Ahmad Zahra is not here to make history. But he — a gay Muslim immigrant film producer from Syria — knows what his election to the Fullerton City Council means. “It’s a pleasant surprise,” he said.

During a Fullerton council meeting on June 2, in the midst of Black Lives Matter protests across the nation, Councilman Ahmad Zahra found himself enacting a scene often relegated to movies or award ...

Fullerton Councilman Ahmad Zahra faces two misdemeanor charges of vandalism and battery stemming from a September altercation in which he allegedly damaged a woman’s cellphone. Zahra, the first openly ...