During John Pickhaver’s campaign to be the first out LGBTQ City Council member in El Segundo, Calif., a comment he received from a constituent resonated with him emotionally.
While one of his campaign volunteers was going to door to door, they received a donation. During that interaction, the donor also revealed they were the parent of an adult transgender person and that their child had never felt welcome in their hometown.
That person’s experience crystalized the central plank of Pickhaver’s campaign: advocating for official support of Pride from the city so that no LGBTQ resident will ever experience that sense of rejection again.
“I don’t want that to happen to future generations of kids,” Pickhaver said. “And I think that had that child been younger and grew up with this huge show of support from the city…all they have to see is the rainbow in the sky and it means something.”
Get off the sidelines and into the game
Since he entered public service and activism at the beginning of the decade, Pickhaver has been committed to making literal rainbows in the sky happen for the LGBTQ community in his adopted hometown.
Pickhaver attended grad school at nearby Loyola Marymount University and is currently assistant coach of the LMU cross country and track and field teams. He told his public coming out story to Outsports in 2016 as a personal response to the Pulse nightclub massacre.
A marathon runner himself, Pickhaver provides his expertise to college athletes at Loyola Marymount.Photo by Christian Gutierrez
Four years later, the murder of George Floyd spurred Pickhaver to become part of the nationwide protests for social justice. After charges were brought against the police officers accused of Floyd’s murder, Pickhaver then joined a local advocacy group that pivoted to fighting for inclusion on behalf of numerous marginalized groups in El Segundo, a beach town located near Los Angeles International Airport.
“Being from suburban Philadelphia, I sort of had this idea of California that everybody’s progressive and that they can get all of these issues right, for lack of a better word. And I was surprised at the level of resistance, not so much from fellow community members, but moreso from the city itself and City Council,” he said.
Soon, Pickhaver took the lead on advocating for the city of El Segundo to officially recognize June as Pride Month. In 2021, El Segundo’s City Council issued a proclamation declaring it as such.
From there, Pickhaver pushed further and petitioned the city manager to light El Segundo’s signature water tower in rainbow colors. Despite receiving pushback, Pickhaver persevered and ultimately prevailed. One June 28, 2021, El Segundo lit up a Pride water tower for the first time in its history.
Originally scheduled to be lit in rainbow colors for only that day, the outpouring of positive responses from residents convinced El Segundo to keep it lit that way for the rest of the month.
“The water tower is like a beacon for people in town to realize that this community supports LGBTQ+ and if you don’t have the support in your household right now, know that your city does. Or if you do have the support in your household, it’s nice to see that affirmed at a city level,” he said.
Pickhaver stands with his partner, Sean O’Brien, in front of El Segundo’s iconic water tower during Pride Month.Photo courtesy of John Pickhaver
Since then, El Segundo residents and businesses have taken the baton and the city’s annual Gundo Pride celebration has grown bigger and bigger each year.
“It all started from that proclamation. Getting the city to commit words to paper that this is what we stand for. And being able to use that to build out something greater is important,” Pickhaver said.
While he considered those moments his biggest victories, Pickhaver also realized that there was only so much that he could accomplish on an activist level. In order to effect more significant change in the future, he decided to run for City Council himself.
As part of his campaign, Pickhaver wants to provide support for El Segundo’s school district as it helps young LGBTQ students find their own identities and advocates to build more housing units in order to relieve the city’s significant shortage.
He also wants to focus on leveling up Gundo Pride and increasing the city’s commitment to it on an official level in the years to come.
“For them to see that this is happening in their community and that we’re trying to build on this, I think that will resonate with people. And to me, that’s the next step: doubling down on what we’ve already done and just letting people know that they are welcome here and El Segundo is a safe place for anyone,” he said.
While becoming the first out LGBTQ person to win a City Council election would make him a part of El Segundo history, Pickhaver’s priority remains sending an unequivocal message of acceptance to all LGBTQ residents in his city.
“We’re not just doing these events to check a box and say that we did it. We’re doing it because it’s life or death for some people,” he said. “That’s the extreme but even if you don’t go to the extreme, it’s still pretty intense when somebody’s trying to accept themself or be who they are or be comfortable in their own home, in their own city, in their own school.
“And the more we create space and events and support for that, the safer a community we will be.”
To learn more about John Pickhaver’s run for El Segundo City Council, please visit his campaign website.
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