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LGBT candidates join race for District 8 seat

LGBT candidates join race for District 8 seat

A gay man and lesbian have filed the appropriate paperwork to be considered write-in candidates for the District 8 City Council seat in the upcoming municipal elections.

 

Adam Crowley and Nita Mosby Henry are two of more than a dozen Denverites hoping to win the seat after the passing of Councilwoman Carla Madison.

 

Madison was running unopposed before she died April 5.

 

(Disclosure: Mosby Henry is currently a contributing columnist to Out Front Colorado.)

 

Crowley and Mosby Henry join lesbian Robin Kniech in the race to City Council. Kneich is running for one of two at-large seats. The three represent Denver’s first chance in recent memory for an out-and-qualified candidate to be a decision maker at this level.

 

Denver has never had an out council member.

 

“This is a great opportunity for Denver,” said Victory Fund spokesman Denis Dison. “Having an out councilmember will give an authentic voice for the city and government.”

 

The Victory Fund supports LGBT candidates get elected at all levels of government. The Fund has endorsed Kniech, but will not endorse either Crowley or Mosby Henry in the this phase of the campaign, Dison said.

 

Denverites residing in District 8 will have to physically write-in their choice for the seat, according to the County Clerk’s office. If no candidate emerges from the May 3 ballot with 50 percent of the vote, a run-off between the top two vote getters will take place June 7.

 

The election is being conducted entirely by mail.

 

Crowley has a background in education – he taught at an inner city school in Dallas – and was most recently the deputy finance director for Gov. John Hickenlooper’s campaign. He was also the executive director for the Denver Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce. He lives in the Uptown neighborhood.

 

Mosby Henry is the executive director of The Kaleidoscope Project, a community-based health organization. She also does diversity consulting for companies and the most recent reception of The Paul Hunter Award from HRC Colorado. She also sits on the board of One Colorado. She lives in the Whittier neighborhood.

 

Mosby Henry said she hopes to continue the tradition of leadership Madison and those before her established for District 8.

 

“I stand before you on the shoulders of many great leaders who have served District 8,” Mosby Henry said at a press conference. “My intent is not to stand before you and tell you I can do it better, my intent is to stand before you to tell you I will continue a legacy of leadership in the committee.”

 

Meanwhile, Crowley said he’s looking forward to a fresh start with a new mayor and City Council.

 

“I think it’s really exciting that there is going to be fresh, new leadership,” Crowley said. “And I think that’s what I represent to District 8. I think I’m going to bring an energy and passion that is needed by this kind of a district. My passion and my energy is going to be my biggest strength.”

 

Both candidates said they would bring a unique voice to the council if elected. But they stressed they’re not out to represent only the gay community.

 

“(Being elected) puts another face to our community to the public at-large,” Crowley said. “One of the ways we’ve been able to advance equality so quickly is the public nature of coming out of the closet as openly, honest, GLBT people and electing openly gay public officials.”

 

Crowley said he would speak up on issues of inequality because they would directly impact him.

 

Mosby Henry echoed.

 

“I think it just comes with my package, I don’t have to do anything differently. It’s a part – inherently – of who I am,” she said. “I have a consciousness for people that are like me, but I’m not so narrowly focused so that I don’t have consciousness for people who aren’t like me. I have a lens for some of the marginalization of the LGBT community, just like I have a lens for the marginalization of black and brown people.”

 

Both candidates said they would work with the new mayor to restructure the Denver Police Department, a campaign issue that has received a lot of attention in the wake of several police officers being disciplined or fired for inappropriate conduct.

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