A former head of Philadelphia’s Office of LGBTQ+ Affairs alleges that the office’s mission became difficult to carry out under Mayor Cherelle L. Parker and that the city fired her after she reported workplace concerns. Celena Morrison-McLean’s federal lawsuit says she faced discrimination and harassment as a transgender woman. The claims have not been established in court.
The dispute concerns an office with a long-standing place in city government. The City of Philadelphia says it was created by mayoral executive order in 2008 and became part of the city charter in 2015. In 2020, former Mayor Jim Kenney’s administration placed the Office of LGBT Affairs under the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, according to a city executive order.
Morrison-McLean led the office from 2020 until November 2024. Her complaint, as reported by The Philadelphia Inquirer, alleges that supervisors resisted her efforts to advocate for transgender and nonbinary city employees, including by rejecting the use of they/them pronouns. It also alleges that Chief of Staff Tiffany Thurman told her the mayor regarded her advocacy as an obstacle.
The suit says the immediate lead-up to her firing involved a conversation about resigning and a subsequent exchange with human resources. Morrison-McLean alleges that, after HR questioned her about the conversation, she emailed a representative about unwanted sexual advances and other workplace incidents. The administration terminated her the next day, according to the complaint. The lawsuit names Thurman, Chief Deputy Mayor Vanessa Garrett Harley and two human resources officials as defendants.
The city’s response, as quoted by the Inquirer, was that Parker’s administration stands by its support for Philadelphia’s LGBTQ+ community. That general statement does not resolve the specific allegations in the lawsuit. The Inquirer also reported that Parker renamed the office in 2024 and appointed former prosecutor Tito Valdes to lead it in March.
Related lawsuits offer context, not a verdict
Morrison-McLean’s case is among several lawsuits by former Philadelphia officials connected to diversity work. Former city chief DEI officer Brandee Anderson sued the administration, alleging an effort to suppress DEI activity; Audacy reported that her suit said she was fired in July 2025. Former Philadelphia police diversity chief Leslie Marant also previously sued after her firing. 6ABC reported on her appointment as the police department’s first diversity officer. Those cases provide a backdrop to the new filing, but they do not establish whether Morrison-McLean’s allegations are true or show that the cases share the same cause.
