The episode in which Leslie accidentally marries two male penguins won the GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Individual Episode in a Series without a Regular LGBT Character.
When April introduces Leslie in The Bulge, she says "She's Leslie Knope, and she's here to recruit you!" This is an allusion to Harvey Milk's iconic Hope speech, which he begins with "I'm Harvey Milk, and I'm here to recruit you!" Milk was one of the first openly gay elected officials in San Francisco in 1977.