GLAAD launched “Drive the Vote,” a 4-part video series featuring interviews with LGBTQ voters across four battleground states: Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, and Wisconsin. The series, created in partnership with leading global digital media company BuzzFeed, will launch on GLAAD’s YouTube and social media accounts, as well as on BuzzFeed’s Facebook, IGTV, and Twitter.
The series follows Mathew Lasky, GLAAD’s Director of Communications, as he drives across the country to talk with LGBTQ voters about the upcoming election, why they’re voting, and what issues matter most to them. The interviews were conducted according to COVID-19 safety guidelines, socially distanced, and with appropriate mask use. The series features interviews with Connie Ticho in Allentown, Pennsylvania; Letha Pugh in Columbus, Ohio; Jon Hoadley in Kalamazoo, Michigan; and Camden Hargrove in Menomonie, Wisconsin.
The first video in the series, released today, features GLAAD’s Mathew Lasky speaking with a young, non-binary voter, Connie Ticho, in their hometown of Allentown, Pennsylvania. The first episode was produced in partnership with Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center in Allentown. Check it on BuzzFeed’s Facebook below:
“Drive the Vote” is part of GLAAD’s get out the vote campaign. Viewers are invited to visit glaad.org/action to register to vote, request an absentee ballot, check their voter registration status, and more.
Each day, GLAAD will release state-specific voting information on each state profiled in the series. The series was created in partnership with Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center in Allentown, Pennsylvania; Stonewall Columbus, and Black, Out & Proud in Columbus, Ohio; Equality Michigan and OutFront Kalamazoo in Michigan; and the OutReach LGBT Community Center in Madison, Wisconsin.
“With LGBTQ issues largely left out of the political discourse around the upcoming elections, and completely absent from any of the presidential or vice presidential debates, it was important to GLAAD to speak with LGBTQ voters personally to hear what issues are most important to them this election season,” said Mathew Lasky, GLAAD’s Director of Communications and the host of Drive the Vote. “Together with BuzzFeed, we will amplify these stories from real LGBTQ people across America to remind the nation that LGBTQ issues simply can’t be ignored in 2020.”
“At BuzzFeed, we’re committed to representing our massive and diverse audience, celebrating their identities, and covering the issues that matter to them,” said Wyatt Harms, BuzzFeed LGBTQ’s Lead. “Through this partnership, we can help bring an LGBTQ lens to the upcoming election and deliver on our mission to make inclusive Queer media. We’re proud to use our platform to distribute GLAAD’s important work and amplify the voices of LGBTQ voters across the country.”
LGBTQ issues have been largely absent from the 2020 election cycle, with no mention in any nationally televised election events since the presidential candidates were nominated in August. The Trump administration has targeted LGBTQ Americans at least 180 times in policy and rhetoric since taking office in 2017. GLAAD continues to add pressure on news media to include LGBTQ issues as a part of their election coverage.
GLAAD is currently engaged in a 100 Days of Action campaign to educate LGBTQ people about what’s at stake during the 2020 election and to increase LGBTQ turnout at the polls in November. GLAAD’s recently released ‘State of LGBTQ Voters’ poll found that LGBTQ voters are highly motivated and prepared to vote. The poll also found overwhelming support from LGBTQ voters for Vice President Joe Biden (76%) in a head-to-head matchup against President Trump (17%).
GLAAD has also been activating supporters and followers, including the GLAAD Campus Ambassadors and alumni of the GLAAD Media Institute. As part of the campaign, GLAAD last month launched its Digital Doorknocking initiative, which is a grassroots effort to get GLAAD’s followers the tools to reach out to family and friends. By signing up, GLAAD’s followers gain access to exclusive graphics, videos, research and resources to share with friends, family, and fellow advocates between now and the election. Continue to invite your contacts to participate by signing up at glaad.org/knock.
For over three decades, Stephanie Byers taught music and band at the largest public high school in Kansas. After seeing how decisions made by state lawmakers affected her students, she decided to trade retirement for politics.
“They saw a bottom line, a number that needs to be worked with, and didn’t think about what that means when a student is staring at a textbook that is being held together by duct tape because it outlived its usefulness and the district didn’t have the money to replace textbooks,” said Byers, who is running to be the next representative of Kansas House District 86, which includes much of Wichita.
A Democrat who ran unopposed in the primaries, Byers will face off against Republican Cyndi Howerton, a businesswoman, in the November election. While Kansas is largely a conservative state, Byers is a strong contender in Wichita, a progressive enclave that has historically swung left.
If elected, Byers has vowed to fight for increased funding for education and Medicaid expansion in Kansas, one of at least 12 states that have not expanded the program under the Affordable Care Act. She has also made civil rights protections a pillar of her campaign in a state where, according to advocacy group Freedom for All Americans, “there are currently no explicit, comprehensive statewide non-discrimination protections” for LGBTQ people.
When Byers came out as transgender six years ago, she was largely embraced by her students and colleagues, an experience that pushed her to become a trailblazer for trans educators in her school district.
“I realized that when I came out as a teacher that I was blazing the pathway,” she said. “A lot of public educators that are trans may not necessarily come forward and come out during their careers, because the fact that there’s the fear of prejudice is going to be there.”
Stephanie Byers speaks on behalf of transgender educators and students at an ACLU rally outside of the Supreme Court in October 2019.Courtesy of Byers for Kansas
As Republican-backed anti-transgender legislation — including much designed to keep trans students out of public restrooms and off sports teams — proliferated in statehouses across the country, including in Kansas, Byers met with school officials and spoke at community events to educate the public about gender identity.
Last October, she spoke out on behalf of trans educators and students at an American Civil Liberties Union rally outside of the Supreme Court, which at the time was hearing arguments in cases that would determine whether employers had a right to terminate workers because of their sexual orientation and gender identity. In 2018, a year before she retired, Byers was named both state Educator of the Year by GLSEN Kansas and national Educator of the Year by GLSEN, the national LGBTQ youth advocacy organization with chapters across the country.
If Byers wins her election on Nov. 3, she will be the first out transgender lawmaker from Kansas. She is one in a “rainbow wave” of at least 574 LGBTQ candidates who will be on the ballot next month, according to a new report by Victory Fund, a group that trains, supports and advocates for LGBTQ candidates. Byers said politicians who are transgender are seen as novelties, and that’s something she hopes to change.
“It’s a part of who we are. It’s part of our identity, but it’s not the only thing. There’s so many other things we are passionate about as well,” she said. “It’s just a matter of normalizing that enough that it’s no longer a thing, and … it’s just a matter of what can we do to serve the communities that elected us?”
Educator of the Year honoree Stephanie Byers accepts her award at the GLSEN 2018 Respect Awards at Cipriani 42nd Street in New York on May 21, 2018.Dia Dipasupil / Getty Images for GLSEN file
The candidate, who grew up in neighboring Oklahoma, is a wife, parent of two adult sons and a grandparent of nine children. She’s a member of the Native American Chickasaw Nation and has deep roots in the working class. She said her father, a longtime U.S. Postal Service worker, and her mother, who served as national vice president to the American Postal Workers Union Auxiliary, showed her the struggles that working-class families face.
“I’m a parent, I’m the grandparent, and I know the challenges that families face at this time,” Byers said, “and that’s who I want to be a voice for — for those families that need somebody who stands up for them.”
For the past two years, residents in the small Rocky Mountain town of Heber City, Utah, have seen their main street bedecked with rainbow banners in celebration of Pride Month in June.
However, after the City Council voted for a controversial ordinance regulating banners, LGBTQ advocates said they fear the colorful displays will be a thing of the past.
“It feels like a slap in the face,” said Allison Phillips Belnap, 47, a local real estate attorney who raised $3,553 through a GoFundMe campaign to purchase and install the banners on city lampposts.
The new ordinance, passed in August, requires banner applications be reviewed by the city manager, with appeals submitted to the council for review. Any event or message promoted on the signage must be sponsored by Heber City, Wasatch County or the Heber Valley Chamber of Commerce, and events must be both nonpolitical and nonprofit. Due to the ongoing debate within the community over whether Pride banners are “political” speech, and since the new ordinance bans political banners, it’s unclear whether city officials will approve them next June.
Heber City Mayor Kelleen Potter, the mother of two LGBTQ teens, opposed the ordinance.
“It has pretty much eliminated the option of private citizens funding banners and requesting them to be hung on Main Street, unless they are able to get sponsorship from the city, the county or the chamber, and that sponsorship means some financial sponsorship,” she said.
Prior to the ordinance, residents could apply to display banners on city lampposts for a fee of a few hundred dollars, so long as banners were noncommercial, according to Potter. Banners were approved by the public works department, and if public works had concerns about an application, they sent it to Potter for approval. Typically, banners advertise holidays and local events, such as Veterans Days and Heber Valley’s sheepdog competition, Potter said. No one questioned the process until June 2019, when residents saw their downtown adorned in rainbow banners for the first time.
A day after they appeared along Main Street, residents filled a city council meeting to voice divided opinions over them. While many were thrilled, others saw the rainbow banners as government-sanctioned “political speech,” according to Potter. She said city officials began receiving phone calls and emails from people who wanted to know if they could hypothetically apply to install flags with anti-abortion or anti-pornography messages, or with Ku Klux Klan or Nazi symbols, though no one actually applied to install such banners. Still, the inquiries sparked debate among city officials over whether an ordinance was needed to regulate them.
“No one ever gave me a specific example besides those that we could dismiss easily as hate speech,” said Potter, who had approved the Pride banners the past two years.
‘Are we the silent majority?’
Home to about 16,000 people, Heber City is a microcosm of how small towns across America are adjusting to evolving attitudes around gender and sexuality.
Last year, Mayor Wally Scott of Reading, Pennsylvania, canceled a Pride flag ceremony, calling the flag a political symbol. After criticism, he reversed his decision, and the rainbow flag flew over the city last June.
This past June, debate swarmed in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, a town of about 42,000, after the town’s first Pride flag was relocated to what many residents considered a less visible location. That same month, officials in Foster City, California, a town of about 34,000, refused a request to raise a Pride flag outside the city’s municipal building in celebration of Pride Month. Councilman Sam Hindi told the Bay Area Reporter that doing so would open the door for hate groups to fly banners in the city.
Just last month, after some residents in Minot, North Dakota, voiced anger over a rainbow flag that was temporarily hoisted outside city hall, a lesbian council member came out publicly in fierce defense of the flag. Her speech was captured in a now-viral video posted online. Minot has since banned flags other than the American flag until it decides on an official policy.
Throughout Utah, rainbow flags are becoming common and increasingly controversial. Last year, Project Rainbow, a small Salt Lake City-based nonprofit, rented out rainbow flags for $14 that Utahans could stake in their lawns for the duration of their city’s Pride festivities. The group staked about 1,400 flags, and raised about $20,000, which it donated to local LGBTQ centers. The flags were not all well-received: The group received backlash on social media from people accusing it of “forcing their beliefs” on local communities, according to the group’s founder, Lucas Horns. Horns estimated that about 10 percent of last year’s flags were stolen or vandalized.
This month, for National Coming Out Day on Oct. 11, the group staked 3,000 Pride flags.
“It does seem like there was an uptick in stolen flags and particularly vandalized flags,” Horns said in an email to NBC News. “A number of people found their flags torn or written on or even lit on fire, which I think speaks to a more emboldened hatred. But with that said, more people signed up for flags than ever before and were more excited about showing love and support to the LGBTQ community than ever.”
Heber City, Utah.Jeff Mclean
When Pride banners were installed along Main Street in Heber City this past June, there was less controversy than there had been the year prior, according to Mayor Potter. Still, residents took to the town’s local “Ask (Heber, Utah)” Facebook group to debate them. One mother expressed frustration over having to explain the meaning of the rainbows to her young children.
“As a Christian, our family believes that marriage is between a man and a woman. I’d like to think that there are other people in this valley who feel the same way. Are we the silent majority? If you still believe in Christian values, please speak up,” the woman wrote.
In August, after the second wave of backlash, the City Council voted to pass the banner ordinance. City Council Member Ryan Stack took to the “Ask (Heber, Utah)” Facebook group to explain why he voted in favor of the measure.
“By playing favorites and choosing only those banners it wants to see, a governing body engages in illegal viewpoint discrimination,” he wrote. “I supported removing the element of discretion by allowing only government speech on the banners. Yes — this prohibits private banners on Main Street. But it also protects the City in the stronger way to insulate it from potential legal claims when it comes to decisions regarding banner display.”
Heber City Council Member Mike Johnston, who also voted for the ordinance, told NBC News that it does not ban Pride banners, but is rather a way to keep out potentially hateful and divisive messages.
“If we decide — and I hope we will — that Pride is something we want to support, then we will do that as a city council, as elected officials, who are elected to make the decisions and take the heat,” Johnston said. “I think we’re big girls and big boys, and we can make those decisions, but it’s tough when you let anybody in the public submit banners to put up, and basically, they’re making a free speech statement that, ‘You have to let me do that, because that’s what you do, you let everybody do it, so you have to let me do it.’”
Political speech or symbol of inclusion?
Phillips Belnap claimed Heber City council members passed the ordinance to appease a religious minority who opposed the banners. She said the ordinance will likely prevent her from installing them next year, since it will require her to organize an event, such as a Pride festival, with financial sponsorship from the city, county or chamber of commerce.
“We’re not going to be able to get this council to sponsor a Pride festival or to get the county to sponsor a pride festival,” she said, referring to the ongoing debate over whether the banners are “political.”
She rejected criticism that her banners are political symbols. A lesbian who left the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (commonly referred to as the Mormon Church) after multiple suicide attempts, Phillips Belnap said the banners were intended to reduce suicide among local LGBTQ youth.
“We have a large number of people who are closeted and at high risk of suicide, because they feel like coming out is the equivalent of ruining their lives and ruining their family’s lives,” she said.
Ben and Jamie Belnap with their son, Luke,Courtesy Jamie Belnap
Heber City resident Jamie Belnap, 41 (no relation to Phillips Belnap), whose 14-year-old son, Luke, is openly gay, said the banners “made us feel great” in a town where few LGBTQ people feel visible.
“Kids who don’t feel comfortable coming out yet, at least they know that our community is working towards being a welcoming place for them and that they’re seen and valued, so I know my son felt that way,” Belnap said.
Deeply conservative Utah has begun to warm on LGBTQ issues. In 2015, the state’s Republican-dominated Legislature passed “the Utah compromise,” a law that made Utah the only solidly conservative state to pass some protections in housing and employment for LGBTQ people. Two years later, Utah became the first of eight conservative states to repeal a “No Promo Homo” law that prohibited discussing LGBTQ issues in schools. And this past January, it became the 19th state to ban conversion therapy for minors, a controversial practice that aims to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity. It was the most politically conservative state to do so.
One reason for this shift could be a growing tendency among Mormon parents to embrace their LGBTQ children. In recent years, the Mama Dragons, an online support group for Mormon moms of LGBTQ kids, has grown to thousands of members. The group, which Mayor Potter joined after one of her own children came out, has pushed acceptance for LGBTQ youth among families in Utah.
Despite progress, Potter said many LGBTQ teens still feel isolated in Heber City.
“In a self-reported survey, 12 percent of our students at our high school report that they are somewhere in the LGBTQ community — that’s a lot of kids. And one of the top three issues they’ve identified are mental health issues, and so as we all bang our heads against the wall about how to help these kids, this was something that really was helping, because it created a more inclusive and accepting feeling,” she said of the Pride banners.
Three hundred miles southwest of Heber City, a similar controversy flared in the small desert town of St. George, Utah, where rainbow banners fluttered on lampposts along the town’s main thoroughfare last September.
Pride of Southern Utah, a local LGBTQ advocacy group, raised $6,100 to install the banners in St. George, as well as the towns of Cedar City and Hurricane. The banners promoted the group’s annual Pride Week festival, which is typically held in mid-September. After raising the money, the group obtained a permit to have the banners installed.
After they appeared, city officials received at least two informal inquiries from a white supremacist group and another group that wanted to display banners with President Donald Trump’s slogan “Make America Great Again,” according to St. George Mayor John Pike. In an email circulated on social media that year, a St. George councilwoman referred to the rainbow Pride banners as “political statements,” unleashing a debate over whether a current ordinance surrounding public signage should be reevaluated. In response to the backlash, St. George put a moratorium on applications for lamppost banners until officials could revisit the city’s existing ordinance.
Because the Covid-19 pandemic forced the annual Pride festival to be canceled, the group has not applied to resurrect the banners this year, according to Pride of Southern Utah Director Stephen Lambert. But Lambert said he is confident that St. George officials will approve the banners in 2021.
On the topic of Heber City, Lambert said he understands the desire for an ordinance but also expressed concern.
“The real damage, I think will be if Heber [City] says, ‘Well, we’re just not going to do it, because we made a law that prevents you from doing this,’” Lambert said. “They need to figure out a way to keep out the riff raff and the negative and the hate, and keep in the people that need it.”
Despite the backlash against Pride banners, Phillips Belnap said the awareness they’ve created has helped encourage many in Heber City’s small LGBTQ community to come together. A local LGBTQ Facebook group that she started now has about 150 people, she said, and the local middle and high school have formed Gay-Straight Alliances clubs.
Jamie Belnap said her son was “very disappointed” by the ordinance but was also not surprised that it passed.
“I think it’s almost worse when the flags go up, and everybody feels seen and everybody feels like, ‘Oh, this is such a movement in the right direction’ … and then you see the backlash,” she said. And then to see the city give in to that backlash, she added, “That’s a pretty strong message — almost more so than if the flags had not been up.”
Texas social workers are criticizing a state regulatory board’s decision this week to remove protections for LGBTQ clients and clients with disabilities who seek social work services.
The Texas State Board of Social Work Examiners voted unanimously Monday to change a section of its code of conduct that establishes when a social worker may refuse to serve someone. The code will no longer prohibit social workers from turning away clients on the basis of disability, sexual orientation or gender identity.
Gov. Greg Abbott’s office recommended the change, board members said, because the code’s nondiscrimination protections went beyond protections laid out in the state law that governs how and when the state may discipline social workers.
“It’s not surprising that a board would align its rules with statutes passed by the Legislature,” said Abbott spokesperson Renae Eze. A state law passed last year gave the governor’s office more control over rules governing state-licensed professions.
“There’s now a gray area between what’s legally allowed and ethically responsible,” he said. “The law should never allow a social worker to legally do unethical things.”
The Republican-led Texas Legislature has long opposed expanding nondiscrimination protections to LGBTQ Texans in employment, housing and other areas of state law.
Alice Bradford, the board’s executive director, said she received an email from the governor’s staff recommending the change Friday, three days before the board’s Monday vote.
Francis pushed back against that idea. “Rules can always cover more ground as long they don’t contradict the law, which these protections did not,” he said.
U.S. health officials have identified more than 100 Texas counties, particularly in rural areas, with a shortage of social workers and other mental health professionals. Parks, the Houston social worker, said the policy change could impact LGBTQ clients’ access to mental health services in those areas.
“There’s research to show that members of the queer community … are at higher risk for trauma, higher risk for all sorts of mental health conditions,” he said.
Tonight in Philadelphia, one voter asked, in the context of Amy Coney Barrett being rushed through a confirmation process to a seat on the bench of the Supreme Court, if the LGBTQ+ community should be worried about an erosion of its rights.
“I think there’s great reason to be concerned,” Biden started in his response. He went on to admit that he hadn’t been able to sit down and watch Barrett’s confirmation hearings which ended today, but had been reading coverage.
“My reading online of what the judge said was that she didn’t answer very many questions at all. I don’t even think she has laid out much of a judicial philosophy in terms the basis upon which she thinks are the basic unenumerated rights of the constitution itself, number one.”
Mieke Haeck, a physical therapist based in State College, Pa., told Biden she’s the “proud mom” of two girls, age 8 and 10, and the youngest child is transgender. Haeck, saying the Trump administration has “attacked the rights of transgender people,” pointing out the transgender military ban, weakening of non-discrimination protections and removal of the word “transgender” from government websites.
“How will you, as president, reverse this dangerous and discriminatory agenda and ensure that the lives and rights of LGBTQ people are protected under U.S. law?” Haeck said. Without any hesitation, Biden said: “I will flat out change the law.” The Democratic presidential nominee has said he’d sign the Equality Act, which expand anti-LGBTQ non-discrimination protections under federal law, within the first 100 days of his administration.
This Thursday, October 15th, people around the country will take part in a simple gesture to show their support for LGBTQ youth. Will you join us? All you have to do is wear purple and send us your photo!
Every year we take your photos and combine them into a beautiful collage to show our youth how many people in their community support them. You can send us photos by email: jessie@lgbtqconnection.org, social media: https://www.facebook.com/lgbtqsonoma , or text: 707-595-8961.
If you’re free at 2pm on the 15th, drop by our Zoom room to show off your purple threads and join us for a socially distanced group photo:) Here’s the link to join: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88902601307
Kamala Harris spoke against Amy Coney Barrett’s controversial Supreme Court nomination Monday (October 12), delivering a stark warning about Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s legacy of equality being irrevocably “undone”
The Democratic vice presidential nominee gave a measured yet impassioned speech on the opening day of hearings on Coney Barrett’s nomination.×
“This hearing should have been postponed,” she said, noting that it had brought together “more than 50 people to sit inside a room for hours while our nation faces a deadly airborne virus.”
She shamed the Senate for attempting to jam Trump’s anti-LGBT+ nominee through in an “illegitimate committee process” that “deliberately defies the will of the people”.
As millions of Americans struggle to survive a pandemic, Senate Republicans “have not lifted a finger for 150 days” to move a coronavirus relief bill, Harris said — “yet you are determined to rush a Supreme Court confirmation hearing through in just 16 days”.
While much of her concerns centred on the proposed roll back of protections under the Affordable Care Act, she warned that there’s much more at stake if Ruth Bader Ginsburg is replaced by someone who does not support her legacy.
Kamala Harris says with Amy Barrett Coney nomination, ‘equal justice under law is at stake’.
“Throughout our history, Americans have brought cases to the Supreme Court in the ongoing fight for civil rights, human rights, and equal justice. Decisions like … Obergefell v. Hodges, which recognised that love is love, and that marriage equality is the law of the land,” the vice presidential nominee said.
“Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg devoted her life to this fight for equal justice. She defended the constitution. She advocated for human rights and equality.
“She stood up for the rights of women. She protected workers. She fought for the rights of consumers against big corporations. She supported LGBTQ rights. And she did so much more.
“But now, her legacy and the rights she fought so hard to protect are in jeopardy. By replacing justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg with someone who will undo her legacy, president Trump is attempting to roll back Americans’ rights for decades to come.”
More lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer candidates will appear on ballots across the country this November than ever before, according to a new report from the LGBTQ Victory Fund, a group that trains, supports and advocates for queer candidates.
These candidates are also more racially diverse than in past election cycles, according to the findings.
“A historic number of openly LGBTQ people are running for office this year and we have the opportunity to elect an unprecedented number on Election Day,” former Houston Mayor Annise Parker, president and CEO of the LGBTQ Victory Fund, said in a statement. “While LGBTQ candidates are significantly more diverse than U.S. candidates overall, we must continue to break down the barriers LGBTQ people of color, women and trans people face when considering a run for office. Our government must reflect the diversity of America.”
Another record year
At least 1,006 openly LGBTQ people ran or are still running for office this election cycle, up from 716 in the 2018 midterms, according to Victory’s Out on the Trail report. Of these candidates, 574 will appear on the general election ballot in November, up from 432 in 2018, representing a 33 percent increase.
There are eight nonincumbent LGBTQ candidates running for the House of Representatives. If they all win, they would more than double LGBTQ representation in Congress’ lower chamber from seven to 15. There are currently two LGBTQ U.S. senators — Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., and Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz. — though neither is up for re-election this year.
Some of these congressional hopefuls are looking to unseat incumbent conservatives. Tracy Mitrano, a lawyer and cybersecurity expert, is one of them. She’s gunning for incumbent Republican Tom Reed’s job in New York’s 23rd Congressional District.
“This district can do better than what it has had as representation in Congress for the past 10 years,” Mitrano told local NBC affiliate WTEM-TV on Saturday. “Affordable health care, good education, infrastructure, the internet. Let’s get jobs back, but the only way you’re going to do that is if you lay the foundation of health and education and infrastructure.”
Former U.S. Air Force Capt. Gina Ortiz Jones is looking to beat Republican nominee Tony Gonzales, a Navy veteran, and flip Texas’ 23rd Congressional District for Democrats. If she wins, Jones would be both the first Filipino American woman to serve in Congress and the first openly gay representative from Texas.
“I really felt called to protect the opportunities that allowed me to grow up healthy, get an education and serve our country,” Jones told NBC News. “That made my story, my service, possible, and that’s why I’m so committed to fighting for working families in this district.”
Jon Hoadley is currently in his third term as a Michigan state representative. He is taking on incumbent Rep. Fred Upton, who opposed nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ people and voted to ban same-sex marriage. Upton has represented the historically conservative district since 1986.
“For his entire political career, Fred Upton has worked to deny basic rights and protections to LGBTQ people – so it will be poetic justice when he is defeated by an openly gay challenger next November,” Parker said of the race. “Few 2020 Congressional races are more important than this one – a swing seat in a swing state with a stark choice for voters. Jon aims to uplift all constituents and put real people at the center of his decision-making, while Fred Upton continues to play cynical politics with people’s lives and well-being.”
If elected, Hoadley would be the first openly LGBTQ member of Congress from Michigan.
Increasing racial and ethnic diversity
A notable trend this year is the substantial increase in the number of LGBTQ candidates of color. Nearly a third of the LGBTQ candidates who ran this year are people of color, compared to 10 percent of all candidates — LGBTQ and non-LGBTQ — who ran in 2018, the report states.
Two favorites to win their congressional races are Democrats Ritchie Torres and Mondaire Jones, who are running for New York’s 15th and 17th Congressional districts, respectively,
Both Torres and Jones would be the first Black gay men elected to Congress if they were to prevail Nov. 3.
Rep. Sharice Davids won her House bid in 2018 and became the first openly gay Native American woman elected to Congress, and the first LGBTQ person Kansas has ever elected to federal office. She is back on the ballot this November, favored to beat Republican challenger Amanda Adkins, a former health care executive.
Georgette Gomez, currently a San Diego City council member, is running against another Democrat, Sara Jacobs, for the open seat left by Rep. Susan Davis’ retirement. If elected, Gomez would be the first Latina LGBTQ member of Congress.
Beyond the L and the G
Gay men and lesbians continue to make up the majority of LGBTQ candidates. However, bisexual, queer and pansexual candidates saw the greatest proportional growth since 2018, according to the report.
Compared to 2018, the number of transgender candidates decreased, but the number of candidates identifying as genderqueer, nonbinary or gender-nonconforming jumped considerably, from 6 to 25, marking a 325 percent increase from 2018.
For example, Louise Snodgrass is hoping to become the first genderqueer state legislator in South Dakota.
While the overall number of transgender individuals running for office this cycle went down, those who are running are serious contenders and could have an important impact at the state level. For example, Sarah McBride is on track to become the first openly transgender person elected to Delaware’s General Assembly and the first transgender state senator anywhere in the U.S.
After winning the Democratic primary in August, Taylor Small is a shoo-in to become the first openly transgender state legislator in Vermont. And in Kansas, Stephanie Byers is also favored to win her race against Republican Cyndi Howerton to fill the open seat in the state legislature. If elected, Byers would become the first openly transgender legislator in the Kansas House of Representatives.
Jessica Katzenmeyer is running for Wisconsin State Assembly, and Madeline Eden is running for the Texas House of Representatives. If elected, both women would be the first openly transgender lawmakers in their states’ legislatures.
Shifting geography of LGBTQ candidates
California, Texas and Florida boast the highest number of LGBTQ candidates running in 2020, according to the Victory Fund. These candidates could make an especially big impact on the Texas House of Representatives, where Democrats need to pick up nine seats to flip that chamber. Several LGBTQ candidates are in key races, especially out lesbians Ann Johnson and Eliz Markowitz.
Alabama is the only state this cycle that has no openly LGBTQ person running for office at any level, according to the report. At present, State Rep. Neil Rafferty is the only openly LGBTQ person in office in Alabama.
Five states — Alaska, Tennessee, Louisiana, Delaware and Mississippi — have never elected an openly LGBTQ state legislator, though that could soon change for three of them. In addition to McBride in Delaware, lesbian Lyn Franks is running for the state Legislature in Alaska, and Torrey Harris, a bisexual man, and Brandon Thomas, a gay man, are running in Tennessee.
While the number of openly lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer elected officials across the U.S. has been steadily increasing, just 0.17 percent of the country’s roughly half million elected officials are LGBTQ, according to the Victory Institute. In order for LGBTQ people — who make up an estimated 5 percent of the U.S. population — to achieve “equitable representation,” there would need to be 22,544 more of them in elected office, according to the organization.
An unofficial Atlanta Pride party ended in tragedy as a man lost consciousness and died.
The man died while attending a party at BJ Roosters, a gay bar on Cheshire Bridge Road, that stretched into the early hours of Sunday morning (October 11).
He was pronounced dead 8am at Piedmont Hospital, Atlanta Police told theWXIA-TV network.
After consuming ecstasy, the man was found in the club’s basement unconscious. The force found no signs of foul play, but an investigation is ongoing.
While a party-goer told the Advocate that the event was “packed” and “overcapacity at times”, Atlanta Pride organisers sought to stress that the club night was not an official Pride event, and that it had only approved virtual events.
Witness laments ‘tragic’ death of man at unofficial Atlanta Pride party.
The industrial bar heaved with party-goers, footage of the event shared on social media showed, for Xion, a gay circuit party thrown by Ga Boy Events.
The group had organised a roster of unofficial events during the Atlanta Pride weekend, including one at a shopping mall and another at District Atlanta – a club which held a made headlines after an August event which saw similarly packed scenes.
A Xion attendee told the Advocate that pandemic guidelines were not enforced by business owners or staffers at the event. He claimed the victim – a Black man in his mid to late 30s – fell to the ground at around 6:30am.
There were no emergency medical technicians at Xion, the witness claimed, with it taking more than 30 minutes for first-responders to arrive to the scene. “And I’m being generous,” he said.
Bar staff seemed “unprepared” to handle the medical emergency and it took some time for the music to be switched off. “It was tragic,” the witness added.
“I’ve been to parties all over the world, I have never been to one without EMTs. In my opinion, this could have been avoided.”
The death of the victim, who has not yet been named, came as footage of the gathering prompted sharp criticism from social media users.
National Coming Out Day has been observed annually on Oct. 11 for more than three decades. The first such celebration was held in 1988 on the one-year anniversary of the 1987 March on Washington for Gay and Lesbian Rights, which reportedly drew 200,000 protesters to the nation’s capital.
In honor of National Coming Out Day 2020, here are just some of the many notable LGBTQ coming-out stories so far this year.
Niecy Nash
Niecy NashTODAY Illustration/Getty Images
Comedian and actor Niecy Nash broke the internet this past summer when she not only came out, but she also introduced her new wife to the world.
The “Claws” and “Reno 911” star announced her marriage to musician Jessica Betts in August, sharing a joyful photo of herself and Betts walking down the aisle after just saying, ”I do.”
But Nash, who had previously been married to men before, revealed that while she may have shocked fans with her announcement, she did not perceive it as coming out per se.
“I don’t feel like my marriage is my coming out of anywhere, but rather a going into myself and being honest about who I love,” Nash told People shortly after tying the knot. “And I’m not limiting myself on what that love is supposed to look like.”
Aaron Schock
U.S. Rep. Aaron Schock speaks to reporters on Feb. 6, 2015, in Peoria Ill. Seth Perlman / AP
Aaron Schock, a former Republican congressman known for supporting anti-LGBTQ legislation, came out as gay in an Instagram post in March.
“The fact that I am gay is just one of those things in life in need of explicit affirmation, to remove any doubt and to finally validate who I am as a person,” Schock, who had dodged rumors about his sexuality while in Congress, wrote. “In many ways, I regret the time wasted in not having done so sooner.”
Lili Reinhart
Lili Reinhart attends the 26th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards in Los Angeles on Jan. 19, 2020.Emma McIntyre / Getty Images for Turner file
“Riverdale” star Lili Reinhart came out as bisexual in June, opening up about a part of her life she had never shared before with her fans.
“Although I’ve never announced it publicly before, I am a proud bisexual woman,” the actor wrote in an Instagram Story paired with a flyer for an LGBTQ+ for Black Lives Matter protest taking place in West Hollywood, California.
Andrew Gillum
Andrew Gillum during a campaign event in 2018.MediaPunch via AP file
Andrew Gillum, the former mayor of Tallahassee, Florida, came out as bisexual in September during an interview with talk show host Tamron Hall.
“You put it out there whether or not I identify as gay, and the answer is I don’t identify as gay, but I do identify as bisexual,” Gillum said.
It was the first time the 2018 Democratic nominee for governor in Florida had spoken publicly about his sexuality.
Sara Ramirez
Actress Sara Ramirez in West Hollywood, Calif., on March 14, 2018.Valerie Macon / AFP via Getty Images
Best known for playing Dr. Callie Torres on “Grey’s Anatomy,” Sara Ramirez came out in August as gender nonbinary. In a post shared on Instagram, the Tony Award-winner said, “In me is the capacity to be” everything from a “girlish boy” to a “boyish girl.”
Ramirez added the hashtag #nonbinary to the caption of their post and updated their bio on social media accounts to read “non-binary human.” Their bio also states that they use both she/her and they/them pronouns.
François Arnaud
Francois Arnaud in Los Angeles in 2017.Maarten de Boer / NBC via Getty Images
French-Canadian actor François Arnaud, best known for his role on Showtime’s period drama “The Borgias” and his appearance in the award-winning series “Schitt’s Creek,” came out as bisexual in an Instagram story shared just before Bi Visibility Day, which is celebrated on Sept. 23.
Arnaud said he wanted to share his story to help fight “assumptions of straightness” and bisexual erasure.
“Last week, I was chatting with work friends, and as I brought up a trip I’d taken with an ex-girlfriend, I asked myself — for the ten-thousandth time — how to tell such a story without making it seem like that was the whole story of me,” he wrote. “I’m sure many bisexual guys feel the same and end up doing as I did: letting other people’s assumptions of straightness stand uncorrected.”
Jameela Jamil
Jameela Jamil at the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards on Jan. 26, 2020, in Los Angeles.David Crotty / Patrick McMullan via Getty Image
Actor and activist Jameela Jamil came out in February following criticism about her being cast in a new HBO Max voguing competition series, which some social media users said “belongs to queer people.” Following the backlash, “The Good Place” star came out as queer in a lengthy statement posted on her Twitter account.
“This is why I never officially came out as queer,” she wrote. “I kept it low because I was scared of the pain of being accused of performative bandwagon jumping, over something that caused me a lot of confusion, fear and turmoil when I was a kid.”
Born to a Pakistani mother and Indian father, Jamil said she struggled for many years to “officially” come out because of fear that she wouldn’t be accepted in the South Asian community.
“It’s also scary as an actor to openly admit your sexuality, especially when you’re already a brown female in your thirties,” she wrote. “This is absolutely not how I wanted it to come out.”
Nikkie de Jager
Nikkie de Jager attends SEPHORiA: House of Beauty on Sept. 7, 2019 in Los Angeles.Presley Ann / Getty Images for Sephora file
Popular YouTube creator and makeup artist Nikkie de Jager, who is also known as Nikkie Tutorials, revealed in January that she is a transgender woman to her more than 12 million YouTube followers, saying the move was prompted by attempted blackmail.
While she lamented the opportunity to reveal her journey on her own terms, de Jager said she was coming out publicly to “tak[e] back my own power.”
“I can’t believe I am saying this today to all of you, for the entire world to see, but damn it feels good to finally do it. It’s time to let go and be truly free,” de Jager said in the video. “When I was younger I was born in the wrong body, which means that I am transgender.”
Rosario Dawson
Rosario Dawson poses at the premiere for “Krystal” in Los Angeles, Calif., on April 5, 2018.Mario Anzuoni / Reuters file
Rosario Dawson officially came out during a wide-ranging interview in February, where she clarified that a 2018 Instagram post about Pride, in which she stated that she was “sending love” to her “fellow LGBTQ+ homies,” was misinterpreted.
“People kept saying that I (came out) … I didn’t do that,” she said. “I mean, it’s not inaccurate, but I never did come out come out. I mean, I guess I am now.”
Dawson did not specify how she identifies, but she added that she “never had a relationship in that space, so it’s never felt like an authentic calling to me.”
In 2019, it was confirmed that Dawson was dating Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., and in August it was reported that the two were moving in together.
Taylor Schilling
Taylor Schilling as Piper Chapman in “Orange Is the New Black”JOJO WHILDEN
During LGBTQ Pride Month in June, “Orange Is the New Black” star Taylor Schilling confirmed to fans that she was in a relationship with a woman.
The actor re-shared a photo to her Instagram story that musician and artist Emily Ritz had previously posted of them together with the heart-emoji-filled message, “I couldn’t be more proud to be by your side @tayjschilling “Happy Pride!”
In a 2017 interview with Evening Standard Magazine, Schilling said, “I’ve had very serious relationships with lots of people, and I’m a very expansive human. There’s no part of me that can be put under a label. I really don’t fit into a box — that’s too reductive.”
Nikki Blonsky
Nikki Blonsky in the 2007 film “Hairspray.” New Line Cinema/Courtesy of Everett Collection
“Hi, it’s Nikki Blonsky from the movie I’m Gay! #pride #imcomingout #hairspray,” the Golden Globe nominee captioned the clip.
Justice Smith
In an Instagram post shared in June amid nationwide protests against racial injustice, “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom” actor Justice Smith came out as queer and revealed he was dating a man.
“Nicholas Ashe and I protested today in New Orleans,” Smith wrote. “We chanted ‘Black Trans Lives Matter’ ‘Black Queer Lives Matter,’ ‘All Black Lives Matter.’ As a Black queer man myself, I was disappointed to see certain people eager to say Black Lives Matter, but hold their tongue when Trans/Queer was added.”
After his initial post, Smith addressed the reaction from his fans and followers, tweeting, “yo tf i didn’t come out, y’all came in.
“justice— you have been the author of all my recent smiles. you make me feel safe. seen. heard. inspired. admired. returning the favor has been my favorite adventure,” Ashe wrote in August. “it’s difficult to fully encapsulate my gratitude, but here’s an Instagram post to help me try. happy birthday, beautiful man. i love you most of all. thank you for all this good.
Quinn
Soccer star Quinn, who represented Canada at the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup, publicly came out as transgender with a post on Instagram in September. In it, Quinn — who uses they/them pronouns and now goes by just their last name — discussed the difficulty of coming out publicly, adding important tips for the cisgender community on how to be a better ally to the transgender community.
“Coming out is HARD (and kinda bs),” Quinn, who plays for Washington state’s OL Reign team in the National Women’s Soccer League, wrote. “I know for me it’s something I’ll be doing over again for the rest of my life. As I’ve lived as an openly trans person with the people I love most for many years, I did always wonder when I’d come out publicly.
Da Brat
Rapper Da Brat came out publicly in March, confirming her relationship with Kaleidoscope Hair Products CEO Jesseca Dupart in a tearful Instagram post celebrating an early birthday gift.
“I’ve always been a kind of private person until I met my heart’s match who handles some things differently than I do,” she wrote. “I have never experienced this feeling. It’s so overwhelming that often I find myself in a daze hoping to never get pinched to see if it’s real so I can live in this dream forever.”https://www.instagram.com/p/B-MpOdjnD59/embed/captioned/?cr=1&v=8&wp=1116&rd=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nbcnews.com&rp=%2Ffeature%2Fnbc-out%2Fnational-coming-out-day-20-people-who-came-out-2020-n1242833#%7B%22ci%22%3A3%2C%22os%22%3A1450%2C%22ls%22%3A1002%2C%22le%22%3A1029%7D
J. August Richards
Actor J. August Richards, best known for his role on “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.,” publicly came out as gay in April when discussing his role on the NBC series “Council of Dads,” where he portrayed Dr. Oliver Post, a married gay black man and father.
“If I think about why I even got involved in this industry, it was really to combat oppression,” he told his castmate Sarah Wayne Callies during an Instagram Live interview. “I knew how I was affected by the people of color I saw on television, or that I didn’t see on television.”
“Honestly, it required me to show up fully in a way that I don’t always when I’m working,” he said of his role on “Council of Dads.” “I knew that I could not portray this gay man honestly without letting you all know that I was a gay man myself … I’ve never done that with the people that I’ve worked with.
“To me, the word ‘queer’ feels really nice,” the “Friday’ singer said. “I have dated a lot of different types of people, and I just don’t really know what the future holds. Some days, I feel a little more on the ‘gay’ side than others.”https://www.youtube.com/embed/YbNrPY-il0E
Avery Wilson
Avery Wilson, an alum of NBC’s “The Voice,” took to social media in July to share a personal message with his fans and followers: “I’m bisexual. Ok bye,” he wrote on Twitter, adding in a subsequent tweet, “From the mouth of the horse is the ultimate understanding.N
On Instagram, the singer — who competed on season 3 of the singing competition show — elaborated on his sexuality in a since-deleted post.
“In my eyes, life isn’t about being perfect. It’s about growth, evolving, setting & smashing goals and most importantly happiness and LOVE,” he wrote. “I’m all about perfecting my love of self while not being afraid to love whoever I want, however I want.”
Auli’i Cravalho
Auli’i Cravalho, star of Disney’s “Moana” and “The Little Mermaid Live,” came out as bisexual in a since-deleted video posted to her TikTok account in April.
When lip-syncing along to Eminem’s song “Those Kinda Nights,” Cravalho recited the lyrics, “’No, I’m bi.” And when one Twitter user asked the actor, “Do u like girls?” she reportedly responded, “If I may escort you to my TikTok…”
Madison Bailey
“Outer Banks” star Madison Bailey came out as pansexual in a TikTok video shared in May, later revealing she is dating Mariah Linney, a women’s basketball star at University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
In an interview with Entertainment Tonight during LGBTQ Pride Month, Bailey said being pansexual is “basically just loving people for people, regardless of gender or any type of sexuality or any type of anything.”
