Trudy Ring

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Queer Youth Negatively Affected by Anti-LGBTQ+ Laws, Debates: Trevor Project Poll

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Debates over LGBTQ+ rights are having a negative effect on the lives of young people in the community, according to a new poll.

“An overwhelming majority of LGBTQ youth have been negatively impacted by recent debates and laws around anti-LGBTQ policies and that many have also experienced victimization as a result,” says a press release on the poll, conducted for the Trevor Project by Morning Consult between October 23 and November 2 and released this week.

The poll included 716 LGBTQ+ youth ages 13–24 around the U.S. It assessed emotional responses to anti-LGBTQ+ policies as well as which other social issues often give LGBTQ youth stress and anxiety. It came in a year in which more than 220 anti-LGBTQ+ bills were introduced around the nation, most of them targeting transgender youth; many more are being introduced in 2023 — 150 across 23 states in the first two weeks of the year, the Trevor Project reports.

Among the key findings: Eighty-six percent of transgender and nonbinary youth say recent debates about state laws restricting the rights of transgender people have negatively impacted their mental health. A majority of those trans youth (55 percent) said it impacted their mental health “very negatively.” Seventy-one percent of LGBTQ+ youth overall say state laws restricting the rights of LGBTQ+ young people have negatively impacted their mental health.

Seventy-one percent of LGBTQ+ youth — including 82 percent of transgender and nonbinary youth — say that threats of violence against LGBTQ+ spaces, such as community centers, Pride events, drag shows, or medical providers that serve transgender people, often give them stress or anxiety. Nearly half (48 percent) of those LGBTQ+ youth say it gives them stress or anxiety “very often.”

As a result of anti-LGBTQ+ policies and debates in the last year, trans and nonbinary youth say they have had a range of harmful experiences, including cyberbullying or online harassment (45 percent); stopping speaking to a family member (42 percent); not feeling safe going to the doctor or hospital (29 percent); having a friend stop speaking to them (29 percent); bullying at school (24 percent); their school removing Pride flags or other LGBTQ-friendly symbols (15 percent); and physical assault (10 percent).

Among all LGBTQ+ youth, one in three report cyberbullying or online harassment, one in four say they stopped speaking to a family member or relative, and one in five say they experienced bullying.

Regarding policies that will bar doctors from providing gender-affirming medical care to trans and nonbinary youth, 74 percent of these young people say they feel angry, 59 percent feel stressed, 56 percent feel sad, 48 percent feel hopeless, 47 percent feel scared, 46 percent feel helpless, and 45 percent feel nervous.

Policies that prevent trans youth from playing on the sports teams aligned with their gender identity make 64 percent of trans and nonbinary youth feel angry, 44 percent feel sad, 39 percent feel stressed, and 30 percent feel hopeless, according to the poll.

There were also bad reactions to anti-LGBTQ+ school policies, given debates around respecting students’ identities and pronouns, censoring LGBTQ-inclusive curricula, and banning books. New policies that require schools to tell a student’s parent or guardian if they request to use a different name/pronoun or if they identify as LGBTQ+ at school make 67 percent of transgender and nonbinary youth feel angry, 54 percent feel stressed, 51 percent feel scared, 46 percent feel nervous, and 43 percent feel sad.

Fifty-eight percent of LGBTQ+ youth, including 71 percent of transgender and nonbinary youth, feel angry about new policies that bar teachers from discussing LGBTQ+ topics in the classroom. Among trans youth, 59 percent feel sad and 41 percent feel stressed.

Sixty-six percent of LGBTQ+ youth, including 80 percent of transgender and nonbinary youth, feel angry about policies that will ban LGBTQ-inclusive books from school libraries. Nearly half of LGBTQ+ youth, including 54 percent of trans youth, also felt sad about these book bans.

Black LGBTQ+ youth sampled reported disproportionately higher rates of racism, police brutality, doing poorly in school, and gun violence giving them stress or anxiety “very often” compared to white LGBTQ+ youth. Trans and nonbinary youth polled reported disproportionately higher rates of transphobia, losing their health care, anti-LGBTQ+ hate crimes, and threats of violence in LGBTQ+ spaces giving them stress or anxiety “very often” compared to cisgender LGBQ+ youth.

“Right now, we are witnessing the highest number on record of anti-LGBTQ bills introduced this early in any legislative session. We must consider the negative toll of these ugly public debates on youth mental health and well-being. LGBTQ young people are watching, and internalizing the anti-LGBTQ messages they see in the media and from their elected officials. And so are those that would do our community harm,” Kasey Suffredini, vice president of advocacy and government affairs at the Trevor Project, said in the release.

Suffredini added: “The Trevor Project is proud to see that more than two-thirds of LGBTQ youth, including 81 percent of transgender and nonbinary youth, have seen, read, or heard about our work to fight back against anti-LGBTQ bills. We are prepared for the fight ahead and will not stop advocating for a safer, more accepting world for all.”

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Iowa GOPers Propose ‘Don’t Say Gay,’ Anti-Trans Bills

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Republican legislators in Iowa have introduced their version of a “don’t say gay” bill, largely mimicking the one that became law in Florida last year, and a bill that would essentially out transgender and nonbinary students to their parents.

House File 8, introduced Wednesday, would prohibit instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third grade. House File 9, introduced the same day, would bar schools from making accommodations for a student’s gender identity, if different from the one assigned at birth, without the written consent of a parent or guardian. It also says school staff must not encourage students to undergo gender-affirming care or pressure their parents into allowing them to receive it.

House File 9 is partly a reaction to policies like that in Iowa’s Linn-Mar Community School District, which allows students to set up a gender support plan without giving notice to their parents, the Iowa Capital Dispatch reports. Parents Defending Education, a right-wing group, has filed a lawsuit against the policy.

“We need to empower parents,” House Speaker Pat Grassley, a Republican who cosponsored both bills, told The Gazette. “In our opinion, that’s what the goal of these [bills] are, making sure conversations are happening with children and their parents, instead of happening in the school system. We feel confident standing in that position.”

Republican Rep. Skyler Wheeler, also a sponsor of both, made a similar comment. “Parents want to know what’s going on,” he told the Dispatch. “They need to know what is happening with their children. They need to be the first one to be helping their children through processes and things that they truly need help with.”

But it’s not as simple as that, LGBTQ+ advocates pointed out. “We absolutely encourage students to come out to their parents on their own time, on their own ground, their own rules, when they are most comfortable,” Damian Thompson, director of public policy for Iowa Safe Schools, told the Dispatch regarding House File 9. “Ultimately, unfortunately, there are parents that are just not affirming people. And that can really put a student in danger get if they are outed, not on their own terms.”

Of House File 8, Keenan Crow of One Iowa told the publication, “It’s taking all the tools that educators have to deal with bullying on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, and throwing them up out the window. If we’re saying that you can’t have any materials or announcements regarding gender identity or sexual orientation, that the very antibullying policies that school districts are required to publicize and to create training materials around for students are not going to be able to be shared with the students.”

But Wheeler said the bill wouldn’t have such a deleterious effect. “If a kid has, you know, same-sex parents, nothing prevents them in this bill from mentioning that in class,” he said to the Dispatch. “It just simply says to the teacher, ‘Hey, we’re going to stick to what we’ve been teaching.’”

Sen. Liz Bennett, who is bisexual and was the first queer woman elected to the Iowa legislature, called both bills harmful. “This sends the message to these kids that people think that there is something so wrong” with being part of the LGBTQ+ community, Bennett, a Democrat, told The Gazette. “That’s incredibly harmful.”

“I think it’s really sad that at a time when Iowans are struggling to afford groceries, trying to find jobs, struggling to go the doctor, etc., that we’re seeing more extreme culture war legislation,” she added. “That should not be the priority here in Iowa.”

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Black Trans Woman Shahere ‘Diamond’ Jackson-McDonald Fatally Shot

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Transgender woman Shahere “Diamond” Jackson-McDonald was found shot to death in Philadelphia the morning of November 24, Thanksgiving Day.

Jackson-McDonald, 27, was discovered at her mother’s apartment in the Germantown neighborhood, Philadelphia’s NBC affiliate reports. She had been shot several times and was pronounced dead at the scene. It didn’t appear that anyone had forced their way into the apartment.

“We are here today to honor a promising life that was violently ended by a person or persons that Philadelphia Police and our office are working tirelessly to bring to justice, so that they can be held accountable for this crime and are not able to cause any further harm to others,” Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner said at a press conference last week, according to the station. “We are here to say her name: Diamond Jackson-McDonald.”

“I just want the world to know that Diamond was my rock, my shoulder, my child whom I love with every inch of me of what I have left to give,” Linda Jackson, Jackson-McDonald’s mother, said at the press conference. “Whoever you are, you took away my gem, my Diamond, someone whom was all about her family and friends. You tore many hearts, and we will not rest until we get justice. I will not sleep until you are caught. You may not have to answer to me now, but you will have to answer to God. You reap what you sow.”

“It is devastating and heart-wrenching as we mourn the loss of yet another member of our LGBTQ family, Shahere ‘Diamond’ Jackson-McDonald,” said Celena Morrison, executive director of Philadelphia’s Office of LGBT Affairs, according to the Philly Voice. “Violence against transgender people — especially our trans siblings of color — continues to be an epidemic in this country, and it is unacceptable. My office is committed to ensuring that acts of discrimination, bigotry, and hatred are never tolerated in the city of Philadelphia, and we will not stop until all of us are safe and treated with respect and honor.”

Tori Cooper, director of community engagement for the Human Rights Campaign’s Transgender Justice Initiative, released this statement: “Diamond was a beautiful gem who should still be with us today. All of us — allies and community members alike — grieve with her family and friends. Diamond’s life mattered. We stand with her family and call for justice for Diamond. The epidemic of violence we face as Black transgender women is driven by stigma and hate. And it’s all just because we wish to live our lives. All of us, including allies, have a responsibility to hold the people in our lives accountable for their words because ideologies of hate do in fact lead to violence. It must end.”

Jackson-McDonald’s family has known other tragedies, Pittsburgh Lesbian Correspondents reports. Twelve relatives — nine children and three adults — died in an apartment fire last January. Her brother died in August. And she was friends with another Black trans woman who died by violence, Dominique “Rem’mie” Fells, who was killed in Philadelphia in 2020.

“Diamond’s social media is filled with photos of her family and acknowledgment of their impact on her life,” Pittsburgh Lesbian Correspondents notes. “She celebrated birthdays, honored losses, loved her nieces and nephews, and just poured her heart into all of those relationships. She was fun-loving, bold, and determined. She deserved better than we gave her and that’s on all of us to bear.”

Philadelphia police advised anyone with information on Jackson-McDonald’s death to call 911 or submit a tip by calling (215) 686-TIPS (8477). There’s an option to leave tips anonymously.

Jackson-McDonald is at least the 37th trans, nonbinary, or gender-nonconforming person to die by violence in the U.S. this year. That total includes a trans man and a trans woman killed in the shooting at Club Q in Colorado Springs November 19 as well as a trans woman, whose name has not been released, who was killed in Vallejo, Calif., last month. That is most likely an undercount, as many of these deaths go unreported or misreported, with victims deadnamed and misgendered. The nation saw a record 57 confirmed violent deaths among this population last year.

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Macy’s Won’t Host Salvation Army This Holiday Season

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Don’t look for Salvation Army bell ringers outside your local Macy’s this holiday season.

The department store company didn’t renew its contract with the Salvation Army, a spokesperson told The Philadelphia Inquirer. “We reevaluated our cause and community work and made a significant commitment to driving societal change by empowering underrepresented youth in our community,” the spokesperson said. “With this shift, we made the difficult decision to not continue our partnership with the Salvation Army this holiday season.”

The Macy’s rep did not say explicitly if the decision was related to the Salvation Army’s fraught relationship with the LGBTQ+ community. The Salvation Army, a conservative Christian organization, has been accused of anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination in its provision of services — something it has denied strongly. It also has stated it does not discriminate in employment.

But its churches do not marry same-sex couples, a topic a Salvation Army spokesman tried to pivot away from quickly in an Advocate interview in 2017. In 2012, it joined other faith groups in denouncing marriage equality as a threat to religious freedom, but its leaders have said since then that it is not involved in any efforts to undermine marriage equality.

Macy’s is an LGBTQ-supportive company. It has a perfect 100 score on the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index. It has advertised in LGBTQ+ publications and featured same-sex couples in its ads. Its 2018 Thanksgiving Day parade featured a performance from the Broadway show The Prom that included a same-sex couple kissing, a first for the parade. It has worked with LGBTQ+ organizations such as HRC and the Trevor Project.

Its charitable work is in keeping with its recently adopted “Mission Every One” statement, which emphasizes “grant funding to advance human rights, racial justice, workforce development and economic opportunity in partnership with organizations including the Human Rights Campaign, National Urban League, Hispanic Federation and the Asian American Business Development Center,” according to Macy’s website.

A Salvation Army spokesperson told the Inquirer, “The Salvation Army is incredibly thankful for the many years of Red Kettle partnership with the Macy’s Corporation. Macy’s decided not to renew our annual Red Kettle agreement in 2022 to focus on other nonprofit causes at this time. We are grateful for all our continuing national and local Red Kettle partners and the generosity of the public to help us help their neighbors in need, which is greater than ever this season.”

The Advocate has sought comment from both Macy’s and the Salvation Army and will update this story if it receives a response. In interviews in 2015 and 2017, the Salvation Army denied any discrimination in its provision of services, which include drug and alcohol recovery services in the U.S., shelter for the homeless, disaster relief, assistance for former prisoners reentering society, and more.

The group’s national spokesman, Lt. Col. Ron Busroe, told The Advocate in 2017 that he’s less concerned that charges of anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination will affect donations than that they might discourage LGBTQ+ people from seeking help. “My greater concern is not whether they’re donating, but if they’re saying the Salvation Army won’t help you because you’re gay,” he said.

The Salvation Army once had a statement against same-sex relationships on its website but no longer does. Also, it removed links to conversion therapy groups several years ago. Its site now states that it does not engage in “unlawful discrimination or harassment” on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, or other characteristics in its employment practices or provision of services.

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Two Trans Soldiers to Retire With Rare Distinction

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Two transgender soldiers at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri are set to retire with a rare distinction — they transitioned fully while on active duty and will be honorably discharged with full pensions.

“Open transgender service in the military is becoming more commonplace and accepted, but the number of those who are honorably discharged into full retirement and transitioned while on active duty remains low,” explains a press release from Missouri LGBTQ+ rights group PROMO.

Defense Secretary Ash Carter, who served under President Barack Obama, lifted the ban on open service by trans troops in 2016, but Donald Trump reinstated it during his presidency, with it going into effect in 2019. President Joe Biden lifted the ban shortly after taking office in 2021.

“We were forced to ask ourselves whether we wanted to deny who we were and serve, in the hopes that one day it would change, or whether we should wait to serve entirely until it did change,” Army Staff Sgt. Alleria Stanley, a trans woman stationed at Fort Leonard Wood who will retire February 28, said in the press release.

Stanley and Army Sgt. First Class Kinzie Maxfield, also a trans woman, both participated in Fort Leonard Wood’s Retiree Appreciation Day celebration last Thursday. Maxfield will retire December 31. The two are part of the small but growing group who transitioned on active duty and will retire with full benefits after being honorably discharged. Both have served 20 years under four presidents — George W. Bush, Obama, Trump, and Biden.

Stanley is a radiology technologist within the Army and deployed to Afghanistan as an Apache helicopter repairer in 2005. “Being one’s authentic self is incredibly empowering and uplifting affecting parts of your life that are unrelated to being transgender,” she said in the release. “One of the stronger memories I have since serving openly and living authentically is the scores of people who have come up to me to either come out themselves, to share a story of someone they know, or to ask for advice on how to approach a relationship they have with LGBTQ+ friends and family.”

Maxfield is a military dog handler who deployed to Afghanistan four times and was awarded the Purple Heart. “I have had a great experience in my current unit, but before coming out I was absolutely terrified that people would not treat me the same,” she said. “I was an excellent dog trainer and did really high-speed deployments. I was afraid that was going to change. However, all of my commanders were very supportive, helping me with all the necessary paperwork while always treating me with respect and dignity.”

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Robert Garcia Will Be First Out Gay Immigrant in Congress

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Robert Garcia of California has been elected as the first out gay immigrant in Congress.

Garcia, currently mayor of Long Beach, has won the U.S. House seat in California’s 42nd Congressional District, according to the LGBTQ Victory Fund.

A Democrat, he bested Republican John Briscoe, a businessman. As of 9:30 p.m. Pacific time, Garcia had 68 percent of the vote and Briscoe 32 percent. Because of redistricting, there was no incumbent in the race.

Garcia, a native of Peru, immigrated to the United States with his family at age 5. He has been mayor of Long Beach since 2014. He was the city’s youngest mayor, the first out gay one, and the first immigrant to hold the office. He was one of several out political leaders featured in the keynote address at the 2020 Democratic National Convention.

Victory Fund President and CEO Annise Parker issued the following statement: “Robert has a proven track record of delivering real results for his community, from safeguarding abortion rights to championing education and climate policy. Voters were excited and motivated by his vision for the future. With anti-LGBTQ and anti-choice legislation currently moving through Congress, the stakes of this election could not have been higher — and California voters delivered. We are confident Robert’s deep policy experience and ability to build strong, diverse coalitions will make him an exceptional legislator. His win tonight will inspire countless other LGBTQ and first-generation Americans to pursue careers in public service.”

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Most Who Begin Gender-Affirming Care as Youth Continue: Study

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A new study has found that most people who initiate gender-affirming treatment in their youth continue it as adults — undermining the argument by right-wingers that transgender people are likely to regret such treatment and even detransition, and that young people are not ready to make decisions about gender transition procedures, even though they do so in consultation with parents and doctors.

The study, from Amsterdam University Medical Center in the Netherlands, looked at 720 people who had been treated with puberty blockers and hormones at the center as adolescents and whether they continued with gender-affirming care.

“Most participants who started gender-affirming hormones in adolescence continued this treatment into adulthood,” says a summary of the study, which was published online Thursday by The Lancet. “The continuation of treatment is reassuring considering the worries that people who started treatment in adolescence might discontinue gender-affirming treatment.” “Most,” in this case, was 98 percent.

“To our knowledge, this study is the first to assess continuation of gender-affirming hormones in a large group of transgender individuals who started medical treatment with puberty suppression in adolescence,” the report notes.

“The key message [of the study] is that the majority of people who went through a thorough diagnostic evaluation prior to starting treatment continued gender-affirming hormones at follow-up,” Dr. Marianne van der Loos, a physician at Amsterdam UMC who coauthored the study, told The Daily Beast. “This is reassuring regarding the recent increased public concern about regret of transition.”

Gender-affirming care for youth is under attack from conservative politicians in the U.S. and elsewhere. Alabama and Arkansas have outlawed the provision of such care to minors, with the Alabama law carrying criminal penalties; both states’ laws are blocked while court cases against them proceed. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has ordered that parents who allow their children to receive this care be investigated for child abuse; these investigations are also on hold because of a court case.

The University of Oklahoma Medical Center and its Children’s Hospital have ceased providing gender-affirming care to young people because of a new state law that made that a condition of the institution receiving federal funds under the American Rescue Plan Act. Florida is seeking to ban gender-affirming care for youth and has already banned Medicaid funding for this care, whether for adolescents or adults.

And U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a far-right Republican known for her outrageous statements and embrace of conspiracy theories, has introduced legislation that would make it a felony to provide gender-confirmation procedures to minors.

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Lesbian-Feminist Press Firebrand Books’ Former Home Now a Landmark

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The building that once housed lesbian and feminist press Firebrand Books in Ithaca, N.Y., has been designated a local historic landmark.

The city’s Common Council approved the designation unanimously last Wednesday, acting on a recommendation from the Ithaca Landmarks Preservation Commission, The Ithaca Voicereports.

Nancy Bereano founded Firebrand Books in 1984, and it was housed in a building at 143 E. State St. on the Ithaca Commons until 2003, the Voice notes. The move came under new leadership.

“As an editor and publisher, Bereano influenced not only feminist and LBGTQ publishing but print culture as a whole,” the preservation commission’s resolution says. “Her work established a platform for formerly unheard lesbian and feminist voices and brought these perspectives into the mainstream. As an activist, Bereano fought for the inclusion of women of color in the Women in Print movement and the passage of LBGTQ rights legislation in Ithaca.”

The books published by Firebrand include collections of Alison Bechdel’s Dykes to Watch Out Forcomic strips, Jewelle Gomez’s The Gilda Stories, Minnie Bruce Pratt’s We Say We Love Each Other,Ruthann Robson’s Eye of a Hurricane, Lesléa Newman’s Good Enough to Eat, Yvonne Zipter’s Diamonds Are a Dyke’s Best Friend, Victoria A. Brownworth’s Too Queer, and many, many others.

“The reason Firebrand was significant was that in those 15+ years, a staff of myself and one other person and freelancers published 104 titles, many of which changed the lives of the women who read them,” Bereano said at the council meeting, according to the Voice. “Firebrand was committed to publishing a wide variety, a great diversity of women in terms of race and ethnicity and cultural backgrounds; it was committed to publishing feminist and lesbian material, and perhaps a third of those books were published by not-white women.”

The historic designation will protect the building from radical changes. It also once housed a popular restaurant, Home Dairy, and it is expected to be renamed the Andrus-Home Dairy-Firebrand Books Building.

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LGBTQ+ History in the Making With Record Number of Out Candidates

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There are at least 1,008 out candidates running this year, surpassing the record of 1,006 set in 2020, according to the LGBTQ Victory Fund, which supports out candidates who are also qualified and viable.

“We’re excited to continue making historic firsts,” Sean Meloy, Victory Fund’s vice president of political programs, tells The Advocate.

The field this year is significantly more diverse than previous ones as well. “We have a lot of folks who’ve stepped forward to represent the most underrepresented parts of our community,” Meloy says. There are over 100 more LGBTQ+ people of color running in 2022 than in 2020, a 58 percent increase from that year and a 225 percent increase from 2018.

Fifty-five transgender people are running in 2022, a 62 percent increase from 2020 and a 15 percent increase from 2018. There are 20 gender-nonconforming candidates, compared to none in 2020 and two in 2018. There are also 103 bisexual candidates, a 32 percent increase from 2020 and a 264 percent increase to 2018.

Since 2020, there has been a 73 percent increase in LGBTQ+ people running for federal office, a 12 percent increase in out candidates for state legislatures, and a 543 percent increase in LGBTQ+ candidates for statewide office.

Visibility and participation in the political process are especially important at a time of escalating political attacks on LGBTQ+ people, Meloy says. “If we’re not in the room, we’re not going to be able to respond,” he says.

Victory Fund President and CEO Annise Parker made that point as well in a Victory Fund press release. “The writing is on the wall for the LGBTQ community and our allies: Our rights are on the ballot this year,” she said. “The people we elect this cycle will make decisions about what our kids are allowed to learn and say in the classroom, what health care choices people will be allowed to make about their own bodies and possibly, whether we will continue to be allowed to marry those we love. With more LGBTQ people running than ever before, this election also brings incredible opportunity to elect fiercely pro-choice, pro-equality leaders up and down the ballot. The LGBTQ leaders we elect will not only be critical voices in halls of power across the country, their success will be a deafening rebuke to the wave of hate impacting our community.”

So far, Victory Fund has endorsed 314 candidates this year, with more likely to come before November. The organization’s criteria, in addition to being out, include supporting reproductive choice and other privacy-related rights; endorsing the diversity of the LGBTQ+ community; being qualified for the office sought; and having a viable campaign plan.

Numerous Victory Fund-endorsed candidates stand to make history this year. Maura Healey in Massachusetts and Tina Kotek in Oregon could become the nation’s first lesbian governors. Jared Polis, seeking reelection in Colorado, would be the first out gay man elected to a second term.

Dana Nessel, a lesbian, is seeking reelection as Michigan’s attorney general; she’s only the second out AG in the nation (Healey was the first). In Arizona, Kris Mayes, another gay woman, is running to be that state’s first out attorney general. There are some others running for statewide offices, such as Erick Russell, a gay man running for Connecticut treasurer; he’d be the first Black member of the LGBTQ+ community to hold statewide office.

Several states are likely to elect their first out members of the U.S. House, including Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, North Carolina, Oregon, and Vermont. State legislatures in Minnesota, Montana, and Pennsylvania stand to have their first trans or nonbinary members.

For people with political aspirations, there are opportunities before 2024, Meloy notes. Many school boards and city councils hold elections in odd-numbered years, and those bodies can be a good place to start one’s political career, he says. For those interested in those races, he suggests receiving training through Victory Institute (Victory Fund’s sister organization) or another group, studying the issues, forming a message, and making a campaign plan. “A lot of that is knocking on doors and knowing your neighbors,” he says.

For those who want to support candidates, campaigns always need volunteers to make phone calls, go door-to-door, and more, and above all, it’s important to register and vote.

Meloy adds that even with the record number of candidates this year and more than 1,000 out politicians in office nationwide, the U.S. is far from having proportional representation of the LGBTQ+ community. “We need to elect 35,000 more LGBTQ people to have parity,” he says. But this year’s record field provides a chance to work toward that.

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Black Gay Candidates Make History With Primary Wins in Texas

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Thanks to victories in primary runoffs Tuesday, Texas is poised to have its first Black gay male state legislators — and one Black lesbian, who won a special election just weeks ago to fill a vacancy, is likely to be elected to a full term.

Before Jolanda Jones’s victory in the special election, Texas had never had a Black member of the LGBTQ+ community in the state legislature. She won the special election May 7 in the Houston-area Texas House District 147 to succeed Rep. Garnet Coleman, who retired in February; that gave her the seat through December. In the Democratic primary runoff, she defeated Danielle Keys Bess, who had also been her opponent in the special election. In November’s general election, Jones will face Republican Damien Thaddeus Jones, but the district is heavily Democratic, so she is expected to win.

Jolanda Jones is a former member of the Houston City Council and the city’s school board. “Yet again, voters were excited by Jolanda’s exceptional experience and qualifications, proven track record and vision for the future,” Annise Parker, president and CEO of the LGBTQ Victory Fund, which had endorsed Jones, said in a press release. “She is a natural leader and fierce advocate who has dedicated her professional life to increasing fairness and equity in Texas, from increasing access to quality health care to improving public schools to safeguarding our right to free and fair elections. She knows how to build winning coalitions and get meaningful change done for her community. With so much prejudice plaguing our society, Jolanda’s win tonight is a beacon of hope and demonstrates voters are motivated to elect leaders that reflect the real America who are ready to enact meaningful change. We are confident Jolanda will continue being an effective leader and lawmaker and that her continued success will inspire many more LGBTQ and Black people to run for office.”

Venton Jones and Christian Manuel-Hayes are positioned to be the first Black gay men in the Texas legislature. Jones easily prevailed over Sandra Crenshaw in House District 100, in the Dallas area. No incumbent was in the race, and Jones’s only opposition in the general election will be Libertarian Joe Roberts. Jones, a veteran advocate for social justice and for HIV treatment and prevention, will be the first out HIV-positive member of the legislature.

Manuel-Hayes won in House District 22, centered on Beaumont. It was a narrow victory over Joseph Trahan in another race with no incumbent. One Republican and one independent are running in the general election, but again, the district is largely Democratic. Manuel-Hayes was a longtime staffer to the retiring incumbent, Joe Deshotel, eventually rising to chief of staff.

“In state legislatures across the country — and certainly here in Texas — we are seeing a disturbing rise in anti-Black and anti-LGBTQ laws passed by legislative bodies that do not represent our community,” Parker said in a statement. “Tonight, primary voters responded to those attacks by shattering a lavender ceiling and sending Venton and Christian to a general election where they are poised to make history. These two LGBTQ leaders are fighters and are determined to create a more accepting and equitable Texas and America. When they win in November, it will send a strong message that bigotry will not prevail long-term.”

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