at Brzezinski, Erie Times-News reported.
Dozens of people spoke out Wednesday during an Erie City Council public comment session, calling for the immediate resignation or a public apology from Councilman Ed Brzezinski.
— JET/FOX/YourErie.com (@JET24FOX66) June 18, 2026
“Let us be clear: this was a deliberate act of disrespect and intent to harm a member of our trans community,” said trans constituent Rie Witherow.
“I am misgendered daily,” they said, adding that most of those incidents are simple mistakes.
Brzezinski’s outburst was not a mistake, they said, while calling on him to resign or for his colleagues to censure and strip him of his committee assignments.
Erie Mayor Daria Devlin publicly apologized to Titus during her report in chambers. She said she regretted not doing more in the moment after Brzezinski uttered the words.
Brzezinski said nothing through the comment period, only speaking at the end of the meeting to announce an unrelated event.
“That’s it. Thank you,” he said.
Titus saved their comments for the meeting’s final minutes.
“Healing does not happen by pretending harm did not occur. Healing happens when we tell the truth about what happened, we take responsibility for our role in it, and we commit ourselves to building a better city,” they said.
“That is my hope for this council, that is my hope for this city, and despite everything, that hope remains stronger than my anger,” Titus said.
Whether or not that message sank in seemed to be answered by a meeting attendee who watched Brzezinski exit the session.
“After hours of public comment condemning Ed’s decorum at the city council meeting tonight, Ed Brzezinski walked up to a young female reporter in the lobby, made smooching noises and commented that she was the only thing that kept him awake through the meeting. I heard him and he’ll have to hear me call him out at the next meeting,” social media user Sammie Voto wrote online.
Councilman Brzezinski purposefully misgendered Erie’s trans nonbinary city council president last week, got yelled at by constituents for 4+ hours last night due to his actions, and then proceeded to hit on a reporter. We need him gone from council ASAP. pic.twitter.com/Scz3eLowrb
— Cole 🌹 (@ColeAsLife) June 18, 2026
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