The Rainbow Wave
LGBTQ+ candidates win in record numbers nationwide, even as Democrats underperform
Welcome to Third Cultured, an LGBTQ+ international politics newsletter, written by yours truly, Kyle Borland. Reach out with feedback, suggestions, tips, and/or ideas at kgborland23@gmail.com.
My goal is to inform curious folks about the messy politics of our planet and the unique role Queer people play in the United States and the world-at-large. I hope that’s you!
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This edition:
The Rainbow Wave commentary
The Rainbow Wave
Joe Biden is closing in on 80 million votes in the election Homeland Security called “the most secure election in American history.” Over six million more Americans voted for Biden than Donald Trump and – despite more than 30 failed lawsuits from the Trump campaign and a historic hand-count of GA’s five million ballots – the Electoral College’s final tally is 306–232 in favor of Biden/Harris. (Graphic: GZERO)
More than 80 percent of Americans acknowledge the truth that Joe Biden is President-Elect of the United States. The world’s leaders agree with us. Everyone from Canada to Israel to Turkey to China has already congratulated Joe and Kamala on their victory.
The quick reception is unsurprising given that Biden will face a wide range of global conflicts going into his first term, including but not limited to Afghanistan, China, the Gulf States, Israel, Iran, North Korea, Russia, Yemen, and a volatile Global South that’s seeing more revolutions than development. His last two months, Trump wants to institutionalize his foreign policy chaos, despite the American people being more pro-multilateralism than experts or the Trump administration would like to believe. (Graphic: Foreign Affairs)
If the GOP thought about the current situation longer than it took Donny to tweet, it’d see the States’ sovereign power on display for the world to see. The president’s power (thankfully) showed serious limits and diminished itself as the office attempted to pressure state officials with powers it didn’t have.
He underestimated the States, and their love of moments to flex their muscle.
His incompetence is to our benefit, but we can’t bank that next time around they won’t be more prepared now that the our democracy’s gaping flaws are on display for the world to see. Most importantly, we cannot become complacent during a Biden/Harris administration and allow the corporate forces that created Trump in the first place to pretend as if the last four years didn’t happen. Our society has serious systemic issues that must be addressed by competent and empathetic leadership that understands the needs of every day people in this country and not just the wants of those they pass in their halls of power and prestige.
Luckily for America, LGBTQ+ people are stepping up to the plate at every level of government to help right this ship. The “Blue Wave” may never have reached the shore, but the Rainbow Wave is the gift that keeps on giving! (Graphic: Victory Fund)
207 LGBTQ+ candidates were elected to local, state, federal, judicial and tribal offices out of the almost 600 that ran for office across the country.
11 LGBTQ+ candidates won election to the US Senate and the House of Representatives, setting a new record over the 10 from the 116th Congress. A particular highlight:
In Kansas, Sharice Davids became the first queer woman of color to ever win reelection to Congress after defeating her conservative opponent by more than 10 points. Two years ago, Davids — a lesbian attorney and MMA fighter — made history as the first queer Native American to serve in Congress.
Mondaire Jones (NY-17), one of the first Black gay men elected to Congress, was unanimously elected freshman representative to House leadership. It’s the “most influential role available to a freshman member of Congress.” Ritchie Torres (NY-15) is the first LGBTQ+ Afro-Latinx man to sit in Congress, and he along with Mondaire Jones are the first out members of the Black LGBTQ+ community.
Sarah McBride (Delaware-D1) became the highest-ranking transgender politician in the US as the first and only out trans state senator in the nation. She leads a group of eight transgender, nonbinary, and gender non-conforming candidates who won election to state legislatures across the country this year.
Martin Jenkins, 66, was unanimously confirmed to California’s Supreme Court, becoming the first openly gay man to serve on the state’s bench.
Todd Gloria was elected the first out mayor of San Diego and the first Democrat to hold the seat since 2005. Gloria, who is Latino, Filipino and Native American, will also be San Diego’s first mayor of color.
Christy Holstege was elected mayor of Palm Springs, becoming the first out bisexual mayor in the US.
Former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg is all but guaranteed a cabinet role after his strong performance in the primary and campaigning for Biden, and rumor has it he is angling for Ambassador to the UN. (FWIW – A gay polyglot is exactly who America should be putting forward after four years of Trumpism.)
However, even with this genuine progress, we’re not out of the woods. Homophobic and transphobic smear attempts were the norm across the country rather than the exception and – in our community alone – 28 percent of LGBTQ+ voters supported Donald Trump.
Almost 30 percent of our “community” watched as the Trump administration launched 181 attacks on LGBTQ+ people in 1401 days, and chose to validate it. Even with a Biden administration that is friendly to Queer people, Trump’s anti-LGBTQ+ legacy will live on in his judicial appointments. Before taking into account the rest of the judiciary, SCOTUS sits at 6-3 conservative majority that is poised to bring the era of LGBTQ+ progress to a screaching halt with Fulton v. City of Philadelphia, a gay adoptoin case heard in early November where the justices clearly see an opportunity to carve out a larger religious exemption in regards to LGBTQ+ rights.
And, that was only the beginning.
This week, the 11th Circuit ruled 2-1 that banning anti-LGBTQ+ conversion therapy violates the First Amendment.
The two judges in the majority? Trump appointments.
Despite the fact that 70 percent of Americans support gay marriage, the conservative factions of this country are fanatically determined to claw away any rights we won for ourselves over the past 20 years. However – even if Biden’s rumored banker-friendly, corporatist cabinet choices come to fruition and their allyship proves hollow – we have more than 200 LGBTQ+ officials around the country representing the best of us.
The US might not be the “homo empire” just yet, but we’re on the right track.
Stay safe and healthy, beautiful people. And, thanks for reading.
xoxo,
Kyle (@kgborland)
PS – Here are some great reads worth your time.
A China policy for the progressive left (SupChina)
How to Make Socially Distanced Holidays Actually Feel Special (Vice)
In Which a Cat Narrates History in the Age of European Conquest (LitHub)
Reclaiming, on Netflix, an Ancient Battle Beloved of Germany’s Far Right (NYT)
Russia’s Chemical Weapons Programme and the GRU’s Unit 29155 (Bellingcat)
What Happens to Some LGBTQ Teens When Their Parents Reject Them (NYT)
What It’s Like to Be Queer in Trump’s America (Rolling Stone)
With remarkable efficiency, the administration has embodied, emboldened, and enabled a vocal minority of Americans who believe that LGBTQ civil rights cannot coexist with their own. They have left no stone unturned, seeming to pay special attention to members of our community who are most vulnerable: They revoked the Obamacare provisions that protected LGBTQ people from discrimination in health care; banned trans people from the military; allowed homeless shelters to turn away trans people; and gave foster agencies permission to turn away queer couples. And that’s just the top of the list. In the executive branch alone, they’ve established anti-LGBTQ policies in 13 out of 15 departments.
Just weeks before the Covid crisis started, Trump’s Department of Health and Human Services announced that it was no longer enforcing Obama’s LGBTQ nondiscrimination policy. This meant that as we headed into the biggest health crisis since the AIDS epidemic, our country’s largest public health apparatus had carte blanche to turn queer people away.
Imagine being an older gay man in rural Alabama, Tax says. Your state only deemed homosexuality legal in 2014. You’ve endured decades of discrimination and stigma, watched the federal government stand by as your friends and loved ones died from complications from AIDS, and now the Covid crisis has begun. Your local government is telling you to shelter-in-place and it’s your best chance to stay safe. But you also know that any one of those programs has permission to turn you away if they find out you’re gay.
"I am not here in spite of the struggle, I am here because of the struggle. It has deepened my character, afforded me sensibilities about the world and about people who are not so willing to accept that people can love differently than they do, but nevertheless love sincerely, genuinely and effectively."
– Martin Jenkins, 66, said after making history this month when he was unanimously confirmed to the California Supreme Court, becoming the first openly gay man to serve there. Jenkins identified the greatest challenge of his life as being a gay Black man, and conceded that it has not been easy identifying as such.
