The Oxford English Dictionary definition of the word “woman” has been updated to reflect LGBT+ relationships following complaints that it was sexist.
The world-famous dictionary previously described women as “a man’s wife, girlfriend or lover”. This has now been amended to acknowledge the fact that a woman can be “a person’s wife, girlfriend, or female lover”, rather than only a man’s.
Other terms have been identified as “derogatory”, “offensive” or “dated”, such as the words “b***h”, “bint” and “besom”, which are listed as synonyms for woman.
The changes came after a petition was launched earlier this year by campaigner Maria Beatrice Giovanardi to get rid of all phrases and definitions that discriminate against or patronise women.
t gained more than 34,000 signatures and included the leaders of Women’s Aid and the Women’s Equality Party among the signatories.
Speaking to PinkNews in March, Giovanardi said she had been “astonished” to realise that the Oxford Dictionary used derogatory synonyms and misogynistic examples that perpetuate negative female stereotypes.
“By contrast, for the word man, the examples and synonyms are exemplary, demonstrating intellect and social status,” she noted.
“I felt I needed to point out the obvious – that not describing men and women in an equally respectful way, disadvantages women because it perpetuates negative stereotypes that present women as lesser beings, which in turn influences the way women are talked about and treated.
“This is just one of many examples of everyday sexism and how mainstream culture frequently dehumanises women by portraying them as sex objects or subordinate to men.”
In a statement to The Telegraph, publisher Oxford University Press said the dictionary is “driven solely by evidence of how real people use English in their daily lives”.
It added: “We have expanded the dictionary coverage of ‘woman’ with more examples and idiomatic phrases which depict women in a positive and active manner.
“We have ensured that offensive synonyms or senses are clearly labelled as such and only included where we have evidence of real world usage.”
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 we put together, the broadest and most diverse coalition in history,” he said.
Amid a chorus of cheers, applause and pumping car horns, he continued: “I mean it. Especially for those moments when this campaign was at its lowest ebb — the African-American community stood up again for me.
“They always have my back, and I’ll have yours. I said from the outset I wanted a campaign that represented America, and I think we did that. Now that’s what I want the administration to look like.”
Biden’s victory speech was a reassuring return to the professional, presidential rhetoric eschewed by Donald Trump, and a sign of his intention to be president to “all people” – including marginalised groups.
His words carried echoes of Barack Obama’s 2008 speech, which was the first time a president-elect had ever mentioned the gay community in an inaugural address.
And as Biden promised to usher in a new era of cooperation, he acknowledged the painful truth that “too many dreams have been deferred for too long” – a reference to the poem “A Dream Deferred” by Langston Hughes, a gay Black man.
“We must make the promise of the country real for everybody — no matter their race, their ethnicity, their faith, their identity, or their disability,” he said.
“We stand again at an inflection point. We have the opportunity to defeat despair and to build a nation of prosperity and purpose. We can do it. I know we can.”
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 would have prevented this tragedy.
The story of the Harvard Secret Court starts with the tragic suicide of Cyril Wilcox, an undergraduate student at Harvard, who shortly before his death acknowledged his homosexuality to his brother, George. Steeped in grief and blaming Cyril’s homosexuality for his death, George used letters that had been written to Cyril by several of his companions at Harvard to convince Acting Dean Chester Noyes Greenough to investigate homosexuality at the school. Shortly after, the Secret Court was born.
“Have you ever participated in unnatural acts with a man,” asked the court. The students implicated in the affair were called in one by one and accused of participating in homosexual activities before being expelled. Among the victims was Windsor Hosmer, a graduate business student who had interrupted his undergraduate studies at Harvard to serve in the Ambulance Corps with the French Army in World War I; Ernest Roberts, a World War I veteran who hoped to be a doctor; and Eugene Cummings, a gifted dentistry student who took his own life shortly after being expelled.
Stories such as the one of the Harvard Secret Court might seem to belong in a dark history we left behind, but that could not be further from the truth. Earlier this summer, Union University in Tennessee rescinded a student’s admission to the school after administrators learned he was gay. Campus Pride has compiled a list of schools that openly discriminate against LGBTQ people. Some universities, like Liberty University in Virginia, even subject suspected LGBTQ students to the harmful practice of so-called “conversion therapy,” which seeks to change a person’s sexual orientation.
According to The Trevor Project’s 2020 National Survey of LGBTQ Youth Mental Health, LGBTQ young people face mental health disparities and significantly high rates of attempting suicide. Discrimination experienced at school contributes to these problems. The survey found that 61% percent of transgender and nonbinary youth report being prevented or discouraged from using a bathroom that corresponds with their gender identity at their school.
This must change. The Equality Act would prohibit discrimination based on sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity in a wide variety of areas including public accommodations and facilities, education, federal funding, employment, housing, credit, and the jury system. After the Act passed the House of Representatives in 2019, President Trump announced that he would not support the bill. It is unconscionable that such protections are still not in place today. The Equality Act must be passed now.
Although the White House states that it opposes LGBTQ discrimination and that it only refuses to sign the Equality Act because it infringes on “parental and conscience rights,” its policies tell a different story. Since he came into power, President Trump has rescinded Department of Education guidance encouraging LGBTQ students to use the bathroom that aligns with their gender identity, has banned transgender people from serving in the military and has even defended people who fired their employees simply for being gay at the Supreme Court. The Trump administration’s empty declaration of standing against LGTBQ discrimination while actively engaging in such discrimination is a perfect example of the Orwellian ways that LGBTQ bigotry hides and thrives today.
We must meet the challenge that history is presenting us and elect a president that will sign the Equality Act, which Joe Biden has promised to do. In the centennial of the Harvard Secret Court of 1920, let us remember the court’s victims, their unjustified pain and suffering, and honor them by casting our votes for leaders who will finally implement policies putting an era of such damaging discrimination behind us.
Diego Garcia Blum is student body president at Harvard Kennedy School, the Policy Chair for Secret Court 100, and a member of the National Board of Governors of the Human Rights Campaign.
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 has become the very first non-binary state lawmaker in US history. The Democratic community organiser and queer Muslim won election to district 88 in Oklahoma City, winning out over Republican Kelly Barlean with a projected 71 per cent of the vote.
Ahead of the US election, they told HuffPost: “I’m Black, Muslim, femme, queer, born and raised in Oklahoma – politics was the last thing in my crosshairs.
“Oklahomans have representation that doesn’t have our shared lived experience – that hasn’t been in a family that had to live off SNAP benefits, [or] a single-parent household because one parent was incarcerated. That was my upbringing, and it’s not a unique one.”
Michele Rayner-Goolsby, Florida’s House of Representatives.
Michele Rayner-Goolsby is the first Black queer woman to win a seat in the Florida legislature. She will represent District 70 in the State House after winning 30 per cent of the vote in a crowded race against three opponents.
It’s not the first glass ceiling she’s shattered: Rayner-Goolsby is also a civil rights attorney, social justice advocate and lead counsel of Civil Liberty Law, her own law firm.
“It really has been a people powered campaign” she told the Tampa Bay Times, saying that she sees her victory as “pushing back on patriarchy.”
“We ran with integrity. We ran with transparency and we ran with accountability.”
Shevrin Jones, Florida State Senate.
Joining Rayner in the Sunshine state is Shevrin Jones, Florida’s first out LGBT+ state senator. He’ll be one of the only out Black men serving in US state senates as he represents District 35.
Jones came out as gay in 2018, explaining he had decided to start living his truth “just a little bit more” after the death of his older brother. He has since become a powerful voice for LGBT+ rights in Florida.
“I’m humbled to have earned the trust of the people of SD 35,” he tweeted after the result was announced. “I am looking forward to serving you in the Florida Senate. Thank YOU! #WEthePEOPLE.”
Raised in a rural town in South Carolina, Jackson moved to Georgia a decade ago and has become a powerful advocate for public education, criminal justice reform, ending the death penalty, and of course, LGBT+ equality.
“I felt really early that I wanted to make a difference in the world,” she told The Advocate in a 2020 Champions of Pride profile.
Jabari Brisport, New York State Senate.
Jabari Brisport, hailed as “the next AOC”, has become the first ever Black LGBT+ person elected to the New York state legislature.
A gay, Democratic socialist, public school teacher and third-generation Caribbean-American, Jabari Brisport has become the New York state senator representing Brooklyn’s 25th District.
Mayor Annise Parker, the president and CEO of the LGBTQ Victory Fund, said Brisport’s experiences as a Black queer person “will provide an essential perspective that has never been represented in the New York state legislature and will pave the way for a government that is more representative of the people it serves.
“Jabari shattered a rainbow ceiling in New York and his victory will encourage more people like him to step up and run.”
Charmaine McGuffey, Hamilton Country Sheriff.
Charmaine McGuffey made headlines when she announced that she was suing former Democratic sheriff Jim Neil, claiming he fired her from her position as major of the jail and court services because she is a woman and a lesbian.
She went on to run in the Democratic primary, putting her experiences with discrimination front and centre in her campaign. She won by a landslide and kicked Neil out of the race in the process.
She’s continued her victory streak by beating her Republican rival Bruce Hoffbauer, winning 52 per cent of the vote and becoming the first woman and first openly LGBT+ person to hold the position of Sheriff in Hamilton County.
Together with Ritchie Torres (see below), Mondaire Jones has become one of the first Black and Latino LGBT+ members of Congress.
Jones is a gay attorney who served in the US Department of Justice under Barack Obama. He recently worked for the Westchester County Law Department and also provided pro bono legal aid through The Legal Aid Society.
He’s claimed victory in New York’s 17th congressional district over Republican Maureen McArdle Schulman.
Ritchie Torres, New York’s 15th Congressional District.
Afro-Latino New York City councilman Ritchie Torres bested Republican candidate Orlando Molina in New York’s safely-Democratic 15th congressional district.
As the race was called, Torres said: “Tonight, a new era begins for the South Bronx. It is the honour of a lifetime to represent a borough filled with essential workers who risked their lives so that New York City could live.
“My pledge to the district is simple: I will fight for you. The Bronx is my home, it is what made me who I am, and it is what I will fight for in Congress. I thank the voters of the South Bronx from the bottom of my heart for the trust they put in me to represent them.”
Brianna Titone, Colorado’s 27th House District.
Colorado transgender lawmaker Brianna Titone won re-election with an increased majority, despite Republicans launching vile transphobic ads in a bid to unseat her.
Republican state representative Stephen Humphrey even took the time torecord a robocall that disparages and misgenders her, declaring she is “just too dangerous for Colorado families.” Despite his best efforts, she was re-elected with an increased majority of 2,280 over GOP opponent Vicki Pyne.
“The voters have spoken and selected me to continue to serve the people of House District 27. Thank you!” Titone said.
“It has been my honour to serve you the last 2 years and it is my honour again to serve for you the next two years. I will always do my best to represent the district to the best of my ability, to listen to views that differ from my own, and apply science and logic to the decisions that we face in governing the great state of Colorado.”
Sarah McBride, Delaware State Senate.
In another history-making victory for the US election, Human Rights Campaign activist and transgender rights champion Sarah McBride has become the first trans woman ever elected to a state senate.
She’s previously played a pivotal role in the fight for LGBT+ discrimination protections in Delaware, and has lobbied for the Equality Act to extend protections nationwide.
Annise Parker of LGBTQ Victory Fund celebrated McBride’s success in shattering the “lavender ceiling”, saying: “Sarah’s overwhelming victory is a powerful testament to the growing influence of transgender leaders in our politics and gives hope to countless trans people looking toward a brighter future.”
In a later interview, he added: “I’m just shocked at the amount of people who were ready to see something different… They truly felt that I will make some type of difference and I’m just so thankful that our voters really truly feel that way.”
Stephanie Byers, Kansas House of Representatives.
Stephanie Byers, a transgender teacher and member of the Native American Chickasaw Nation, is one of the few transgender people of colour to be elected to office anywhere in the United States. She is the first transgender representative in the Kansas state legislature, helping to bolster further representation.
Annise Parker of LGBTQ Victory Fund said Byers’ win “will reverberate well beyond the borders of the state”.
“Her victory will inspire more trans people to run for office because they see it is possible and understand these candidates are transforming how America perceives them,” Parker said.
“While cynical politicians attempted to weaponise trans issues for political gain this cycle, Stephanie’s victory is a powerful reminder that most voters reject the politics of bigotry and will elect trans people who have a positive vision for their communities.”
A Thanksgiving Notluck on zoomNovember 26 12:30 to 2 pm
You are warmly invited to join a Thanksgiving “Notluck” with our community of LGBT Seniors on zoom. Though our world is troubled, we still have reasons to be grateful. Let’s share gratitudes while we have our meal. Other communities have been sharing meals on zoom and this is a perfect day for us to be together.
What’s a Notluck? A Notluck is like a Potluck except you prepare your own meal, exactly as you want it, so there’s no luck needed. Then, you can eat safely in your own home while zooming with your chosen family. The times are tight for many of us. The Spahr Center is happy to deliver the fixings for a Thanksgiving meal if you let us know you would like them. Please contact us at: info@thespahrcenter.org or call 415/457.2487.
To join the Spahr Senior Groupon Thursday, 12:30 to 2 pm,click the purple button below the Butterfly Heart. New participants are warmly welcomed!
Topical Thursdays12:30 to 2 pmNovember 5
There’s likely no topic that could keep us from talking about the election.We could choose a different topic – favorite films or beloved pets, for instance – but no matter, what we’ll most likely need to talk about is the election and whatever is swirling around us.
November 12 The HolidaysNancy Flaxman facilitates!
We have talked in the past about the many ways in which LGBT people have often been on the outside in celebrating holidays that involve family and religion. Yet many of you have created your own traditions and your own families of choice. A hike, a movie, dinner out with a friend…. Now even those may not be available because of Covid. Let’s talk about your thoughts, feelings, and ways to stay connected with the essence of what is important to you.
Check-in Mondays7 to 8 pm
We catch up with each other on how we’re doing and have unstructured conversations focused on listening.
The Social Committee has been consistently offering fun events to offset the isolation of the pandemic. They want to celebrate your November birthday if you’ll let them know, and they offer a women’s coffee plus a number of times to gather over games and conversation. To see their flyer, click here.
Roster of Spahr Seniors FormingRecently, some of our seniors have been asking that we create a roster of contact information – email &/or phone number – so people can get in touch with each other outside the groups. We’re happy to do so and to distribute it among those who want to be on it. Let us know if you would like to be part of it and what information you would like shared. And in the meantime, we can always forward your contact information to someone else you would like to connect with to allow them to get in touch with you.
The Spahr Center honors the Transgender Day of Remembrance Friday November 20th5 to 6:30 pmYou are invited to a Zoom event for Transgender Day of Remembrance. You have to register in advance for this event by clicking: Register Here After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
Also in this email (below):Spahr has skilled therapists ready to work with seniors on a sliding-scale basis.Rental Assistance available.Nutrition ResourcesBisexual Support zoom group forming through The Spahr Center.
Building Community in the Midst of Sheltering-in-PlaceSee old friends and make new ones! Join us! The Spahr Center’s LGBT Senior Discussion Groupscontinue every Thursday, 12:30 to 2 pm on Zoom
To Join Group by Video using Computer, Smart Phone or TabletJust click this button at the start time, 12:25 pm:Join GroupTry it, it’s easy!
To Join Group by Phone CallIf you don’t have internet connections or prefer joining by phone,call the following number at the start time, 12:25 pm:1-669-900-6833The Meeting id is 820 7368 6606#(no participant id required)The password, if requested, is 135296# If you want the meeting to call you to bring you into the group, notify Bill Blackburn 415/450-5339
Spahr’s skilled therapists are available to work with seniors on a sliding-scale basis. Write toinfo@thespahrcenter.org.
A Bisexual Support Group is forming with The Spahr Center, facilitated by a therapist. Let Bill Blackburn know if you are interested.
Whistlestop, recently renamed Vivalon, provides access to resources including rides for older adults. Please note: there is a 3-week registration process for the ride program so register now if you think you may need rides in the future. They also offer free classes on zoom including zumba, yoga, chair exercises, & ukulele! Click here.
Adult and Aging Service’s Information and Assistance Line, providing information and referrals to the full range of services available to older adults, adults with disabilities and their family caregivers, has a new phone number and email address: 415/473-INFO (4636) 8:30 am to 4:30 pm weekdays473INFO@marincounty.org
The Spahr Center is opening its Food Pantryto seniors who need support in meeting their nutrition needs. Items such as fresh meats, eggs and dairy, prepared meals, pasta, sauces, and canned goods are delivered weekly to people who sign up. Contact The Spahr Center for more information: info@thespahrcenter.org or 415/457.2487
Trouble paying rent? Check out these short videos from Marin County:1. Marin County Eviction Ban2. If you can’t pay your rent3. Paying the rent that you owe4.Help is available Marin Center for Independent Living is offering various kinds of support to people with disabilities as well as older adults to prepare them for possible Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS).Click here: MarinCIL Has your employment or business been impacted by COVID-19? Check out these local resources…click here: WorkForce Alliance Snap Back Assistance, up to $800 for COVID-19 affected workers:Call: 415/473-3300 Free Covid-19 Testing
Questions? Assistance? We have resources and volunteers for:grocery deliveryfood assistancehelp with technology issues such as using zoomproviding weekly comfort calls to check in on youtherapy with Spahr therapists on a sliding scale basisplus more!
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.
Come 2020, and that figure has doubled to 28 per cent who voted for the Trump-Pence ticket – even despite the absolute onslaught of anti-queer attacks by the administration.
Around 61 per cent of LGBT+ voters went for Biden at the ballots. The study found that of the 15,590 voters interviewed, around seven per cent were LGBT+.
As much as Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has netted an, albeit, slim majority of the queer male vote, securing 51 per cent, it signalled to pollsters how the president’s brand of bullish showmanship has roiled the political landscape.
Indeed, the LGBT+ voting bloc has long been reliably Democratic. The poll conducted by queer dating app Hornet found that, overall among its users, around 66 per cent prefer Biden while 34 per cent support Trump.
But for queer Americans, pollsters said, the statistics were far tighter together. Just less than half of queer men said they do not support Trump, and a slither of just 11 per cent said they generally disagree with his stances.
Trump and his campaign team increasingly looked towards LGBT+ people as a way to buttress support amid the president’s cratering polls.
Among some of the Republican’s core voting blocs, such as white evangelicals, many do at least generally support LGBT+ rights, according to a 2019 survey.
But the president’s track record has seen him harshly erode many pre-existing LGBT+ rights. Trans rights, in particular, have been taken to with a buzz saw by the Trump administration, across countless federal departments and programs – defence, housing, health and education.
In Jordan, medical professionals and health facilities are mandated to report an individual’s HIV status to the government. Foreign nationals found to be HIV-positive are summarily deported regardless of the consequences to their health and safety and banned for life from returning.
Earlier this year, an Iraqi gay man living with HIV fled to Jordan to escape persecution he faced at home for being gay, yet he could not access HIV treatment without being immediately deported. When his health rapidly deteriorated, he could not seek medical attention for fear of being deported. Whatever decision he made would threaten his life.
Jordan also obliges nationals to undergo HIV testing when seeking employment in the public sector and for non-nationals obtaining work permits, and denies them jobs if they are HIV-positive. It also requires testing for non-nationals renewing residency permits. For LGBT people living with HIV, the stigma and discrimination by medical professionals and employers often bars them from accessing basic rights, without any legal recourse.
Abdallah Hanatleh, executive director of “Sawaed,” an Amman-based organization that facilitates access to HIV treatment, told Human Rights Watch that his organization documents dozens of deportations based on HIV status annually.
Jordan is not alone in this abusive practice. Gulf states including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates also deport people found to be HIV-positive without any provision for continuity of care. Worse yet, in Jordan, as in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, HIV-positive foreign nationals in the criminal justice system are denied adequate access to treatment in prison. “They are placed in solitary confinement, further isolating and stigmatizing them,” Hanatleh said.
International law prohibits deportations based solely on HIV status. Jordan should explicitly ban discrimination based on HIV status and stop deporting HIV-positive individuals under the principle of non-refoulement. This principle applies to asylum seekers and refugees, and for people with HIV, it means that governments are prohibited from returning them — depending on how advanced the disease — to places where they do not have adequate access to medical care and social support, or where they risk being subjected to persecution or degrading treatment on account of their HIV status.
Jordan should not mandate reporting of HIV status and employers should not be requiring HIV testing in the first place. People living with HIV should never be forced to forego lifesaving treatment in order to avoid deportation to danger.
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 the support I got, and it’s exactly why I’m so grateful,” McGuffey said.
Hamilton County, population 800,000, includes Cincinnati.
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 New York City could live” during the pandemic.
Torres could be joined by Mondaire Jones, who’s currently ahead in his race for New York’s 17th Congressional District, as the first gay Black members of Congress.
Torres, 32, a Bronx native, is the youngest member of the New York City Council, where he has advocated for better public housing and programs to address racially concentrated poverty. (His congressional district is the poorest in the country.)
He has been an ardent proponent of police reform, calling for increased accountability and independent oversight, saying that without them, “there’s never going to be an end to police brutality.”
“Police departments across the country cannot be trusted to police themselves,” Torres told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” earlier this year. “There has to be an independent system for investigating, punishing and, if necessary, prosecuting police misconduct.”
In September, he called for the resignation of Ed Mullins, president of the New York Police Department’s Sergeants Benevolent Association, after Mullins tweeted Torres was a “first class whore.”
“Calling an openly LGBTQ Afro-Latino a ‘first-class whore.’ There is NOTHING benevolent about the bigotry of the @SBANYPD,” Torres tweeted in response. “Ed Mullins must resign.”
Mullins insisted his now-deleted comment was in reference to Torres’ “dangerous policies and worldview,” not his sexuality.
Diaz, 77, a Pentecostal minister, has referred to gay people as “cursed” and voted against legalizing same-sex marriage in 2009 and 2011 as a member of the New York State Senate. Last year, Diaz described the New York City Council, which has five openly LGBTQ members, as being “controlled by the homosexual community.”
After the comment, Torres worked with City Council Speaker Corey Johnson, who is also gay, to strip Diaz of committee positions.
Torres is the first openly gay elected official from the Bronx and blames Diaz for fostering a “homophobic culture” in the borough.
“It’s personal,” Torres told NBC News last year. “He made the experience of running for public office more terrifying for me.”
A record 26 openly gay candidates for the House and Senate were on the ballot Tuesday, according to the LGBTQ Victory Fund, which advocates for and trains out elected representatives. Many of those races have not yet been called.
“Most would have thought New York City’s first LGBTQ member of Congress would be from Chelsea or Greenwich Village or Hell’s Kitchen,” Victory Fund President Annise Parker said in a statement, “but the Bronx beat them to it.”
Torres’ victory, Parker added, “gives hope at a time when many Americans desperately need it.”
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 re-election after 44 years, had endorsed McBride.
The 1st District covers Bellefonte, Claymont and parts of Wilmington, the state’s largest city.
“I’ve spent my life fighting for people to have dignity, peace of mind, and a fair shot at staying afloat and getting ahead,” McBride said in a statement announcing her candidacy last year. “Sen. McDowell’s retirement at the end of this term is a well-deserved cap on a remarkable career of public service, and now our neighbors need someone who will continue to fight for them.”
McBride, a former spokesperson for the LGBTQ advocacy group Human Rights Campaign, made national headlines in 2012 when she stepped down as American University’s student body president and came out as trans in the school’s student newspaper.
While still in college, she interned with the Obama administration, becoming the first out transgender woman to work in the White House, according to her campaign announcement.
McBride then became the first trans person to speak at a major political convention in 2016, when she addressed Democrats in Philadelphia.
There are four transgender people in state legislatures, according to the LGBTQ Victory Fund. The first was Danica Roem, who won a seat in the Virginia House in 2017.
“For Sarah to shatter a lavender ceiling in such a polarizing year is a powerful reminder that voters are increasingly rejecting the politics of bigotry in favor of candidates who stand for fairness and equality,” said Annise Parker, president of the LGBTQ Victory Fund, which works to train and support out candidates.
Alphonso David, president of the Human Rights Campaign, said McBride “made history not just for herself but for our entire community.”
“This victory, the first of what I expect to be many in her career, shows that any person can achieve their dream, no matter their gender identity or sexual orientation,” he said.
