Kenyatta, the first African-American gay man elected to a state office Pennsylvania, has a big vision and ample passion for his community.

Malcolm Kenyatta made history in November, when he became the first African-American gay man elected to a state office in Pennsylvania, winning the 181st District, in Philadelphia.

He won in a landslide, becoming one of the candidates who made up the “rainbow wave” of unprecedented LGBTQ candidates who were swept into office in the 2018 election.

Bastiaan Slabbers/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Rep. Kenyatta, like many others, was a first-time candidate, and is now learning what being a lawmaker is all about, as he works to keep his campaign promises, of increasing the minimum wage to $15 an hour, fighting for stronger gun control, equal rights for all people, and against climate change.

He tells NewNowNext how badly many in his district are in need of a fair shot.

“I have the third poorest district in the entire commonwealth. The parts of my district where people are struggling, they’re deeply struggling. One part of my district… is 61% [in] poverty.”

He says the average yearly take-home pay there is under $10,000, calling that “unacceptable,” and what he “focused (his) campaign around.”

And he’s already hard at work, now that the campaign is over and the work of leading has begun. When it’s mentioned that the year is still young, Kenyatta laughs and quips, “Doesn’t feel like it.”

Kenyatta has been given his committee assignments, through which he hopes to achieve his goals for his constituents: Commerce, Liquor Control, State Government, Tourism, and Recreation Development.

And he already sounds like a seasoned pro as he smoothly and succinctly rattles off his key points of concerns for his first year in office, ranging all the way from strengthening revenge porn laws, to fixing the state government’s rules, which he says are blocking the types of big reforms he believes the people are ready for, and that it is his job to see enacted.

He says the bipartisan Pennsylvania Fairness Act, which would add LGBTQ protections to the state’s nondiscrimination laws, was blocked from even coming up for a vote by the head of the aforementioned State Government Committee, Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, despite strong support for the legislation.

The notoriously homophobic Metcalfe has been replaced as head of that committee, giving Kenyatta hope the Pennsylvania Fairness Act can finally come up for a vote. If it were to pass, it would then go to Gov. Tom Wolf.

Wolf, who launched the first statewide LGBTQ affairs commission, would likely sign it into law.

It is easy to believe Kenyatta when he talks about what he intends to do for the community. After all, he’s third generation to the district he now represents, and there is ample passion in his voice when he talks about the issues.

His grandfather, Muhammad Kenyatta, was a professor and civil rights leader, who unsuccessfully ran for Mayor of Philadelphia in 1975. It’s obvious he’s a strong inspiration for Rep. Kenyatta, who also credits his mother, Kelly, whom he describes as having been “a tough black lady,” for always pushing him to be more civically involved.

He says he’ll never forget the time he was complaining about the different issues people were facing on the block, from trash piling up to what he saw as a lack of community connection, when his mom pulled him up short.

“She said, ’Well, if you care so much about the block, go do something about the block!’ And I was like, ’Okay.’ And so, I ran for junior block captain,” Kenyatta recalls.

“I worked with the block captain to organize block cleanups, to be a part of the planning committee for local community events that we did. That really sparked a passion for public service,” he continues.

“Because I truly believe, whether it’s getting to full equality for our communities, whether it’s dealing with poverty… or whether it’s dealing with climate change, or gun violence… nobody’s coming to save us. We have to step up and say, ’This is our neighborhood, this is our community, this is our country, and we have to do something about it.'”

From there, Kenyatta served his community by working at The Chamber of Commerce for Greater Philadelphia, where he ran the diversion and inclusive initiatives. He loved the work he was doing there, but began feeling a pull to run for office, to listen to the chorus of people in his life who had been telling him to do so, including his mother, who passed away in 2017.

Still, he said he would be lying if he said he wasn’t somewhat hesitant. But, after talking it over with his boyfriend, Matthew Miller, and deciding it was the right thing to do, he launched his campaign.

“I quit my job to run, so I was worried from a number of different perspectives,” Kenyatta recalls. “As I ran the race, there were certainly a number of people who wanted to make who I love and who I am a part of the campaign in a negative way. So, there were a lot of different parts me of that said, ’Hey, is this the right thing to do?'”

During the campaign, homophobic fliers appeared on the streets, showing an old picture of Kenyatta embracing his ex-husband, with a line through them and the words, “NORTH PHILLY, SAY NO!!!!!”

As he said in a documentary produced by The Atlantic, which followed him on Election Day, his opponents going low just meant they didn’t have any good ideas of their own to sell, relying instead on hatred and fear.





And it backfired in a big way, with Kenyatta taking more than 95% of the total vote.

He recalls his neighbor telling him she had taken down as many of the fliers as she could, and that the dirty politics made her so mad she got three people who weren’t already planning to vote out to the polls to cast a ballot for him.

“It was just a reminder that there are a lot of people of conscience who are sick of the homophobic attacks, who are sick of the nonsense, and who want to have a conversation based off of what people’s policy positions are.”

While his win was an exhilarating moment, both for himself and those worked so hard to get him elected, he admits that it was a bittersweet moment, not having his two biggest backers there: His mother and father, also named Malcolm.

Kenyatta’s dad, a social worker, passed away five years before his mother (who was a home healthcare aide).

“In a big moment like that, it really sucks to not have your parents there,” he says, knowing they’d be proud of his accomplishments.

But he also knows that the true meaning of his victory goes well beyond himself, and even beyond just his constituents. He hopes his win shows others who might not see themselves represented too often in places of power that they too can achieve great things.

“From the perspective of being only the second openly LGBT person, first (LGBTQ) person of color to win, one of the youngest people in history to win, that was exciting to me. But I feel like the excitement of that is going to come years from now, when some other gay kids, (and) some trans kids look up and say, ’Hey, I want to run for office too, and I can,'” he says.

In fact, he has already heard from a candidate running for city council in a small town in Illinois as an openly gay man, who told him he followed Kenyatta’s race, and it inspired him to run for office as well.

“It makes me feel like it’s all worth it,” Kenyatta continues. “But when I think about my own election, I’m like, Why the hell did it take so long, quite frankly, for somebody to achieve this designation?”

“It’s tough for our kids to imagine being something that they don’t see exist,” he says.

When asked if he has higher political aspirations, as there has already been some talk that he should run for president someday, he offers a cautious reply while leaving open the door for that possibility. After all, he’s not the type to shrink from a challenge.

“I think the best way for you to be prepared for whatever that next job might be, is to be the best at the job that you have,” he reflects. “And I say that to young people all the time.”

“I’m working my ass off to be the best state rep. possible, and I think if I do that, then other opportunities will become available.”