National

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‘A Win for All of Us’: Over 220 LGBTQ Candidates Celebrate Election Victories

Shevrin Jones feels good. In fact, he said, he feels great after easily winning election last week to become Florida’s first LGBTQ state senator. Jones said the election of so many lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people across the country this election cycle “is a direct pushback on the hatred and bigotry over the last four years,” citing the Trump administration’s rhetoric against immigrants, people of color and the LGBTQ community. “This is a win for all of us,” said Jones, who previously served in the Florida House of Representatives. Jones was among a record number of openly LGBTQ candidates on […]

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Adrian Tam Defeats Local Proud Boys leader, Becomes Only Gay Asian in Hawaii House

Adrian Tam, a 28-year-old gay Asian American son of immigrants, defeated a leader of the Hawaii chapter of the Proud Boys, a far-right extremist group, to become the only openly LGBTQ person in Hawaii’s Legislature. Tam, a first-time candidate, took 63 percent of the vote against Nicholas Ochs. “It feels really good to know that someone who is openly LGBT can win,” Tam told NBC Asian America. “There was a time when people like me could not win. I’m glad that I can bring that representation to the capital.” Tam described what was a nerve-wracking election season, from trying to connect with […]

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LGBTQ People of Color Keep Breaking Election Barriers

Kimberly Jackson, an Episcopal church leader in Atlanta, made history last week when she was the first Black lesbian elected to Georgia’s state Senate. She was excited about winning — and doing so with 80 percent of the vote — as well as making history. Then her election win got even sweeter. Shortly after Election Day, a constituent approached Jackson at the gym and informed her that part of her district intersects with one represented by Karla Drenner, Georgia’s first openly gay state representative, who has been in the state House of Representatives for nearly 20 years. “People are excited […]

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Joe Biden is First President-elect to Include Transgender People in His Victory Speech

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Joe Biden’s presidency comes with many firsts, and as he took to the stage on Saturday night he added a new one: the first president-elect to mention trans people in his victory speech. Addressing a jubilant crowd in his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware, the new president-elect declared it was now America’s “time to heal” and vowed to unify the nation once again. He began by thanking “the broadest and most diverse coalition in history” for backing his campaign, including a shoutout to the LGBT+ community. “I am proud of the campaign we built and ran. I am proud of the coalition […]

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Honoring Victims of the Harvard Secret Court of 1920

One hundred years after the horrific events of the Harvard Secret Court, the United States still lacks federal discrimination protections that would have prevented this tragedy.  On May 23, 1920, Abbott Lawrence Lowell, then president of Harvard University, convened a clandestine, five-person tribunal that became known as the Harvard Secret Court of 1920. The charge? Eight students, a recent graduate, and an assistant professor were all suspected to be gay. The court destroyed the lives of those it tried. One hundred years after the horrific events of the Harvard Secret Court, the United States still lacks federal discrimination protections that […]

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12 LGBT Lawmakers Who Broke New Ground with Rainbow Wave

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The US election result remains unconfirmed but there’s still a lot to celebrate as a new rainbow wave of LGBT+ victories emerges across the country. There were nearly 600 out candidates on the ballot this year, a record number that reflects stronger support for queer people among ordinary Americans.× Dozens have already won their races, and while Trump has made more gains in the US election than anyone predicted, the historic wins keep on coming. Here are some of the big ones. Mauree Turner, Oklahoma’s 88th Congressional District. Mauree Turner has become the very first non-binary state lawmaker in US history. The […]

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Polls Suggests Number of LGBT+ People Who Voted for Trump Doubled in 4 Years

The number of LGBT+ people who voted for Donald Trump in the 2020 US presidential election more than double compared to four years ago,exit polls suggest. With a bitter and strained electoral battle unfolding and an anxious nation awaiting a winner, a patchwork of exit polls have begun to show the numbers that will shape debate for months to come – who voted for who.× And according to exit polls conducted by Edison Research for the National Election Pool, the sturdy trend that LGBT+ people vote Democratic has remained, but more voted for Trump this time around than in 2016. A slither […]

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Major Ohio County Elects Openly Lesbian Sheriff

Cincinnati’s ABC News affiliate reports: Democrat Charmaine McGuffey defeated challenger Republican Bruce Hoffbauer to become the county’s first openly gay sheriff.  McGuffey had a little more than a 17,000 vote lead on her opponent Bruce Hoffbauer, but she’ll be the first to tell you this election has been quite the climb for her to win. “To help me on that climb and to have people in the nation understand what it’s like to be an LGBTQ person who happens to be a woman as well running for a position which is a male dominated world, I mean it’s amazing all of […]

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Ritchie Torres Becomes First Gay Afro Latino Elected to Congress

Ritchie Torres has won his House race for New York’s 15th Congressional District, making him the first gay Afro Latino person elected to Congress. Torres was all but certain to win in his deep-blue House district. He defeated Republican Patrick Delices, a former professor of Caribbean studies at Hunter College. He fills a seat left by Rep. Jose Serrano, a 16-term Democrat who said last year that he would not run for re-election. “Tonight we made history,” Torres tweeted Tuesday night, calling it “the honor of a lifetime to represent a borough filled with essential workers who risked their lives so that […]

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Sarah McBride to Become First Transgender State Senator in U.S. History

Sarah McBride has won her Delaware state Senate race, poising her to become the first and only openly transgender state senator in the U.S. and the country’s highest-ranking transgender official. “I hope tonight shows an LGBTQ kid that our democracy is big enough for them, too,” McBride, 30, tweeted Tuesday night after the election was called. “As Delaware continues to face the Covid crisis, it’s time to get to work to invest in the policies that will make a difference for working families.” She easily defeated Republican Steve Washington to represent Delaware’s 1st Senate District. Incumbent Democrat Harris McDowell, who did not seek […]

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