Around New England
Providence City Council Elects Holy Cross Graduate As First ‘Queer Woman’ President
January 3, 2023
A self-described “queer woman” is now the president of the city council of Providence, Rhode Island.
Rachel Miller, who represents Ward 13, which includes Federal Hill, was unanimously elected the council’s president on Monday, January 2, 2023, the first day of the new four-year term for all city councilors.
During her first speech as president (which starts at 31:32 of the audio recording on the city council’s web site), Miller said the new city council includes immigrants from Guatemala, the Dominican Republic, and Peru.
“We are the most diverse council in the history of Providence,” Miller said, to applause.
She also said:
“For the first time, a majority of council members are people of color. And for the second time, women make up a majority on the council. We are the youngest council in many years– although I did not, you know, check IDs at the door — if not ever. And for the first time, Providence has elected an open member of the LGBTQ community as president of this Council. As a queer woman, that is an honor I do not take lightly. I want to thank each of you for your confidence in my leadership as we chart this new path for our city. Diversity is a great strength to the city. Representation matters for so many reasons.”
Eight of the 15 council members are women. Seven are men.
“We have an opportunity to lead collaboratively with one another, with residents and businesses in our neighborhoods, to let differences in opinion strengthen our decisions, and to be a beacon of integrity and transparency in our decision-making,” Miller said.
All 15 members of the city council are Democrats. Ten of the 15 council members ran unopposed in the November 2022 general election.
As forthcoming issues, Miller identified “stewarding” the city’s next 10-year comprehensive plan for land-use and zoning; “shepherding the return of our public schools to local control” from the state government, which currently runs the city’s public schools; and passing a yearly budget that “reflects our values and priorities.”
She also quoted poet Maya Angelou (1928-2014): “Love recognizes no barriers. It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at its destination full of hope.”
A native of New York, Miller attended the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, “where she helped win college recognition for a campus LGBTQIA organization,” according to a short biography on the city council’s web site. A music major, she graduated from Holy Cross in 2001, according to The Anchor, the student newspaper of Rhode Island College, which she also later attended.
After Holy Cross, she worked in Washington D.C. “as a national organizer for economic justice organizations, including as a founding member of United Students Against Sweatshops,” according to the biography.
Among the roles she has filled since moving to Providence in 2003: executive director of Rhode Island Jobs with Justice; staff member of Direct Action for Rights and Equality; and consultant with Providence Youth Student Movement.
She is currently communications manager of Building Futures, a nonprofit organization that provides a “pre-apprenticeship” in the construction industry “for low-income diverse residents.”
“This council will put equity at the forefront,” Miller said during her speech Monday.
Rachel Miller, president of the city council of Providence, Rhode Island. Photo taken from city council’s web site.
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