Cheltenham native Rue Landau made history this November when she became the first openly gay person elected to Philadelphia City Council, writes Victor Fiorillo for the Philadelphia Magazine.

She celebrated her election by “singing ‘We Are the Champions’ with my campaign staff at two in the morning at Woody’s,” she recalled.

For Landau, working at City Hall every day has been amazing.

“The building is so beautiful and historic and holds so many stories from the past,” she said. “But the hallways are soooo long. So I zip around on a Razor scooter.”

However, the hardest thing about her job turned out to be its relentless pace.

“There is no downtime,” she said.

Landau lives with her partner Kerry and their son Eli in Bella Vista, two blocks from her twin sister and her family. She met her partner in New York City, at a friend’s birthday party.

“Kerry was living in Boston, I was in Philly, and we had a long-distance relationship for a couple of years before I told her I was geographically inflexible,” said Landau. “Then we got the first same-sex marriage license in Pennsylvania.”

Read the entire interview with Rue Landau in the Philadelphia Magazine.

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