Metro Philadelphia LGBTQ+ Power Players 2022

State Representative Brian Sims (he/him) is a distinguished policy attorney and civil rights advocate from Center City Philadelphia and the first elected openly gay member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. He has been representing the 182nd Legislative District since 2012, and has been a leading voice on issues such as LGBTQ+ civil rights, equal pay protections, and women’s health in the Commonwealth.

Laura Sorensen (she/her) is the director of Morris Home, a residential addiction recovery treatment facility for trans and gender-nonconforming individuals. She was previously a coordinator for the Mazzoni Center’s Trans Wellness Project. Laura has extensive experience working in the nonprofit organization management industry, especially in LGBTQ+ behavioral health. She received a bachelor’s degree in Communications from Michigan State University and a master’s degree in Social Work from Temple University. 

Mark Sylvester (he/him) is the managing director of the Walnut Street Theatre. He has experience as an actor, stage manager, theater manager, general manager, box office treasurer, and marketing and public relations director. He has been associated with more than 450 stage productions, and has been working with nonprofit theater companies since 1987. 

Sandra Thompson (she/her) has, for many years, worked and volunteered on the front lines of social services, serving some of the area’s most vulnerable citizens. Her career has spanned some 50 years and included volunteering with several HIV and AIDS service organizations, and employment in AIDS service and LGBTQ+ organizations. This includes foundations, service provision for houseless women with children, deinstitutionalization of developmentally disabled persons through the federal courts, and many other groups. Sandra has particular interests in training, facilitation, and negotiation, and was previously the board chair of the LGBT Elder Initiative.

What is your favorite Pride month event or celebration?
My favorite Pride month event was the Philadelphia Orchestra’s Pride Concert. The event was full of incredible energy! Community members and allies alike brought their excitement. The music was wonderful, Yannick was clearly in his element, and he and Sarah Graham Cracker brought hilarity. Overall, the event brought together a diverse group of people–race, age, gender identity, and socio-economic differences. Verizon Hall was packed with more people than I’ve seen since the “post” COVID reopening!

What LGBTQ+ icons or activists have inspired you?
I think it would be the activists on the front lines of the early days of the HIV and AIDS epidemic. The labelling of the virus as a gay disease and the lack of movement by the government to push for services, and advocate on behalf of community brought to rise the need to demands rights and considerations not previously given. It also made clear to the general community that there were invisible people in our society and that those people were being sacrificed rather than being recognized as deserving of care and respect.

What can people and corporations do to support the LGBTQ+ community year-round, not just during Pride month?
I think that support must be given beyond the LGBTQ+ community. We do not exist in a bubble, and we are far more than just LGBTQ+. We are people of different ethnicities, races, religions, beliefs. We should not see individuals through a single lens. We need to allow ourselves to see each other more broadly if we hope to provide support in its truest sense.

How can businesses create more inclusive environments for their employees and patrons?
I believe it is in the hands of the people of the business to “create” more inclusive environments. I firmly believe in open discussions about issues, and its participants need to be committed to accepting truth as difficult as it may be.

Dr. Tyler Titus (they/them), is the parent of two amazing humans, the spouse to a phenomenal woman, a licensed professional counselor, advocate, former president of the Erie City School Board, and current Democratic State Committee member. Dr. Titus became the first openly elected transgender official in the state of Pennsylvania in November 2017. They were appointed to co-vice chair of the state’s first LGBT Commission of Affairs created by Governor Tom Wolf the summer of 2018, and reappointed to this seat in 2020.

What is your favorite Pride month event or celebration?
My favorite Pride event is People’s Pride in Pittsburgh, as it is led and run by black trans women who elevate the truest meaning of honoring, empowering, and celebrating the community.

What LGBTQ+ icons or activists have inspired you?
I’m forever inspired by every Black, brown, and indigenous leader who created a space for me to exist. Those who currently hold space that I seek to emulate are people like Shea Diamond, Alok Vaid-Menon, Amber Hikes, and my former campaign manager, Josh Rosenbaum.

What can people and corporations do to support the LGBTQ+ community year-round, not just during Pride month?
We need our allies to become accomplices. They do this by writing inclusive policies that affirm and protect our identities. They do this by voting for elected officials who will fight for us as they legislate. They do this by hiring and promoting queer people who show up as their authentic selves. They do this by investing in our businesses and assuring that we have the same access to resources as our cisgender and straight peers.

How can businesses create more inclusive environments for their employees and patrons?
If it is not in the form of a budget line or a policy, it doesn’t create impactful change. This means it goes beyond a training, a statement on diversity, or a poster in the lobby. It goes into the board rooms and is front and center in the conversations. It then translates from words into action oriented tactics with ongoing commitment to genuine equity and belonging.

Hayley Varhol (she/her) is a multi-instrumentalist who has been performing and teaching in Philadelphia since her arrival here in 2000. She holds degrees in Music Education from VanderCook College of Music and Temple University, where she studied bass trombone with Tyrone Breuninger. Hayley is about to begin her 15th season as the artistic director of the Philadelphia Freedom Band, a 50-member LGBTQ+ concert band. Additionally, Hayley teaches music in grades six through 12 at Germantown Friends, and performs in a number of professional and community ensembles, including the West Philadelphia Orchestra, Polkadelphia, and the Bucks County Symphony.

What is your favorite Pride month event or celebration?
Seeing Martha Graham Cracker on stage with Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the Philadelphia Orchestra was absolutely life-affirming. I’m not sure if this will become an annual Pride month tradition, but my fingers and toes are crossed!

What LGBTQ+ icons or activists have inspired you?
I’m really digging everything Alok Vaid-Menon has to say about gender non-conformity and intersectionality. Everybody should check out their media.

What can people and corporations do to support the LGBTQ+ community year-round, not just during Pride month?
I must say that groups like the Philadelphia Freedom Band, Trust Your Moves Chorus, and PGMC work tirelessly all year to create and deliver inspirational programming throughout the Greater Philadelphia Area while serving as incredibly important social support networks for their members. Go to their performances and bring your friends! It’s also important to tell your council members to fully support the Philadelphia Cultural Fund.

How can businesses create more inclusive environments for their employees and patrons?
It’s a small thing, but I am hoping pronoun buttons take off universally.

Jason Villemez (he/him) is the editor of the Philadelphia Gay News and writes frequently on local, national, and international LGBTQ+ history. As part of the PGN team, he won the 2020 Sigma Delta Chi Award in Public Service Journalism for the feature “Remember Them.” His short fiction, which also centers around LGBTQ+ people, has appeared in journals including the New Orleans Review, Joyland, and Ruminate Magazine, where he won the William Van Dyke Short Story Prize.

What is your favorite Pride month event or celebration?
Rather than the big parades or festivals, my favorite part of Pride month is when bookstores put out huge sections of LGBTQ+ books all in one place. It’s incredibly inspiring to see so many queer authors and so many diverse topics being covered in print. Plus, the visibility that bookstore Pride displays give to the community is underrated, especially in non-urban areas.

What LGBTQ+ icons or activists have inspired you?
I’m inspired by people who break the mold. People like Mark Segal, who was brave enough to storm a live television set and risk going to jail because television networks refused to cover the gay community. People like Randa Jarrar, who tell the truth even in the face of extreme criticism and hatred. People like Elizabeth Coffey Williams, who are able to simultaneously affect change and bring joy to so many.

What can people and corporations do to support the LGBTQ+ community year-round, not just during Pride month?
LGBTQ+ people and organizations exist 12 months a year, and their work never stops. The best way to support the community year round is to make the community a regular part of one’s life. That includes supporting queer artists, frequenting queer-owned businesses, promoting things like LGBTQ+ History Month in October, as well as keeping up with local LGBTQ+ news, not just the national outlets.

How can businesses create more inclusive environments for their employees and patrons?
It’s not hard for businesses to be inclusive. Internally, any policy that applies to heterosexual people and couples should also be applied to LGBTQ+ people, including health benefits and family leave. In addition, explicit nondiscrimination rules should be included in company bylaws. Externally, some of the inclusive things businesses can do is to support LGBTQ+ nonprofits as well as to promote the community all year round, not just during the month of June.

Anne Wakabayashi (she/her) has spent her career working in campaigns and building the candidate pipeline. She managed campaigns, served as Pennsylvania senior strategist for Elizabeth Warren, was the chief fundraiser for Equality PA in 2013, and was the founding executive director of Emerge PA. Anne has been working as a media strategist for The Win Company since 2020, and makes ads for candidates across the country. Anne was appointed by the governor to serve as the chair of the Pennsylvania Commission on LGBTQ Affairs and lives in Bethlehem with her wife and kids.

What is your favorite Pride month event or celebration?
I love going to smaller prides in more rural areas of PA–the joy is palpable and you can really see how much being in community means to LGBTQ+ folks in those areas where being out and proud isn’t quite as common as it is in the Commonwealth’s big cities like Philadelphia.

What LGBTQ+ icons or activists have inspired you?
The members of the Governor’s LGBTQ+ Advisory Commission that I have had the honor of serving with over the past few years. They are some of the most inspiring activists I know–dedicated to their communities, making the Commonwealth better, and are always learning and teaching. I’m in awe of them every day and they’re the LGBTQ+ icons that Pennsylvania is lucky to have.

What can people and corporations do to support the LGBTQ+ community year-round, not just during Pride month?
Corporations should not give money to anti-LGBTQ+ politicians. Humans should support (with money) queer owned media, queer makers, queer businesses, and queer voices.

How can businesses create more inclusive environments for their employees and patrons?
Think about not just who is on staff but who is in charge–if you have a diverse staff but a very white, straight, male leadership and management, you probably have some serious issues.

Naomi Washington-Leapheart (she/her) is a minister, teacher, public servant, and a creative. She serves in the Mayor’s Office as the director for faith-based and interfaith affairs. Naomi is also a faculty member at Villanova University, and a fellow at Harvard Divinity School. She enjoys singing with the Philadelphia Threshold Singers, and has had her work featured on NPR, Medium, Religion Dispatches, the Philadelphia Tribune, and the Philadelphia Inquirer. Naomi is grounded in her commitment to disruptive faithfulness and the love of her family: her wife, their teenager, and their pets. 

What is your favorite Pride month event or celebration?
I love that the month of June contains both Juneteenth and Pride celebrations. There’s something important about the reality that freedom is always being granted and/or taken. This year, I gave remarks at the Philadelphia Family Pride Juneteenth picnic, where I was able to talk about what it means for me, a Black queer person, to live a “lifestyle” of freedom. That was my favorite Pride event this year.

What LGBTQ+ icons or activists have inspired you?
Reverend Pauli Murray, Bishop Yvette Flunder, Octavia Butler, Marsha P. Johnson, James Baldwin, Bayard Rustin, Angela Y. Davis, Billy Porter, Reverend Lynice Pinkard, Audre Lorde, Barbara Smith, and all the members of the Combahee River Collective.            

What can people and corporations do to support the LGBTQ+ community year-round, not just during Pride month?
Hire us–not only to do your DEI training, but also to teach your children and preach your sermons. Pay us a living wage. Fully fund queer-led and LGBTQ+-serving nonprofits. Elect us to office. Reflect us in your marketing and product design. Stop criminalizing trans kids and their parents. Vote anti-LGBTQ+ folks out.

How can businesses create more inclusive environments for their employees and patrons?
Lead from the margins. That is, ask before making any decision–how could this harm, disrespect, or alienate a Black person? An LGBTQ+ person? A person living with a disability? Our businesses must change their mandate from “increase shareholder value” to “first, do no harm.”

Zach Wilcha (he/him) is the first-ever executive director of the Independence Business Alliance, the LGBTQ+ Chamber of Commerce for Greater Philadelphia. Under his leadership, the IBA has experienced growth in membership, an increase in board and member diversity, and innovative, award-winning programming, including the Intersections Initiative and the TransWork program. He is a founding partner of the Diverse Chambers Coalition of Greater Philadelphia. An attorney, activist, and fundraiser, Zach has been a regular speaker, panelist, and consultant on LGBTQ+ and business issues.   

What is your favorite Pride month event or celebration?
It’s always incredible to see our community come together and be allowed to be joyful about our existence, thoughtful about those who paved the way for us, and intentional about creating space for new community members. Whether that happens in a large celebration or an intimate gathering of friends, Pride is so powerful. I’d be lying if I didn’t say my favorite part of Pride is walking *proudly* past protestors and knowing that our community’s mere existence–our unwavering visibility–can make people so upset. It’s always a thrill. They can stay mad.

What LGBTQ+ icons or activists have inspired you?
I love reading the prescient teachings from greats like James Baldwin and Harvey Milk and the wit and wisdom from modern masters like David Sedaris and R. Eric Thomas, but generally I’m constantly in awe of folks, especially queer ones, who are brave enough to be themselves and use their platforms to create conscious and active communities. I am so luck that I get to work alongside so many local peers and advocates who make life better for everyone–not just queer communities.

What can people and corporations do to support the LGBTQ+ community year-round, not just during Pride month?
There’s too much to mention in this small space, but here are some ways that companies can acknowledge and empower LGBTQ+ folks year round, not just when there are celebrations or crises: know that clear and robust policies are only a starting point for protecting communities against discrimination. Help allies be visible. Interrogate whether your hiring practices, dress codes, and other matters are culturally competent. Promote the benefits of diversity by empowering and educating managers. Economically uplift our community by engaging in intentionally inclusive supplier diversity. Understand that inclusive company culture begins at the top with visible, loud, confident support.

How can businesses create more inclusive environments for their employees and patrons?
Showing support to communities throughout the year is the best way to be inclusive. Establish employee affinity groups which are voluntary, employee-led groups designed to foster a diverse, inclusive workplace by identifying key values and putting organizational goals into action. Then take the time to listen, learn and educate others. Tackle regressive views head-on. Engaging with diverse chambers of commerce like ours can help make companies better for workers.