“It was agreed within the parliament to collect signatures after returning to session to legislate a law prohibiting homosexuality in Iraq,” Aref al-Hamami, an MP with the State of Law coalition said on Friday. “[The] legislation of such a law will be reinforced by legal provisions that prevent homosexuality and the perversions associated with it.”
Amir Ashour, head of the LGBTQ group IraQueer, said that the proposed law would “allow the Iraqi government to legally get away with murder.”
In a statement Ashour went on to say that “The Iraqi government is using their hatred for LGBT+ people to distract the public from their failure to form a government, provide basic services, and hold perpetrators accountable for different human rights violations.”
Ashour went on to challenge the international community to put pressure on Iraqi to make sure the law is not passed. “The lives of LGBT+ people and the future of the queer movement is on the line.”
Although homosexuality was legalized after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, LGBTQ Iraqi’s have continued to be persecuted under the country’s laws punishing “immodest acts.” Human Rights Watch reports that 11 LGBTQ individuals were arrested in June 2021 for “public indecency.”
In 2020, political and religious leaders in Iraq condemned several embassies and international organizations for flying the rainbow flag in honor of the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia, and Biphobia.
In a lengthy Twitter thread, Ashour detailed the gravity of the situation for Iraq’s LGBTQ citizens.
“Local legal ‘experts’ [in Iraq] mistakenly compare queer identities to ‘shameful acts’; which in their opinion include ‘prostitution’ claiming that these ‘crimes’ are punished by the death penalty,” Ashour tweeted last week.
He asserts that the country “is currently being led by a group of fundamentalist terrorists who are leading armed groups and spreading fear and violence instead of protecting the human rights of Iraqis and building a country for all citizens, including #LGBT+ citizens.”
“While #LGBT+ Iraqis have been the target of systematic killing campaigns and things are as bad as it gets, this law will allow the government to ‘legally’ get away with murder putting #LGBT+ citizens and those advocating for us in greater danger.”
Today, the Television Academy announced the nominations for the 74th annual Emmy Awards, and there were many LGBTQ and LGBTQ-adjacent shows, specials, and performers represented in the list.
It should probably surprise no one that Emmy favorites RuPaul’s Drag Race and Queer Eyewere nominated in many of the reality TV categories. Drag Race is in the running for Outstanding Competition Program once again, while both shows are up for Outstanding Production Design for a Variety, Reality or Competition Series and Outstanding Casting for a Reality Program.
RuPaul himself is nominated for Host for a Reality or Competition Program along with all five members of the Queer Eye crew.
Meanwhile, YouTube’s The Randy Rainbow Show scored a nomination for Outstanding Short Form Comedy, Drama or Variety Series.
Among the major acting categories announced live today by J.B. Smoove and Melissa Fumero, Sarah Paulson was the only out nominee, with her nod for Lead Actress in a Limited Series for her role as Linda Tripp in FX’s Impeachment: American Crime Story.
But she’s far from the only out talent nominated this year. Bowen Yang is nominated once again in the Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series category for his work on Saturday Night Live, and Murray Bartlett got a nom for Supporting Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series for his role in The White Lotus. Hacks’ Hannah Einbinder and SNL’s Kate McKinnon are both up for Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series.
Nathan Lane and Jane Lynch are both up for guest acting nominations for their roles in Hulu’s Only Murders in the Building. Jerrod Carmichael picked up a nomination for hosting SNL as well as one for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special for his special Rothaniel.
Last summer’s surprise hit The White Lotus is also up for Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series, and openly bisexual creator Mike White is nominated for Outstanding Writing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie.
Plenty of actors who don’t necessarily identify as LGBTQ were also nominated for their performances as queer characters. Colin Firth got a nod for Lead Actor in a Limited Series for his role as bisexual Michael Peterson in HBO’s The Staircase. Both Jodie Comer and Sandra Oh were recognized in the Lead Actress in Drama Series category for their final turns as dueling assassins/on-again-off-again lovers in Killing Eve, while Alex Borstein was nominated for Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for her role as Susie Myerson in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. And both John Turturo and Christopher Walken received nominations for their roles in Severance.
LGBTQ characters, creators, and performers are all over TV. Outstanding Comedy and Drama Series nominees Abbott Elementary, What We Do in the Shadows, Barry, Euphoria, and Yellowjackets all feature prominent queer characters and, in a couple cases (Abbott, Euphoria), actual LGBTQ actors.
Finally, and depressingly, Emmy voters were apparently more than willing to ignore Dave Chappelle’s unapologetic transphobia, giving the comedian’s special The Closernominations for both Outstanding Pre-Recorded Variety Special and Outstanding Directing for a Variety Special.
A transgender woman is suing a franchise of the notoriously anti-LGBTQ fast-food chain Chick-fil-a for harassment and wrongful termination after she was allegedly subjected to homophobic comments and sexual harassment.
Aaron White had barely started her first day of training to become director of operations at a Chick-fil-a location in Decatur, Georgia when a co-worker allegedly sexually harassed her by saying, “I would eat your a*s and p***y” and “On God, I will f**k the s**t out of you.”
The on-duty shift leader reportedly told White to share what happened with the franchise owner, Joe Engert. Engert allegedly replied by telling White that “it should be an honor… [as] a transgender woman that someone liked her enough to hit on her,” White’s lawsuit states.
After Engert spoke with the accused employee, the employee allegedly began making violent, racist, and homophobic threats referencing White, including statements such as, “On God, I’m not with that gay s**t,” and “Hell nah, I’ll beat that gay [n-word] a*s.” White said the employee was never reprimanded, and that Engert said he would have to investigate White’s behavior if she continued reporting claims of harassment.
As word of White’s trans identity began to spread, other employees began to misgender her and direct homophobic comments at her, White alleges. Some employees claimed that the bad scent coming from a broken pipe in the restaurant had actually come from White’s hormone replacement therapy.
Engert later fired White for tardiness and for abruptly leaving her shift. But White says Engert didn’t fire other employees at her same level who had also been tardy. She also said she had received approval to leave her shift early, alleging that Engert only fired her for her LGBTQ identity.
“Defendant [Engert] did not take reasonable steps to correct the situation or prevent the harassment from recurring after being notified by Plaintiff [White] on numerous occasions,” White’s court filing states.
White now seeks damages for emotional pain and suffering, inconvenience, mental anguish, loss of enjoyment of life, lost wages, and other non-financial losses. She filed her lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.
Though Chick-fil-A franchises are individually owned, the fast-food chain has been synonymous with anti-LGBTQ ideology since 2012 when it was caught making donations to anti-LGBTQ organizations that oppose marriage equality and support conversion therapy. When asked about the company’s donations, then-CEO Dan Cathy said that the company was “guilty as charged” because they want to promote “the biblical definition of the family unit.”
Chick-fil-A later said they would stop funding organizations with “political agendas.” But years later, they were caught donating to anti-LGBTQ groups yet again. In June 2021, Cathy was caught using the profits gained from the company to fund hate groups that helped pass anti-transgender bills all over the country as well as a campaign to stop the Equality Act from becoming law.
Three Nigerian men convicted of engaging in homosexuality have been sentenced to death by stoning by an Islamic sharia court in the country’s northern state of Bauchi.
The three men, including a 70-year-old, were arrested on June 14 and have allegedly confessed to the crime, according to the head of the religious police in Bauchi. They were sentenced late last week but can appeal within 30 days.
Nigeria’s Same-Sex Marriage (Prohibition) Act, which was signed into law by former President Goodluck Jonathan in 2014, makes same-sex relationships punishable by up to 14 years in prison. But in the predominantly Muslim areas of northern Nigeria, sharia courts are used to punish crimes like adultery and blasphemy, though death penalties passed by sharia courts must be approved by the state governor.
Activists are speaking out on the wake of the sentencing. YouTuber Victor Emmanueltweeted about the sentencing over the weekend, expressing his frustration that it wasn’t sparking more outrage.
“I remember when that girl was burned to death by religious extremists and the whole Twitter was on fire,” he wrote. “Now three men have been sentenced to death by stoning for homosexuality in Bauchi and y’all are quiet?????”
Maduagwu posted an image on Instagram with the text: “I was born GAY I am still Gay And will forever remain GAY [sic]” The message went on to decry “erroneous” and “undemocratic” sharia laws in northern Nigeria.
Maduagwu, who had previously denied being gay, also called on President Joe Biden to sanction Nigeria for “ignoring the fundamental human rights” of its LGBTQ citizens.
“Dear President Joe Biden, we need the US government to sanction President Buhari and his top advisers over ignoring the Fundamental Human rights of #LGBT in Nigeria,” he wrote in the post’s caption.
“just few days ago, a Sharia court sentence #Gay men to be STONED, is this our country a #Democracy or #Banana Republic? Yet, our President and his CORRUPT ministers kept quiet, he keeps traveling to different developed countries like KUNU Mosquito, yet he never borrow wisdom from these countries RESPECT for Human Right.”
“The same set of people who gives judgement for Gay people to be STONED are the same that takes laws into their hands all in the name of Christian blasphemy on Mohammed, when will this madness stop?”
Members of the Proud Boys disrupted yet another Pride-themed children’s program at a public library earlier this week. On Monday, seven men wearing the violent far-right group’s signature black and yellow polo shirts and other Proud Boys paraphernalia entered the St. Joseph County Public Library’s Virginia M. Tutt Branch in South Bend, IN where the Rainbow Family Storytime and arts and crafts event was scheduled to take place.
Photos posted on social media also show the men flashing white supremacist hand signs while smiling for the camera.
Members of the extremist group, whose leaders were indicted earlier this month on charges of seditious conspiracy for their alleged roles in the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, entered the library before the event was scheduled to begin. Local police were called, but the disruption forced the library to cancel the event.
“This definitely came as a shock,” library system communications manager Marissa Gebhard told WVPE News. “We were not anticipating any problems.”
She added that the library plans to reschedule the event in the coming months and is determining whether additional security measures are necessary going forward.
“The bottom line is that the library will continue to offer inclusive programming,” Gebhard said. “A library is a place of belonging, and it’s a place for everyone.”
This is the fourth reported incident this month of Proud Boys members disrupting children’s events at libraries. Over the weekend, pro-LGBTQ counter-protesters created a human shield to block a group protesting an event at a library in Texas, while in Nevada a Proud Boys member reportedly armed with a gun disrupted a Drag Queen Story Hour event. Earlier this month, members of the hate group, which has been designated a terrorist organization in Canada and New Zealand, stormed a Drag Queen Story Hour at the San Lorenzo Library in California and another Pride Story Time event in Wilmington, North Carolina, reportedly with the support of local police.
Far-right groups like the Proud Boys have been targeting family-friendly Pride events all month, instigated in part by anti-LGBTQ social media disinformation, right-wing media, and rhetoric from Republican lawmakers accusing the LGBTQ community and its allies of “grooming” children for abuse.
As Republican attacks on transgender people continue nationwide, five Democratic House representatives have introduced a Transgender Bill of Rights that would protect trans and non-binary people.
The bill would ban discrimination against gender identity and expression in public accommodations, employment, housing, and credit. The bill would also ensure access to gender-affirming medical care — including abortion and contraception — and would ban forced surgery on intersex children and infants. Intersex individuals are often subject to unnecessary genital surgeries before they can provide informed consent.
The bill would ban so-called “conversion therapy,” the pseudoscientific form of mental torture that purports to turn trans and non-binary people cisgender. The bill would also invest in community services to prevent anti-trans and anti-nonbinary violence as well as mental health services to assist survivors of violence and other community members.
Last, the bill would require the U.S. attorney general to designate a liaison within the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division to enforce the civil rights of transgender people.
The bill was introduced by Democratic Representatives Pramila Jayapal (WA), David Cicilline (RI), Marie Newman (IL), Mark Takano (CA), and Ritchie Torres (NY). Cicilline, Takano, and Torres are out as gay. Newman, who just lost her primary election to a moderate, has a transgender daughter, and Jayapal has a non-binary child. The bill has 83 co-sponsors.
Between January and May of 2022, Republicans in state legislatures across the country introduced more than 300 anti-LGBTQ bills, most of them targeting transgender youth, Takano said. Many of the anti-trans bills try to block youth access to sports, school sports and gender-affirming care — all of which can increase mental distress and suicidal ideation among trans people.
“Our transgender and non-binary siblings are hurting,” said Cicilline, Chair of the Congressional LGBTQ+ Equality Caucus. “Across the country, radical right-wing Republicans have introduced hundreds of bills attacking the LGBTQ+ community — particularly transgender and nonbinary youth — to score political points…. As Members of Congress we need to not just condemn these efforts but also put forward a vision of what equality truly looks like.”
Newman said, “The ability for trans folks to live free from discrimination is quite literally a life-and-death issue. This legislation is especially crucial right now, as right-wing extremists have grown increasingly vicious and targeted in their harassment of transgender Americans, both through the legislative process and outside of it.”
The bill also has the support of 26 LGBTQ and allied organizations including the Human Rights Campaign, the Movement Advancement Project, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, the National Center for Transgender Equality, the National Immigrant Justice Center, and PFLAG National.
While the bill is unlikely to find the 10 Republican senators necessary to bypass the chamber’s filibuster, it still provides a roadmap for other states, cities, and organizations looking to protect trans and non-binary people’s civil rights.
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has expressed interest in loosening libel and defamation laws to allow an anti-LGBTQ hate church to sue an organization that called them out as a hate group.
Thomas, who supports ending same-sex marriage in the U.S., expressed this interest in his recent dissent disagreeing with the Supreme Court’s decision not to hear the anti-LGBTQ church’s case.
He was the lone dissenter to comment on the court’s recent refusal to hear a lawsuit brought by D. James Kennedy Ministries, an evangelical Christian media company that operates the Florida-based Coral Ridge Ministries (CRM).
CRM sued the Southern Poverty Law Center (SLPC) for libelous defamation after SLPC listing CRM as a hate group. CRM said that in 2017, the online retailer Amazon cited the SLPC’s listing as a reason to block CRM from participating in its AmazonSmile program. The program lets Amazon users to donate to nonprofit organizations. (AmazonSmile has a history of allowing other anti-LGBTQ groups to fundraise through its platform.)
The SLPC noted that the church was founded by Rev. D. James Kennedy, a man who promoted the anti-gay works of R.J. Rushdoony, a man who supported the death penalty for homosexual “abominators.” Kennedy’s 1989 CRM newsletter included photos of kids along with the tagline, “Sex With Children? Homosexuals Say Yes!”
In 2009, CRM hired anti-gay activist Robert Knight as a senior writer. Knight has opposed letting “pansexual, cross-dressing” homosexuals serve openly in the military. Knight has written that gay marriage “entices children to experiment with homosexuality” and said that acceptance of homosexuality leads to “a loss of stability in communities, with a rise in crime, sexually transmitted diseases and other social pathologies. Still another is a shortage of employable, stable people,” the SLPC noted.
When CRM sued SLPC, a federal district court judge dismissed CRM’s defamation claim because Supreme Court precedent says that a libel charge must prove malicious intent. CRM couldn’t, but they appealed the judge’s decision anyway. The group received a second legal defeat in July 2021 when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit upheld the lower court’s dismissal, Law & Crime reported.
“We hold that the district court was correct in finding that Coral Ridge’s interpretation of Title II would violate the First Amendment by essentially forcing Amazon to donate to organizations it does not support,” the three-judge panel wrote in its decision.
The Supreme Court declined to hear CRM’s case on Monday. In his dissent, Thomas wrote that the SPLC “caused Coral Ridge concrete financial injury by excluding it from the AmazonSmile donation program.” He also said that the court should revisit the “actual malice” standard in libel cases established by the Supreme Court’s 1964 decision in New York Times v. Sullivan.
In that case, the then-Montgomery, Alabama Public Safety Commissioner L.B. Sullivan sued The New York Times for publishing an ad that had several factual inaccuracies about the local police. Since his post oversees police action, the ad defamed him by proxy, he argued.
The court ruled that the First Amendment allows newspapers to defame public officials, even with false statements, as long as they don’t act with “actual malice.” Actual malice was defined as making a false statement to deliberately harm another person or with reckless disregard for whether a statement is true or false.
The court’s ruling sets U.S. libel law from that of other countries, such as the United Kingdom. In the U.K., libel law requires that one must simply prove that a false statement has harmed one’s reputation, regardless of intent.
In his dissent, Thomas wrote, “This case is one of many showing how New York Times and its progeny have allowed media organizations and interest groups ‘to cast false aspersions on public figures with near impunity.’”
He said that the Supreme Court justices who decided the New York Times case issued “policy-driven decisions masquerading as constitutional law.” He added that the justices “never even inquired whether ‘the First or Fourteenth Amendment, as originally understood, encompasses an actual-malice standard.’”
Thomas’ willingness to weaken libel laws follows his stated wish to overturn previous Supreme Court decisions legalizing access to contraceptives and same-sex marriage rights as well as the 2003 ruling that struck down anti-sodomy laws as discriminatory against gay people.
In his footnote on the recent ruling overturning Roe v. Wade, Thomas wrote that the Supreme Court “erroneously” decided in the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision to treat abortion as a fundamental right that should be free from government interference, something known in legal terms as “substantive due process.”
Thomas wrote, “We should reconsider all of this Court’s substantive due process precedents. We have a duty to ‘correct the error’ established in those precedents… For that reason, in future cases, we should reconsider all of this Court’s substantive due process precedents, including Griswold [the case that granted the right to contraception] Lawrence [the case that struck down anti-sodomy laws], and Obergefell [the case that legalized marriage equality].”
The most recent round of primary elections this week saw wins for LGBTQ lawmakers in at least three states ahead of November’s general election.
Former meteorologist Eric Sorensen won the Democratic primary for Illinois’s 17th Congressional District, putting him on track to be the first out LGBTQ lawmaker ever elected to Congress from the state. He’ll face off against Republican nominee Esther Joy King in November in a race that the New York Times is calling a toss-up.
In Colorado, incumbent Gov. Jared Polis (D) will defend his seat against Republican nominee Heidi Ganahl. The only out gay man elected governor of a U.S. state, Polis ran unopposed in the Democratic primary.
Elsewhere in the state, incumbent state Rep. Brianna Titone (D), the first transgender person to serve in the Colorado legislature, will now face Republican nominee Christina Carlino in the race to represent Colorado’s 27th congressional district.
Oklahoma state Rep. Mauree Turner (D), the first nonbinary person elected to any state legislature, handily beat challenger Joe Lewis in the Democratic primary, and will now go on to face independent Jed Green in the general.
In Utah, state Sen. Derek Kitchen (D), the only out LGBTQ member of the state’s legislature, leads challenger Dr. Jennifer Plumb by two points. That primary has not yet been called.
Tuesday’s elections also saw Rep Marie Newman (D-IL) lose her race against fellow incumbent Rep. Sean Casten. The two lawmakers found themselves competing in the same district after Illinois legislators redrew the state’s congressional map. Newman, whose daughter is transgender, was seen as the more progressive of the two Representatives. The defeat would seem to bring to an end her ongoing battle with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), whose office is located across from hers, over a trans Pride flag Newman posted outside her door.
Meanwhile, anti-LGBTQ extremist Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) won her primary after denouncing the separation of church and state, one of the cornerstones of American democracy.
“And I’m tired of this ‘separation of church and state’ junk, that’s not in the Constitution. It was in a stinking letter and it means nothing like what they say it does,” Boebert recently told the crowd at the Cornerstone Christian Center in Basalt, Colorado.
Nearly a dozen anti-LGBTQ bills are scheduled to go into effect today in states across the U.S. Alabama, Florida, Indiana, South Dakota, Tennessee, and Utah will all see restrictions placed on trans athletes, bans on LGBTQ topics in public schools, and other laws.
More than 300 anti-LGBTQ bills have been introduced in state houses across the county this year. Over two dozen have passed, and ten of those go into effect today—a grim record for 2022. According to the Trevor Project, July 1 represents the single day when the most anti-LGBTQ bills will be implemented this year.
“We’ve already seen the impact of debating bills targeting our young people,” Sam Ames, director of advocacy and government affairs for The Trevor Project said. “85% of transgender and nonbinary youth say recent debates about state laws restricting the rights of transgender people have negatively impacted their mental health. And now, LGBTQ youth will have to face the reality of these harmful bills being enacted into law, waking up to find they are no longer able to say who they are at school, safely use the bathroom, or play sports with their friends.”
One of the laws taking effect today is Florida’s infamous HB 1557, commonly known as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill for its ban on any mention of LGBTQ issues, people, or history in kindergarten through third grade. The bill, which Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signed into law earlier this year, has provided a template for similar laws across the U.S., some of which go into effect today as well.
But new polling data released this week by The Trevor Project and Morning Consult finds that most Florida voters oppose banning or limiting LGBTQ content in public schools. They’re also less likely to vote for candidates who support criminalizing gender-affirming care for trans youth.
Florida’s so-called “Stop Woke Act” also takes effect today. The law aims to limit the instruction of topics related to the history of racism in the U.S.
Florida’s new laws may be the most high-profile, but they certainly aren’t the only anti-LGBTQ laws taking effect today. In Alabama, HB 322 will restrict transgender students from using bathrooms and locker rooms that align with their gender identity and ban instruction of LGBTQ topics in schools, similar to Florida’s law.
Bans on transgender women and girls competing in sports take effect in both Indiana and South Dakota. South Dakota’s HB 1012 will also place restrictions on LGBTQ topics in higher education.
In Tennessee, a total of three anti-LGBTQ laws take effect today. Two are aimed at limiting trans participation in sports, while a third restricts LGBTQ materials available in schools. And yet another law banning transgender women and girls from participating in sports takes effect today in Utah.
“Pride Month may be over, but the fight goes on,” Ames said. “We enter July with a reminder that the LGBTQ community is part of a legacy of resistance and resilience. And we call on every elected official, company, community member and leader who wore a rainbow flag yesterday to make good on that commitment today. It will take each of us working together to build a safer, more affirming world for LGBTQ youth.”
As voters head to the polls today for primaries in 5 states and the District of Columbia, a record number of LGBTQ candidates for federal office are bringing the prospect of equal representation in Washington ever closer to reality.
A record 104 LGBTQ candidates have mounted campaigns for House or Senate seats this year, with 57 candidates still in the running.
Currently, 11 out LGBTQ lawmakers serve in Congress, including Sens. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), plus nine members of the House, all running for reelection.
Nine more LGBTQ candidates for House seats are in competitive races. Wins in their states would bring total LGBTQ representation in the House to 4%, or about half of the estimated population of LGBTQ people in the US.
Those nine include 4 women, 2 Latinx candidates, and an LGBTQ immigrant.
Here’s a breakdown:
In Vermont, state senator Becca Balint is facing off against three other Democrats in the August 9 primary for a shot at an open seat representing Vermont’s At-Large Congressional District. Balint is the first woman and first out gay person to serve as the Vermont Senate President Pro Tempore, and would be the first out LGBTQ person and the first woman elected to Congress from Vermont.
In North Carolina, County Commissioner Jasmine Beach-Ferrara, won the Democratic primary handily and faces off against Republican Chuck Edwards for a seat currently occupied by primary loser Madison Cawthorn.
Beach-Ferrara is an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ and the founding Executive Director of the Campaign for Southern Equality (CSE) and would be the first out LGBTQ person elected to any federal position from North Carolina.
In Arizona, state representative Daniel Hernandez faces off against two other candidates in the Democratic primary in August for an open seat in Arizona’s 6th congressional district.
Hernandez attended the University of Arizona and interned for then-Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, whom he was with the day she was shot; he was the first to administer first aid to the Congresswoman before the EMTs arrived. He was named a national hero by President Obama.
Hernandez would be the second Latinx out LGBTQ member of Congress.
In New York, former Congressional aide and businessman Robert Zimmerman will face off against five other Democrats for an open seat in the August 23 primary in Long Island’s 3rd congressional district.
Zimmerman has been honored by the LGBTQ Network of Long Island and Queens and the Long Island Progressive Coalition, in addition to serving as President of Great Neck B’nai B’rith and the American Jewish Congress Long Island Division.
The Empire State’s congressional delegation currently includes three LGBTQ members: Ritchie Torres, the first out LGBTQ Afro-Latinx person elected to the U.S. Congress; Mondaire Jones, one of the first two Black gay men, along with Torres, elected to Congress; and Sean Patrick Maloney.
Zimmerman would be the first out LGBTQ member of Congress from Long Island.
In California, two-term Long Beach mayor Robert Garcia is running for an open seat to represent the city in Congress from California’s 42nd district. Garcia was re-elected to a second term as mayor by almost 80% of the vote in 2018.
Garcia immigrated to the United States at age 5 and holds an M.A. from the University of Southern California and an Ed.D. in Higher Education from Cal State Long Beach, where he also earned his B.A. in Communications. He won an open primary in June with 46% of the vote, 20 points higher than his general election opponent for the seat, Republican John Briscoe.
Garcia would be the first out LGBTQ immigrant elected to Congress.
Also in California, former federal prosecutor Will Rollins is running to represent Riverside County in the state’s 41st district against Republican Congressman Ken Calvert in the 42nd district. Rollins won the Democratic primary June 7.
Rollins earned a bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth in 2007 and a law degree from Columbia Law School in 2012. As an Assistant U.S. Attorney, he helped prosecute some of the insurrectionists who attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6th.
Rollins’ election would make him the second out gay man from California to serve in congress, after incumbent Mark Takano, from the same district; Takano is running in 2022 for a seat in the state’s 39th following re-districting.
In Oregon, Jamie McLeod-Skinner is running as the Democratic nominee for an open seat representing the state’s 5th district, after winning a primary in May 15 points ahead of her opponent. She faces Republican Lori Chavez-DeRemer in the general.
McLeod-Skinner currently serves as an elected board member of the Jefferson County Education Service District. This is her second run at Congress, after a change-making grassroots campaign for Oregon’s second district in 2018, resulting in the largest voter swing (+26) of all congressional races that year.
McLeod-Skinner would be Oregon’s first out LGBTQ member of Congress.
In Maryland, former Assembly member Heather Mizeur is running to represent the state’s 1st Congressional District. Mizeur faces one other opponent in Maryland’s July primary to face off against Republican incumbent Andrew Harris in the general.
In the Maryland Assembly, Mizeur took a leading role in passing marriage equality, banning fracking, enacting criminal justice reforms, and expanding health insurance for children, women, and families.
Mizeur would be the first out LGBTQ member of Congress from the state.
In Illinois, popular TV meteorologist Eric Sorensen is running against five opponents in the Democratic primary for an open seat to represent the state’s 17th congressional district.
Sorenson says he was pushed out of his first television gig in Texas, with a copy of his contract sitting on his boss’s desk and the “morals clause” highlighted.
Sorenson would be the first out LGBTQ person elected to Congress from Illinois.