Mayor Cherelle Parker has appointed former prosecutor Tito Valdes to be Philly’s director of LGBTQ+ affairs

Mayor Cherelle L. Parker this week appointed former prosecutor Tito Valdes as Philadelphia’s new director of LGBTQ+ affairs.

Valdes, who graduated from Pennsylvania State University Dickinson Law, has extensive experience working on legal issues concerning youth. He previously worked as a city attorney representing the Philadelphia Department of Human Services in child welfare cases. And he is well-known for his work as a Philadelphia assistant district attorney in the family violence and sexual assault unit.

Valdes said one of his top priorities in his new role will be working with DHS to that ensure LGBTQ+ youth receive proper care in the city’s foster system.

“I am envisioning a particular focus on LGBTQ youth and care, and just ensuring that that particular population, which is in the system oftentimes because of who they are, receive services that are culturally competent,” Valdes said in an interview.

Valdes is the third person to hold the job under Parker’s administration, which began in January 2024. The previous two both left the city under unusual circumstances, and Valdes said he hopes to restore stability to the office.

“The community generally deserves and needs stability and just a sense of consistency,” he said.

Valdes assumes the role at a sensitive time for the city’s work on equality and civil rights issues. Progressives and advocates for marginalized populations have called on Parker to take a more aggressive stance against President Donald Trump’s attacks on immigrants, the LGBTQ+ community, and other groups.

But Parker has for the most part avoided direct confrontation with Trump in a strategy to prevent Philadelphia from being targeted by his administration. (One notable exception is the city’s lawsuit to preserve exhibits on slavery at Independence National Historical Park.)

“My approach will be to loudly proclaim what I believe the Parker administration does proclaim, which is that everybody deserves to be treated fairly, that we’re committed to this work,” Valdes said.

The Philadelphia Gay News first reported Parker’s appointment of Valdes, who has served on the board of the William Way LGBT Community Center and on the Governor’s Advisory Commission on LGBTQ Affairs under former Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf.

Valdes has won the Prosecutor of the Year award from the Philadelphia Coalition for Victim Advocacy and the Team Excellence Award from the Philadelphia Children’s Alliance, according to the mayor’s office. He most recently worked at the personal injury law firm Anapol Weiss.

“Tito brings years of legal experience and proven intergovernmental, collaborative leadership to this role,” Parker said in a statement. “His leadership will help ensure that LGBTQ+ Philadelphians experience a city government that is responsive, accountable, and fully committed to their safety and opportunity.”

The Philadelphia Office of LGBTQ+ Affairs works to “strengthen protections, expand opportunity, and improve service delivery for LGBTQ+ residents across Philadelphia,” according to the city.

Valdes’ most recent predecessor, Tyrell Brown, was fired last year after receiving a seminude photograph from another high-ranking city employee, then-deputy chief of staff Chris Dailey, while using a cruising app.

Inspector General Alex DeSantis said he recommended Parker fire Brown and Brandee Anderson — who was the city’s chief diversity, equity, and inclusion officer — after an investigation by his office found they acted “highly unprofessionally” while discussing the photograph in the workplace.

Anderson has publicly pushed back on the city’s account, denying that she and Brown mishandled the incident and saying the administration targeted her for pushing the city to be more aggressive on DEI issues.

Brown has not commented on the incident. But they said in a statement that they were “incredibly excited and proud of Tito’s appointment.”

“This moment is about celebrating his leadership and standing behind him as he steps into this role, something I am honored and proud to do,” Brown said.

Brown was preceded by Celena Morrison-McLean, who was appointed in 2020 by former Mayor Jim Kenney and who was the first openly transgender person to lead a city office.

Morrison-McLean made national headlines in March 2024, two months after Parker took office, when she and her husband were arrested after a state trooper pulled her over on I-76 for multiple violations. During the traffic stop, Morrison-McLean recorded a cell phone video of a confrontation between the trooper and her husband, who had been following her in a separate vehicle and was also pulled over. The video went viral, but it answered few questions about the circumstances that led to the confrontation.

Morrison-McLean left city government in November 2024. City officials at the time did not give a reason for her departure.

Staff writer Anna Orso contributed to this article.