The presidential election did not go well for LGBTQ+ people, but there were other elections, and here are some positive results to cogitate on today.
This will be the most LGBTQ+ House of Representatives ever
Reelection victories have been called in eight out of the nine races that include the current out LGBTQ+ members of Congress. The ninth, Rep. Mark Takano’s (D-CA), has him nearly 10 points ahead of his opponent with over half of the votes counted.
Add to this number the three newly elected LGBTQ+ people to the House – Reps.-elect Sarah McBride (D-DE), Julie Johnson (D-TX), and Emily Randall (D-WA) – with two other challengers whose races haven’t been called – California state Assemblymember Evan Low’s and California former federal prosecutor Will Rollins’ – and this will likely be the most LGBTQ+ House of Representatives ever.
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The previous record was 11 out members, set in 2023. During the last two years, former Rep. David Cicilline (D-RI) stepped down from his seat, and disgraced Rep. George Santos (R-NY) was forced out of Congress.
Congress will finally have an out transgender member
With Rep.-elect Sarah McBride’s win in Delaware, Congress will finally have trans representation for the first time in its history.
And it comes not a moment too soon. Republicans made this past election a referendum on transgender issues, discussing them in a barrage of hateful ads while never actually talking to transgender people.
“There’s never been a time in U.S. history when we’ve needed trans representation in government more than now,” wrote LGBTQ Nation’s Faefyx Collington earlier today. “Our rights are being attacked and stripped at every level. Without someone who truly understands the trans experience in the room at a federal level, there’s little hope for an effective end to the bleeding.”
Voters in three – and maybe four – states backed LGBTQ+ equality
LGBTQ+ rights were on the ballot in four states. California, Colorado, and Hawaii voters were asked to remove language banning marriage equality from their state laws, just in case the Supreme Court rolls back its 2015 Obergefell decision legalizing marriage equality in every state. And New York voters had a civil rights ballot initiative to consider that adds sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression to the state’s equal rights amendment.
The pro-LGBTQ+ ballot initiatives in California, Colorado, and New York won. Voters in those three states have decisively sided with LGBTQ+ rights. And Hawaii’s ballot question is doing well, getting 56% of the vote with 76% of votes counted, but that’s not yet enough to call that election.
Three of the biggest anti-LGBTQ+ politicians in North Carolina all lost
Three major anti-LGBTQ+ politicians were on the statewide ballot in North Carolina: Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson (R) was running for governor, Republican Michele Morrow was running for superintendent of public instruction, and Rep. Dan Bishop (R) was running for attorney general.
They all lost.
Robinson made national headlines for years for his extreme anti-LGBTQ+ statements, including calling gay people “filthy” “demons” who “mentally rape” children and saying that trans people should have to use the bathroom in the street. Morrow claimed that the “+” in “LGBTQ+” refers to pedophilia and called for a televised execution of Barack Obama. Bishop introduced the state’s infamous HB2, a law that banned trans people from using the correct bathroom and banned cities from passing LGBTQ+-inclusive anti-discrimination laws.
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