Political Notebook: In 1st for Bay Area, gay Afghan Muslim joins college board
When a Chabot-Las Positas Community College District Board of Trustees member resigned due to relocating, the search was on to find an appointee to fill the vacancy through the end of 2022.
The elected leaders of the Alameda County college district found that person in Harris Mojadedi.The Union City resident took his oath of office for the district's Trustee Area 3 seat February 15 and will seek a full four-year term on the November ballot.
Should he win, Mojadedi believes he would be the first gay Afghan American to be elected to public office in the U.S.His serving on the college board marks the first time an LGBTQ Muslim has held public office in the Bay Area.
Mojadedi's appointment comes four years after Hayward City Councilmember Aisha Wahab, who is straight and running for state Senate this year, made history as one of the first two Afghan Americans elected to public office anywhere in the country."I don't know many out Afghan or Muslim people in general, let alone serving in a public office," Mojadedi, 31, told the Bay Area Reporter during his first media interview since being named to the college board.There are five out Middle Eastern/Arab Americans listed on the map of LGBTQ elected officials in the U.S.
