Chester County approves ordinance protecting LGBTQ residents during emotional meeting

Dozens of residents broke into applause Wednesday as the Chester County Board of Commissioners voted to become the first of Philly’s collar counties to approve an ordinance explicitly prohibiting discrimination on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation.

Stacy Stone broke into tears.

The mother of a 30-year-old transgender man was overwhelmed to have achieved “just one win” in a year that has been marked by President Donald Trump’s efforts to target transgender Americans and fear that her son will lose access to his lifesaving hormone therapy.

Stone’s son is a doctor who lives in Rhode Island. He does not feel safe in Chester County, she said.

“I want him to come home. Maybe something like this will make him feel safe to come home someday,” said Stone, 66, who lives in Malvern.

Chester County’s Democratic-controlled board of commissioners voted 2-1 along party lines to approve a sweeping nondiscrimination ordinance that goes beyond existing state and federal antidiscrimination law to specifically protect LGBTQ residents from discrimination alongside a broad set of protected classes including sex, race, and age. The ordinance, which takes effect in December, establishes a human relations commission to review, mediate, and adjudicate claims of discrimination in housing, employment, and public accommodations.

Chester County became the first in the Philly suburbs to enact explicit protections for the LGBTQ community as neighboring Delaware and Montgomery Counties take steps to enact local protections for LGBTQ residents while the federal government rolls back protections.

“I am ecstatic that Chester County can be a place that is welcoming to everyone,” said Josh Maxwell, a Democrat who chairs the board of commissioners.

Eric Roe, the sole Republican on the board, voted against the ordinance. He argued it was redundant with existing state and federal protections and was therefore a poor use of taxpayer dollars. Though the board budgeted only $500 for the volunteer human relations commission, Roe said he expected its operations may be more costly, especially in staff time devoted to it.

“I don’t want any of you, the people of Chester County, to experience discrimination,” Roe said. “Legal protections already exist.”

Commissioners acted after roughly 90 minutes of emotional testimony, and at times tense moments, from Chester County residents who packed the West Chester boardroom.

One transgender man shared that parents had pulled their children from a school where he planned to teach upon learning about his transgender identity. Another resident told commissioners about his fear that his nonbinary partner might face discrimination because someone decided that they used the wrong restroom.

Julie Moyer, the mother of a 29-year-old transgender man, said her son lives with a cloud over his head under the current presidential administration.

“With this ordinance, he will at least have some peace that the county has his back,” she said.

At one point in the meeting testimony was paused as opponents of the ordinance confronted a proponent who interrupted an opponent twice to call her a “fascist” while she testified.

Residents who spoke in opposition raised a range of concerns over the potential cost of the commission, worries over whom it would protect, and beliefs that it was creating more division in the community.

“Is it about equality, or is it about promoting the rights of some over the rights of others?” asked Diane Houser, a Uwchlan Township resident who is running for the Downingtown Area School Board.

Ada Nestor, who testified she had survived a rape in Chester County, said she was worried about the possibility of transgender women, whom she referred to as biological men, using a women’s restroom.

“My right to safety, privacy, and dignity does not erase anyone else’s humanity, but it also cannot be negotiated away,” said Nestor, who testified via Zoom.

Chester County’s solicitor told residents the ordinance did not explicitly affect restrooms within the county.

Before voting for the ordinance, Democrat Marian Moskowitz said that the new policy was meant to protect all Chester County residents and that it would also combat other forms of discrimination. She told of a recent case where a Hispanic man who is a citizen had his rent doubled because his landlord worried that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents would come to his home.

“Lately there’s a lot of nervousness out here,” she said. “It may be hidden. It’s there. Things happening in the federal government, we are starting to lose our rights. We have to make sure that Chester County residents know we are here for them.”

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