Seat Taken
Sekou Biddle takes interim seat on the City Council
The D.C. Democratic State Committee elected, on Jan. 6, School Board member Sekou Biddle to fill the At-Large City Council seat left by Kwame Brown, who was sworn in as the council’s chair following November’s midterm election.
Biddle, who won by a 40-31 vote against former Councilmember Vincent Orange (D-Ward 5), will serve as an interim councilmember until April’s special elections.
David Meadows, executive director of the D.C. Democratic Party, describes Biddle as a ”good friend” of the local LGBT community.
”He supports same-sex marriage. He supports equal rights for all communities,” Meadows says. ”He believes that we’re a progressive city and he wants to help continue those traditions.”
Talking to Metro Weekly, Biddle says while serving on the council his main focus will be public education and employment.
”What I’m hoping to accomplish between now and the special elections in April is to be the leading voice in education and to really support an aggressive, forward-thinking agenda that really moves our education system forward,” he says.
Biddle’s professional experience includes more than 15 years in education reform. He’s also worked as a school teacher in New York, Atlanta and D.C.
Speaking specifically to D.C.’s LGBT community, Biddle confirms Meadow’s assessment.
”I’m a friend and an ally to all District residents,” he says. ”I’ve been proactively supportive and engaged with the LGBT community during my term of service on the board over the past three and a half years, and I will continue to be a friend, ally and advocate for the LGBT community and issues during my time on the council.”
In addition to supporting marriage equality, Biddle says that in 2008 when the school board was approving a new set of health education standards, he consulted with leaders of the LGBT community, including the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club.
”Because of that work, because of that engagement, the board received testimony and support from the LGBT community and our standards, and we were able to make huge technical changes to the standards to make sure they were as accurate and high quality as they could be.”
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