From Koch to Lightfoot

A new era in queer politics.

Diversity in politics has steadily increased over the decades, but the halls of Congress, the state legislatures, and city halls rarely emulate the communities they represent. For the LGBTQ+ community in particular, the 70s was the emergence of a movement to elect queer politicians. During the decade, Elaine Noble became the first openly gay state legislator, Harvey Milk was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, and Ed Koch was sworn in as the Mayor of New York City. While, unlike Milk and Noble, Koch was not out, he was criticized by some supporters of then-New York Secretary of State Mario Cuomo based on accurate rumors that he was gay.

With the 2022 elections, Governors Maura Healey and Tina Kotek became the first two lesbian governors in our nation’s history. And, as they are getting settled into the governors’ mansions, it seems like a suitable time to reflect on the progression of LGBTQ+ community in the political arena. More locally, there have been many queer activists taking public office in Los Angeles County, and amongst those is Freddy Puza

“In 2018, I worked with an organizer that is active with high school students and they petitioned the Culver City City Council to designate June as Pride Month and they got the Pride Flag to be flown during that month as well. Current Vice Mayor Yasmine-Imani McMorrin suggested a Pride event and I took that ball and ran with it. Myself and the other organizers wanted to make it a bike ride to make sure to advocate for mobility efforts,” says the recently elected Culver City City Council member.

(Photo by K. Sahli, reprinted from freddypuza.com)

Newly elected Culver City Councilmember Freddy Puza (center).

In his 2020 and 2022 campaigns, Puza was open about his queer identity and the work that he has done for the LGBTQ+ community. A lot has changed since Milk’s assassination and the homophobia aimed at Mayor Koch. However, even in this day and age and in a city that is seen as very progressive, there are still people forcefully attacking the queer community.

“There was some transphobia in the 2022 elections. There were a couple of residents who really took issue with the fact that I support transgender youth and harassed me. I am not going to back down from supporting transgender youth or LGBTQ youth. Another thing that came up was language around indoctrination and grooming which are stereotypes that are very dangerous. There is the Don’t Say Gay bill in Florida, but there is still harmful sentiment in a place like Culver City and it is concerning. I think you can be out in Culver City and Los Angeles, but that does not mean that there are a lack of forces out there trying to undermine people’s lives,” Puza said.

Puza believes that these forces extend to the backyards of the very people he represents. “Housing is a very important issue that I strongly support and I want to increase housing at all economic levels and neighborhoods. But, transgender youth are disproportionately unhoused compared to their cisgender counterparts and are more likely to commit suicide. So, the community is sometimes hidden and afraid to come out and then there is all the oppression from society and then there is being unhoused on top of that,” Puza said.

Luckily for Puza, he is not alone in his fight to gain representation for the people that do not have not been heard in the governmental halls that he is now inhabiting. “Mayor Daniel Lee and Vice Mayor McMorrin were the first people of African descent on the Culver City City Council and I am the first LGBTQ+ member. It has been one identity making the decisions for the last century in Culver City. We are seeing a lot of change and I expect that to only continue, but we have to be diligent and make sure that we uplift diverse candidates,” Puza said.