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PRISM LGBTQ+ Community Center will host “Your LGBTQ+ Legal Rights in Pennsylvania,” an informative presentation on Friday, Jan. 9, at 7 p.m. led by Liz Bradbury, a LGBTQ+ civil rights leader and the primary architect of the state’s most progressive countywide non-discrimination ordinance.
The presentation will be held at 414 High St. inside Mission First Church
Lehigh County recently passed the most inclusive county-wide human relations ordinance in Pennsylvania, setting a precedent that is now spreading statewide.
Through a dynamic slide presentation, Bradbury will walk attendees through how this landmark ordinance was developed and how its language has since been successfully used to pass municipal and county-level non-discrimination laws in Chester County, Delaware County, Allentown, and Collingdale borough.
As a direct result of these efforts, more than 1.66 million previously unprotected Pennsylvanians now have legal civil rights protections. The presentation will also explain why countywide ordinances are one of the most effective tools for protecting people in Pennsylvania — and provide practical guidance on how community members can advocate for similar protections in their own counties.
Bradbury is the CEO and board chairwoman of Keystone Equality, Pennsylvania’s statewide LGBTQ+ political advocacy organization, and chairwoman of the Lehigh County Human Relations Commission. She was the lead author of Lehigh County’s groundbreaking non-discrimination ordinance, which passed into law in February 2024.
Bradbury has played a central role in the passage of more than 20 municipal and state civil rights laws across Pennsylvania, including leading the effort to include gender identity protections in Allentown’s civil rights ordinance in 2002, the first of its kind in the state.
She is a co-founder of the Pennsylvania Gay and Lesbian Alliance for Political Action, a former publisher of the Valley Gay Press, and a founder of what is now the Bradbury-Sullivan LGBTQ+ Community Center, named in honor of her and her spouse, Dr. Patricia Sullivan.
Through her work as director of the Bradbury-Sullivan Center’s Training Institute, Bradbury trained more than 300 organizations and over 17,000 individuals on LGBTQIA+ issues. She is also a nationally award-winning artist and author with more than 400 published articles on LGBTQ+ topics.
This event is open to the public and is ideal for LGBTQ+ individuals, allies, advocates, elected officials, and anyone interested in learning how civil rights protections are won — and how they can be expanded.
