Philly’s former LGBTQ+ affairs director sued the Parker administration for discrimination

Philadelphia’s former head of LGBTQ+ affairs sued Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s administration in federal court Thursday, saying top officials subjected her to pervasive harassment, discrimination, and retaliation tied to her identity as a transgender woman.

The former official, Celena Morrison-McLean, said in the lawsuit that the Parker administration stymied her from effectively advocating for transgender and nonbinary city employees, and that “several supervisors” — whom she did not identify — told her “that they were ‘not doing that they/them thing.’”

And Morrison-McLean alleges in the lawsuit that when she advocated for nonbinary athletes’ participation in city-sponsored races, Tiffany Thurman, the mayor’s chief of staff, told her “the mayor viewed her commitment to the LGBTQ+ community as a hindrance to the administration.”

Morrison-McLean, a longtime LGBTQ advocate who was appointed to lead the office in 2020 by former Mayor Jim Kenney, was fired in November 2024.

According to the lawsuit, her dismissal came a day after she wrote in an email to the city’s human resources representatives that she “had experienced a marked increase in discriminatory behavior, including sexual advances, being outed as a transgender woman by a city employee, and intrusive questions about her transition.”

Joe Grace, a spokesperson for the city, said in a statement that the Parker administration “stands proudly by its support and its actions affirming Philadelphia’s LGBTQ+ community.”

He said that Parker “knows that a vibrant and inclusive LGBTQ+ community is essential and a priority to the city,” citing her appointment in March of former prosecutor Tito Valdes to lead the Office of LGBTQ+ Affairs. Grace also pointed to an executive order that Parker signed in 2024, which renamed the agency from the Office of LGBT Affairs to the Office of LGBTQ+ Affairs.

Riley Ross, the attorney representing Morrison-McLean, said Friday that he looks forward to obtaining justice for the harm he says was done to his client.

Morrison-McLean’s abrupt departure in 2024 came about eight months after she and her husband made national news when they were controversially detained by a state trooper during a traffic stop on I-76. During the encounter, parts of which were captured on video, Morrison-McLean could be heard pleading with the trooper, saying, “I work for the mayor! I work for the mayor!”

Morrison-McLean and her husband, Darius McLean, who is the director of the William Way LGBT Community Center, sued the state trooper, Andrew Zaborowski, for assault, false imprisonment, and battery. Meanwhile, Zaborowski sued the State Police, saying that he was improperly terminated and falsely accused of racial profiling because he is white. Both matters are pending.

Morrison-McLean’s discrimination lawsuit against the city was filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, and also names Thurman, Chief Deputy Mayor Vanessa Garrett Harley, and two human resources officials as defendants.

The filing makes Morrison-McLean the third former city official who worked on diversity and inclusion matters to sue Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s administration, citing systemic discrimination. The others are Leslie Marant, the former head of DEI for the police department who was fired in the initial days of the Parker administration; and Brandee Anderson, the ex-chief DEI officer for the city who was, for a time, Morrison-McLean’s supervisor.

Anderson’s lawsuit — which contended she was fired as part of a broader effort to “suppress” DEI work — cited the treatment of Morrison-McLean as evidence of systemic discrimination. She alleged Garrett Harley instructed her to create a paper trail leading to Morrison-McLean’s dismissal.

» READ MORE: Mayor Parker’s former DEI chief sues the city for discrimination in tell-all lawsuit

That lawsuit also said Garrett Harley mocked Morrison-McLean during a meeting with several other officials, saying Morrison-McLean used a “deep male tone” to intimidate staff.

But Morrison-McLean’s lawsuit describes Anderson as part of the problem. Morrison-McLean wrote in the suit that shortly before she was fired, Anderson said city leadership viewed the LGBTQ+ affairs director as a “rogue employee.”

Morrison-McLean said in the lawsuit she told Anderson the situation made her “feel like throwing it all away,” meaning resigning from her job. She said Anderson responded, “but you look fabulous,” and “I want to give you a hug,” which Morrison-McLean said in the lawsuit that she believed that was meant “to manipulate her.”

Following that meeting, human resources representatives questioned Morrison-McLean about her “throwing it all away” comment, which they characterized as a violent threat, the lawsuit says.

Morrison-McLean emailed one of the representatives the next morning, the suit says, describing unwanted sexual advances and other incidents that made City Hall a hostile work environment.

She was terminated the day after, the lawsuit says, with the formal termination letter saying her “actions are not indicative of the leadership” and there was an “untenable incompatibility” between her work and the city’s expectations.