Lesbian activist and diversity consultant Lisbeth Meléndez Rivera has announced she is a candidate for the Hyattsville, Md., City Council in an Oct. 4 special election to fill a vacant seat.

The Ward 2 seat on the 10-member Council in the Prince George’s County suburban city became vacant when the incumbent Council member, Robert Croslin, won election as mayor, according to an announcement posted on the Hyattsville website.

The announcement says two other candidates in addition to Meléndez Rivera are running in the nonpartisan special election. It identifies them as community activists Emily Strab and Kelly Burrello.

Melendez Rivera currently operates BQN Consulting, a firm through which she provides support services related to organizing, training and capacity building, according to the firm’s website. In addition, she also operates a food catering service.

The website write-up on her career background says she served from 2014 to 2017 as Director of Latinx & Catholic Initiatives for the Human Rights Campaign, the D.C.-based national LGBTQ advocacy organization. Her LinkedIn page says she served from 2017 to 2021 as HRC’s Director of Faith Outreach & Training.

A separate write-up on her campaign website describers Meléndez Rivera as a 35+ year veteran in social justice movements with “extensive experience organizing and training at the intersections of sexual orientation, gender identity, racial/ethnic identity, faith, and culture related explicitly to communities of color in the United States.”

Her campaign website says she is a candidate for a doctorate degree in Ministry and Theology and Social Transformation. It says she currently holds a master’s degree in Theology & Social Transformation and a bachelor’s degree in biology and sociology.

“Lisbeth has worked with people of faith across denominations to ensure we can be who we are, love whom we love, and practice our faith free of judgment,” her campaign website states.

It says she is running to address, among other things, to ensure that the current rapid real estate development in Hyattsville is carried out in a way that housing remains affordable for all residents and doesn’t result in the displacement of longtime residents. Education, public safety, and the environment will also be issues she will address, she told the Washington Blade. 

If elected, Meléndez Rivera would become the first out lesbian to serve on the Hyattsville City Council. An openly gay man, Jimmy McClellan, currently serves as a Ward 3 representative on the Council, which consists of two members from each of the city’s five wards.

Further information on Meléndez Rivera’s campaign and her positions on Hyattsville related issues can be viewed here.