CHICAGO – Peter Imhoff draws inspiration from the words of Shirley Chisholm , the first Black woman in Congress who famously advised that if no one gives you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair.
“If you don’t have a seat at the table, you’re on the menu,” said Imhoff, an LGBTQ campaign strategist and radio show host from Sarasota, Florida. “We’ve been on the menu in Florida for the last eight years, and I’m really tired of being gnawed on.”
Imhoff, who identifies as nonbinary and is a delegate at this week’s Democratic National Convention , sought the position as a way to fight back against the recent onslaught of attacks against LGBTQ Americans in Florida and other states.
Imhoff and other LGBTQ Americans believe they have a powerful ally in the fight: Vice President Kamala Harris , who is the Democratic nominee for president.
Harris, who was a district attorney in San Francisco at the time, was one of the first public officials to officiate at a gay wedding in 2004 when then-Mayor Gavin Newsom permitted same-sex couples to obtain a marriage license in defiance of state and federal regulations, which barred such marriages.