On Tuesday, the City of Los Angeles announced the formation of a “Transgender Advisory Council,” a board selected to “advise City leaders on issues facing the trans community.”
Members were selected from “a blind application process that was based on criteria determined by the Human Relations Commission.” The world’s most famous transgender (and Angelino) Caitlyn Jenner was not among those selected.
City Councilmember Mitch O’Farrell said in a press release sent out by Mayor Eric Garcetti’s office that “this new advisory council will help direct discussion at every level of city government…” and that “it is important that no community is left behind in the city of Angels.”
Usually, it is the job of elected officials, not bureaucrats, to be responsive to voters’ concerns, but commissions like these are growing in their popularity. (See: Mark Hemingway’s cover story from February of 2013 for more.)
The concern with such commissions, of course, is accountability. Karina Samala, a newly appointed member of the council and “longtime LGBT activist” gets about as specific as the press release gets on the council’s mandate:
“The Transgender Advisory Council is being created to provide a greatly improved quality of life for all transgender individuals visiting, living and working in the City of Los Angeles.”
How that will be achieved by the council and what their power or influence will be is not yet clear. Though with LA’s announcement, it’s becoming readily apparent that mere Human Rights Councils are no longer enough for progressive activists.
