Jul 27, 2016; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Rep. Mark Takano, (D-CA), speaks as he stands with fellow Asian American and Pacific Island members of Congress, during the 2016 Democratic National Convention Photo: Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY
Rep. Mark Takano (D-CA) was just an 18-year-old Californian when, in 1978, conservative state legislator John Briggs sponsored a ballot initiative to ban gays and lesbians from working in public schools so they wouldn’t “sexually orient” and “recruit” children. Voters defeated the initiative, but Takano now sees the same playbook being recycled by anti-LGBTQ+ Republicans against the transgender community.
To help combat such bigotry, Takano joined then-Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO) in 2014 to co-found the Equality PAC, a political action committee dedicated to supporting LGBTQ+ House candidates and allies who want to pass the Equality Act, legislation that would outlaw anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination nationwide.
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The PAC has since gone from soliciting $100 donations from just a few donors to raising over $50 million from generous supporters and business leaders across the nation. In addition to its robust online program, this year the PAC held a donor retreat in Palm Springs, California; monthly breakfasts in Washington, D.C., with influential House members as special guests; and virtual calls with big-dollar supporters.
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“A substantial number of our contributors are LGBTQ themselves, but also many, many allies who believe in the principle that freedom and equality are the birthright of everyone and that no one can be excluded,” Takano tells LGBTQ Nation. “Our mission has always been about making sure that LGBTQ persons have a seat at the most important table in our in our country, which is the U.S. Congress.”
McBride brings a record of bipartisan accomplishments in her home state, including a ban on anti-LGBTQ+ “panic defenses” used to justify violence against queer people, Takano says.
“Sarah McBride made the case with her Republican colleagues by, in a way, disarming them because of who she is, by humanizing trans people, by showing that trans people are people just like anybody else,” he says. He believes her impact in the House could be “tremendous” in helping pass the Equality Act despite Republican’s panic- and fear-based arguments against it.
McBride and all the PAC’s endorsed candidates are “battle-tested,” Takano says, with proven success in electoral politics, the emotional fortitude to go through the criticism and constant ups and downs of a campaign, and the ability to persuade a community.
Takano is the lead sponsor of the Equality Act, and he will also serve as the future Chair of the House Equality Caucus, one of the largest active dues-paying House memberships. The caucus supports a range of pro-LGBTQ+ efforts, including bans on so-called conversion therapy and a commission to study discrimination against queer military service members so that their honor and benefits might be restored.
Recent attacks on LGBTQ+ rights have come from religious conservative groups like Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), Takano says. Organizations like ADF have ” extreme moral beliefs” about “appropriating the powers of government” to “impose their will on other people,” he adds.
“It’s part of a gambit they’re making, that they can take advantage and leverage the lack of understanding of a lot of our [LGBTQ+ community members],” he says. “It’s a cynical strategy just to gain power … to cause other people to be afraid of them, but with all sorts of distortion and lies.”
As these attacks have increased, so too has the number of LGBTQ+ voters supporting former President Donald Trump (even despite his pledge to legally protect religious-based discrimination). It’s possible that more LGBTQ+ voters supported Trump in 2020 than did in 2016, The Washington Post reported, which said that exit poll results were mixed. Some later polls, like GLAAD’s, found that there wasn’t an increase in LGBTQ+ people supporting Republicans.
But this possible increase doesn’t worry Takano, who believes some queer voters may be won over by Republicans’ anti-immigrant and anti-trans rhetoric, other emotional appeals, or the belief that it will secure their own status.
“I’m not surprised, but I’m disappointed,” he says, “but I think the solution is to stand strong and to continue to make the case, even to our own community. And there does need to be, within our community, more and more leaders to stand up … for the rights of all of our community.”
Last night, Equality PAC raised over $260,000 for Frontline candidates!
We know that building a Pro-Equality Majority in the House means making sure our Frontliners have what they need to win.
“I think the watch for the watch phrase here is to ‘keep your eye on the prize,’” Takano says. “Electing a president is highly consequential, and it’s not just that president’s judgments alone, but the judgments that the thousands of people who will animate that president’s administration. The consequences of those judgments are going to be strong.”
Vice President Kamala Harris is the far better choice for protecting LGBTQ+ Americans, he says, especially considering the many judicial and administrative appointments – and even Supreme Court Justices – the next president will be responsible for. And to achieve Democrats’ larger aims of protecting abortion access, healthcare, and other progressive goals, he adds, will require queer and allied representation in Congress.
“And I’m saying this is one of the progressives in Congress,” he continues. “This is too important election to sit out…. Progress is not always made, and in a day or a week, a month. Look at it from a perspective of a lifetime of work we got to get done.”
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