CHICAGO – New Jersey’s DNC Delegates are in Chicago this week to deliver our votes for Kamala Harris, and our LGBTQ Delegation is having a moment in the sun.

This week, our LGBTQ Delegates have networked with our colleagues at Victory Fund, LPAC, HRC, and the Task Force; chatted up Nancy Pelosi and Bill Clinton, heard speeches from Malcolm Kenyatta, Sarah McBride and Kelley Robinson; presenting the legendary Miss Major Griffin-Gracy with a New Jersey Legislature resolution, and, for the first time New Jersey’s history, a member of our transgender community represented New Jersey at Roll Call.

Dr. Joeigh Perella joined Governor Phil Murphy and Chairman LeRoy Jones to deliver New Jersey’s votes and in that moment, sent a strong signal- trans representation matters. Dr. Perella was joined by Shannon Cuttle and Kyler Dineen this week to round out our trans and nonbinary representation within the LGBTQ Delegation.

We’re proud to share Dr. Perella with the world; to grace the nation with what we already knew after supporting Dr. Perella’s campaign and primary run for Cumberland County Commissioner- that when we prioritize centering our trans community, brilliant voices like Joeigh’s will change the world as we know it.

We also know that our friend Babs Siperstein, New Jersey’s first openly-transgender DNC Delegate, would be thrilled to see how far we’ve come and how much her legacy has uplifted people like Joeigh, as well as all of us who had the honor of knowing her.

These moments make clear that the longer table and bigger tent of the Democratic Party, while never perfect, is the place I want to be.