LA City Controller hosts online panel to empower LGBTQ+ community
3 years
As part of Pride Month, Los Angeles City Controller Ron Galperin hosted an online panel on June 24 that focused on the progress that has been made to empower the LGBTQ+ community, as well as the work that still needs to be done.
Panelists included Marquita Thomas, executive director of the Los Angeles LGBTQ Chamber of Commerce; Michaela Mendelsohn of Trans Can Work; Eden Anaï “Luna” of the Los Angeles LGBT Center; and Lisa Middleton, the first transgender mayor pro tem of City of Palm Springs government.
Mendelsohn noted that trans people are three times more likely to be unemployed compared with the rest of the population, and those of color are seven times as likely to be living in poverty. She said the trans community is a good place to find prospective employees “because you’re talking about people that really appreciate getting a level playing field and a chance to show their talents.”
When it comes to ensuring better opportunities for the LGBTQ+ community, Thomas said employers should realize that diversity is good for business. “It brings innovative thought. It also helps with customer service, and people want to see themselves in the companies that they buy from.”
As a member of two minority groups (LGBTQ+ and Jewish), when asked about the recent rise in antisemitism in Southern California, Galperin said as the son of a Holocaust survivor he never thought he would live to see that increase. “But we also see, unfortunately, a rise in Islamophobia and anti-Asian violence. There always seems to be in this world of ours an ‘other.’” He also noted that his husband, Zach Shapiro, is a rabbi. “We have to speak out against discrimination, he said, no matter who they come from or who they are addressed at.”