LGBTQ Pride Month: Essex County Names Awardees For 2025

ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — Essex County held its annual LGBTQ Pride Month Celebration on Monday, honoring two community members and a local organization with “Pride of Essex County Awards.”

This year, county officials put the spotlight on the following awardees:

• East Orange Police Chief Phyllis Bindi
• Patrick Koslecki, director of diversity, equity and inclusion at Cooperman Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston
• The Newark LGBTQ Community Center

“I’ve received many awards, but this one really touches my heart,” said Bindi, who dedicated the award to her mother.

Kosiecki said there are “many challenges we are facing today – but there always have been challenges before us.”

“What we do today matters for the generations of tomorrow,” Kosiecki said.

Newark LGBTQ Community Center Board Chair Denise Hinds said the group is “honored to accept this award on behalf of those who lives have inspired us to carry on this work.”

“We are providing vital space and providing needed services for a population that feels forgotten,” Hinds said.

According to Newark LGBTQ Community Center Executive Director Beatrice Simpkins, there is much more work to be done.

“Our center was born out of tragedy but the legacy of Sakia Gunn and others like her keeps us going,” Simpkins said.

County officials released the following background about each honoree:

HIGH-ACHIEVING POLICE CHIEF

“Chief Phyllis L. Bindi made history twice with the East Orange Police Department by becoming the first woman named as Deputy Chief in 2016 and then as Chief one year later. Under her watch for the past six years, Chief Bindi has been leading the department of 280 sworn personnel and helming a continuous downward trend in crime in East Orange.

“First sworn in as an Officer in 1991, Bindi has served in multiple units while rising through the ranks to now lead a department that is nationally recognized as a leader in effective community relations, technology-led and proactive real-time policing and diverse demographic representation to reflect and better serve the community. She was promoted to the rank of Sergeant in 2002 and assigned to the Enhanced Community Safety Team, which was responsible for suppressing all street-level crime, with an emphasis on narcotics and gang-related crimes. She was then promoted to Lieutenant in April 2006 when she was assigned as the Commander of the Enhanced Community Safety Team Safety Team before becoming responsible for the Field Training Unit, which monitored and mentored all new officers. As commander of the Field Training Unit, Chief Bindi was instrumental in shaping the mindset of the new officers, teaching the objectives and goals of the department, officer safety, effective communication skills, and how to be the best professional proactive officer.

“Bindi serves as liaison for the New Jersey State LGBTQ Law Enforcement and Garden State Equality communities and was President of the Essex County Chiefs of Police Association from 2021-2024.”

DEI DIRECTOR

“Patrick Koslecki has been a social activist since he was a student at Caldwell College. While still a student, he began working at GLAAD and helped coordinate the “For the 49” campaign to remember the 49 lives lost to gun violence, racism, and homophobia in the Pulse Nightclub Shooting in Florida. He then became a founder and inaugural member of the GLAAD Campus ambassadorship where he was able to bridge the gaps between the newly secured freedom of marriage equality and communities who did not agree with the Supreme Court decision.

“After graduating, he worked at a law firm in New York City fighting for underprivileged communities. He did get back to LGBTQ+ advocacy and became a DEI consultant for Fortune 100 companies and founded Nutley Pride for better LGBTQ+ representation in his hometown. As the first LGBTQ+ organization in Nutley, a community that had not seen much outward LGBTQ+ expressions, Nutley Pride is one of Patrick’s most proud achievements.

“He currently is Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in RWJBarnabas Health for the past five years. He also recently launched the state’s first fully integrated Name Change Clinic for transgender and nonbinary community members and has hosted free HIV testing days for community members to know their status and end the epidemic. Patrick again is a founding board member of another LGBTQ+ advocacy organization, the JC LGBTQ+ Alliance.”

SAFE SPACE

“Formed in 2013, the Newark LGBTQ Community Center provides a safe space for members of the LGBTQ community to come together to strengthen bonds and relationships, promote inclusion and well-being and make real and positive change.

“The Center hosts game nights, art classes, community dinners, special events and book clubs as well as various support groups. It also hosted the first LGBTQ Film Festival in New Jersey that highlights writers, directors and actors – both nationally and locally – and films that touch on issues facing the LGBTQ community.”

CELEBRATING THE LGBTQ COMMUNITY

Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo Jr. said the annual celebration is a chance to raise awareness about issues that impact the LGBTQ community – and to put a well-deserved spotlight on some “outstanding” local residents and groups.

“Our honorees have done difficult work in their respective fields of providing support, protecting human rights and promoting understanding,” DiVincenzo said.

“We are delighted to celebrate the Essex County LGBTQ+ Pride Month Celebration, which is a time to recognize our community's strength, resilience and unity,” said Reginald Bledsoe, director of the Essex County Office of LGBTQ+ Affairs.

“We are working together to create a more inclusive and diverse society, where everyone can thrive, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity,” Bledsoe said.

The Essex County LGBTQ Pride Month Celebration is the part of a yearlong cultural series created by County Executive DiVincenzo to highlight Essex County’s diversity. Other cultural heritage celebrations include African American History Month, Irish Heritage Month, Women’s History Month, Italian Heritage Month, Jewish Heritage, Portuguese Heritage and Latino Heritage.

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