Listen to article \u2022\u00a00:00 min<\/p>\n
Philadelphia\u2019s former head of LGBTQ+ affairs sued Mayor Cherelle L. Parker<\/a>\u2019s administration in federal court Thursday, saying top officials subjected her to pervasive harassment, discrimination, and retaliation tied to her identity as a transgender woman.<\/p>\n The former official, Celena Morrison-McLean, said in the lawsuit that the Parker administration stymied her from effectively advocating for transgender and nonbinary city employees, and that \u201cseveral supervisors\u201d \u2014 whom she did not identify \u2014 told her \u201cthat they were \u2018not doing that they\/them thing.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n And Morrison-McLean alleges in the lawsuit that when she advocated for nonbinary athletes\u2019 participation in city-sponsored races, Tiffany Thurman, the mayor\u2019s chief of staff, told her \u201cthe mayor viewed her commitment to the LGBTQ+ community as a hindrance to the administration.\u201d<\/p>\n Morrison-McLean, a longtime LGBTQ advocate who was appointed to lead the office in 2020 by former Mayor <\/a>Jim Kenney<\/a>, was fired in November 2024<\/a>. <\/p>\n According to the lawsuit, her dismissal came a day after she wrote in an email to the city\u2019s human resources representatives that she \u201chad experienced a marked increase in discriminatory behavior, including sexual advances, being outed as a transgender woman by a city employee, and intrusive questions about her transition.\u201d<\/p>\n Joe Grace, a spokesperson for the city, said in a statement that the Parker administration \u201cstands proudly by its support and its actions affirming Philadelphia\u2019s LGBTQ+ community.\u201d<\/p>\n He said that Parker \u201cknows that a vibrant and inclusive LGBTQ+ community is essential and a priority to the city,\u201d citing her appointment in March of former prosecutor Tito Valdes<\/a> to lead the Office of LGBTQ+ Affairs. Grace also pointed to an executive order that Parker signed in 2024, which renamed the agency from the Office of LGBT Affairs to the Office of LGBTQ+ Affairs.<\/p>\n Riley Ross, the attorney representing Morrison-McLean, said Friday that he looks forward to obtaining justice for the harm he says was done to his client.<\/p>\n Morrison-McLean\u2019s abrupt departure in 2024 came about eight months after she and her husband made national news when they were controversially detained by a state trooper during a traffic stop on I-76. During the encounter, parts of which were captured on video,<\/a> Morrison-McLean could be heard pleading with the trooper, saying, \u201cI work for the mayor! I work for the mayor!\u201d<\/p>\n Morrison-McLean and her husband, Darius McLean, who is the director of the William Way LGBT Community Center, sued the state trooper,<\/a> Andrew Zaborowski, for assault, false imprisonment, and battery. Meanwhile, Zaborowski sued the State Police,<\/a> saying that he was improperly terminated and falsely accused of racial profiling because he is white. Both matters are pending.<\/p>\n Morrison-McLean\u2019s discrimination lawsuit against the city was filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, and also names Thurman, Chief Deputy Mayor Vanessa Garrett Harley, and two human resources officials as defendants.<\/p>\n The filing makes Morrison-McLean the third former city official who worked on diversity and inclusion matters to sue Mayor Cherelle L. Parker<\/a>\u2019s administration, citing systemic discrimination. The others are Leslie Marant, the former head of DEI for the police department<\/a> who was fired in the initial days of the Parker administration; and Brandee Anderson, the ex-chief DEI officer for the city who was, for a time, Morrison-McLean\u2019s supervisor.<\/p>\n