Dan Avery

LGBTQ representation in the U.S. House of Representatives could more than double this year, as a record number of gay candidatesare running for Congress on Nov. 3. There are at least 24 LGBTQ candidates for the House nationwide, with 15 receiving endorsement from the LGBTQ Victory Fund, a political action group that works to increase the number of out elected officials.  “These diverse candidates will bring their lived experiences to a body that desperately needs more unique perspectives,” Annise Parker, the fund’s president, told NBC News. There are currently seven LGBTQ representatives in the House, all Democrats and all expected win re-election: […]

Seventy percent of Americans support same-sex marriage, according to the 11th annual American Values Survey, the highest percentage recorded by a major national poll. The results, released Monday, found just 28 percent of respondents oppose the right of gay couples to wed. Approval crossed the political divide, with majorities of Democrats (80 percent) and independents (76 percent) supporting same-sex marriage, and 50 percent of Republicans, according to the poll conducted by the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) in partnership with the Brookings Institution. Most major religious denominations back marriage equality, too, including white mainline Protestants (79 percent), Hispanic Roman Catholics (78 […]

With the presidential election a little more than a month away, a new poll finds 75 percent of LGBTQ voters are supporting Democratic candidate Joe Biden. According to GLAAD’s State of LGBTQ Voters report, released Thursday, just 17 percent of the respondents said they were pulling the lever for President Donald Trump. Five percent said they plan to back another candidate and 2 percent remain undecided. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.5 percent. The poll, conducted by Pathfinder Opinion Research from Sept. 21-25, indicated 88 percent of the 800 LGBTQ respondents were registered voters. Of them, 92 […]

Joe Biden on Thursday doubled down on his commitment to LGBTQ rights, including his support for the Equality Act, in a message to the Human Rights Campaign, the country’s largest LGBTQ rights group. Speaking in advance of the group’s Unite for Equality Live virtual event, the former vice president and Democratic presidential nominee said America is at a turning point: “This election is going to determine our future for a very long time.” Pointing to a litany of crises — the pandemic, economic decline, climate change, wildfires, threats to LGBTQ equality — Biden said the common denominator is President Donald Trump. “A president […]