Kenyatta Johnson to withdraw appointment of ally who posted homophobic meme

Metropolis Councilmember Kenyatta Johnson plans to withdraw his proposal to nominate Level Breeze neighborhood activist Albert Littlepage to the board of the Philadelphia Land Financial institution after being questioned a few homophobic picture Littlepage tweeted final 12 months.

Johnson launched a decision to nominate Littlepage to the Land Financial institution board at Thursday morning’s Council session, the primary of the brand new 12 months.

Littlepage, president of the Level Breeze Neighborhood Growth Coalition, in June posted a picture of a father utilizing a defend to dam youngsters from a rainbow whereas he reads a guide to them. He posted the picture amid Republican requires banning LGBTQ-inclusive books in colleges, a part of a broader conservative effort to falsely paint LGBTQ folks and tradition as harmful to youngsters.

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Johnson at first defended the appointment earlier than deciding to withdraw it. After Council adjourned, he stated in an interview that he was unaware Littlepage posted the meme. He added that he has all the time supported the LGBTQ neighborhood, however picked Littlepage due to his function in Level Breeze neighborhood, a part of Johnson’s 2nd District.

After being knowledgeable about Littlepage’s anti-LGBTQ tweet, Johnson additionally stated that he nonetheless deliberate to comply with via with the appointment.

“I picked him as a result of he’s a neighborhood activist within the neighborhood across the subject of reasonably priced and workforce housing,” Johnson stated. “I don’t assist any views of people being anti-LGBTQ. My monitor document reveals I assist that neighborhood.”

Minutes later, a Johnson spokesperson stated that the Council member spoke with Littlepage and now plans to withdraw the nomination at Council’s subsequent session.

Littlepage on Thursday stated that he didn’t intend for the picture to be seen as anti-LGBTQ, however as a substitute wished to touch upon society’s sexualization of youngsters typically.

“I even have members of my household who’re a part of that neighborhood,” Littlepage stated in an interview. “I simply consider that our youngsters are being over-sexualized on all fronts.”

Requested why the picture included a rainbow if he didn’t intend to touch upon the LGBTQ neighborhood, Littlepage stated he would have posted different memes in the event that they depicted youngsters being threatened by different teams.

“The rainbow to me was the sexualizing of youngsters,” he stated. “If it was one thing that stated heterosexual, I might have stated the identical factor.”

Littlepage added that the LGBTQ neighborhood is overly delicate about perceiving assaults on it.

“Generally, to be fairly sincere, possibly that neighborhood could be over-sensitized,” he stated.

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The Land Financial institution facilitates the sale of lots of the hundreds of parcels of city-owned property. The gross sales course of is closely influenced by lawmakers because of the Philadelphia custom referred to as councilmanic prerogative, which successfully provides Council members near-complete management over land use selections inside their districts.

That custom is why Johnson in 2021 was in a position to assist derail a metropolis plan to chill site visitors on Washington Avenue in his district. Littlepage was a key proponent of guaranteeing a extra car-centric redesign of the thoroughfare, which was amongst Philadelphia’s most harmful streets for pedestrians and cyclists.

Johnson’s district consists of Washington Avenue west of South Broad Road. Councilmember Mark Squilla represents the realm east of Broad, the place site visitors lanes have been considerably narrowed and bike lane infrastructure expanded.

Workers author Jake Blumgart contributed reporting.