Congress
Victory Fund notes increase in out LGBTQ congressional candidates in 2022
Victory Fund notes lack of equitable representation
As the 2022 midterm elections draw near, a record number of LGBTQ candidates have been running for Congress. But while some segments of the community have made gains in political presence, other metrics are falling short when it comes representation that is reflective of the U.S. population.
New data from the LGBTQ Victory Fund notes 104 openly LGBTQ people have run or are currently running for congressional seats this cycle. This figure is up from 87 candidates who ran for such offices in 2020.
There are currently nine LGBTQ members of the U.S. House of Representatives and two out U.S. senators. In order to reach equitable representation with the 7 percent of Americans who identify as LGBTQ, 22 additional LGBTQ representatives and five additional LGBTQ senators would need to be elected.
Victory Fund Press Secretary Albert Fujii told the Washington Blade that, in the face of threats such as recent and impending U.S. Supreme Court decisions that could have wide-ranging implications for LGBTQ rights, achieving such representation is of paramount importance.
“The 11 LGBTQ members of Congress currently serving punch way above their weight and have delivered meaningful results for our community time and time again, despite being woefully outnumbered,” Fujii said. “But with a Supreme Court hell bent on choosing politics over precedent, our congressional champions desperately need backup to ensure our fundamental human rights are not rolled back to a time when bigotry was the law of the land.”
As races now stand, 57 LGBTQ candidates remain on the ballot for congressional seats in November.
The mounting presence of LGBTQ people who are running for office is mirrored by a growing share of community members participating in the national electorate.
In 2018, an election cycle that was dubbed by many as a “rainbow wave” for LGBTQ representation in government offices, a record number of out candidates were elected to positions across the country. LGBTQ voters similarly reached a new height of electoral visibility, making up 6 percent of the overall electorate. Just two years later, the share of LGBTQ voters rose to seven percent of all Americans who voted in 2020.
“In 2018 and 2020, millions of people of all backgrounds and races showed up to cast their votes in record numbers, electing a historic number of women, people of color and LGBTQ+ leaders,” Human Rights Campaign Interim President Joni Madison said in a statement endorsing re-election for the nine current LGBTQ House members. “We must once again mobilize in even larger numbers to re-elect these members of Congress that will champion equality.”
The Victory Fund data also notes racial diversity of LGBTQ congressional candidates is also on the rise.
Nearly 45 percent of LGBTQ congressional candidates still running in the 2022 cycle are people of color, reflecting national movements in recent years to push back against suppression of voters and voices of both people of color as well as intersectional communities. The number also reflects 2019 data from the University of California, Los Angeles, that found 42 percent of people who identify as LGBTQ in the U.S. are people of color.
In other ways, however, the current field of LGBTQ candidates falls short of relative representation for certain segments of the community.
In a Congress that has not seen any member of the transgender community be elected to either chamber, the Victory Fund’s data shows that only about four percent of LGBTQ candidates still running identify as trans. The number falls under the 10 percent of LGBTQ adults in the U.S. that identified as trans in a February Gallup poll and comes amid legislative attacks on trans youth across the country.
But as midterm primaries approach throughout the coming months, groups like the Victory Fund remain persistent in their efforts to reach what they see as adequate levels of congressional representation for LGBTQ Americans.
“Gaining equitable representation in Congress would not only increase our political power and increase the odds our rights are finally codified into federal law, it would send a crystal clear message that anti-LGBTQ vitriol will not prevail,” Fujii said. “Until then, we are proud to keep building a bench of highly qualified LGBTQ leaders.”
Congress
Congress passes ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ with massive cuts to health insurance coverage
Roughly 1.8 million LGBTQ Americans rely on Medicaid
The “Big, Beautiful Bill” heads to President Donald Trump’s desk following the vote by the Republican majority in the U.S. House of Representatives Thursday, which saw two nays from GOP members and unified opposition from the entire Democratic caucus.
To partially offset the cost of tax breaks that disproportionately favor the wealthy, the bill contains massive cuts to Medicaid and social safety net programs like food assistance for the poor while adding a projected $3.3 billion to the deficit.
Policy wise, the signature legislation of Trump’s second term rolls back clean energy tax credits passed under the Biden-Harris administration while beefing up funding for defense and border security.
Roughly 13 percent of LGBTQ adults in the U.S., about 1.8 million people, rely on Medicaid as their primary health insurer, compared to seven percent of non-LGBTQ adults, according to the UCLA School of Law’s Williams Institute think tank on sexual orientation and gender identities.
In total, the Congressional Budget Office estimates the cuts will cause more than 10 million Americans to lose their coverage under Medicaid and anywhere from three to five million to lose their care under Affordable Care Act marketplace plans.
A number of Republicans in the House and Senate opposed the bill reasoning that they might face political consequences for taking away access to healthcare for, particularly, low-income Americans who rely on Medicaid. Poorer voters flocked to Trump in last year’s presidential election, exit polls show.
A provision that would have blocked the use of federal funds to reimburse medical care for transgender youth was blocked by the Senate Parliamentarian and ultimately struck from the legislation — reportedly after the first trans member of Congress, U.S. Rep. Sarah McBride (D-Del.) and the first lesbian U.S. senator, Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), shored up unified opposition to the proposal among Congressional Democrats.
Congress
Ritchie Torres says he is unlikely to run for NY governor
One poll showed gay Democratic congressman nearly tied with Kathy Hochul
Gay Democratic Congressman Ritchie Torres of New York is unlikely to challenge New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) in the state’s next gubernatorial race, he said during an appearance Wednesday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
“I’m unlikely to run for governor,” he said. ““I feel like the assault that we’ve seen on the social safety net in the Bronx is so unprecedented. It’s so overwhelming that I’m going to keep my focus on Washington, D.C.”
Torres and Hochul were nearly tied in a poll this spring of likely Democratic voters in New York City, fueling speculation that the congressman might run. A Siena College poll, however, found Hochul leading with a wider margin.
Back in D.C., the congressman and his colleagues are unified in their opposition to President Donald Trump’s signature legislation, the “Big Beautiful Bill,” which heads back to the House after passing the Senate by one vote this week.
To pay for tax cuts that disproportionately advantage the ultra-wealthy and large corporations, the president and Congressional Republicans have proposed massive cuts to Medicaid and other social programs.
A provision in the Senate version of the bill that would have blocked the use of federal funds to reimburse medical care for transgender youth was blocked by the Senate Parliamentarian and ultimately struck from the legislation, reportedly after pressure from transgender U.S. Rep. Sarah McBride (D-Del.) and lesbian U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.).
Torres on “Morning Joe” said, “The so-called Big Beautiful Bill represents a betrayal of the working people of America and nowhere more so than in the Bronx,” adding, “It’s going to destabilize every health care provider, every hospital.”
Congress
House Democrats oppose Bessent’s removal of SOGI from discrimination complaint forms
Congressional Equality Caucus sharply criticized move
A letter issued last week by a group of House Democrats objects to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s removal of sexual orientation and gender identity as bases for sex discrimination complaints in several Equal Employment Opportunity forms.
Bessent, who is gay, is the highest ranking openly LGBTQ official in American history and the second out Cabinet member next to Pete Buttigieg, who served as transportation secretary during the Biden-Harris administration.
The signatories to the letter include a few out members of Congress, Congressional Equality Caucus chair and co-chairs Mark Takano (Calif.), Ritchie Torres (N.Y.), and Becca Balint (Vt.), along with U.S. Reps. Nikema Williams (Ga.), Hank Johnson (Ga.), Raja Krishnamoorthi (Ill.), Delia Ramirez (Ill.), Joyce Beatty (Ohio), Lloyd Doggett (Texas), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D.C.), Josh Gottheimer (N.J.), and Sylvia Garcia (D-Texas).
The letter explains the “critical role” played by the EEO given the strictures and limits on how federal employees can find recourse for unlawful workplace discrimination — namely, without the ability to file complaints directly with the Employment Opportunity Commission or otherwise engage with the agency unless the complainant “appeal[s] an agency’s decision following the agency’s investigation or request[s] a hearing before an administrative judge.”
“Your attempt to remove ‘gender identity’ and ‘sexual orientation’ as bases for sex discrimination complaints in numerous Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) forms will create unnecessary hurdles to employees filing EEO complaints and undermine enforcement of federal employee’s nondiscrimination protections,” the members wrote in their letter.
They further explain the legal basis behind LGBTQ inclusive nondiscrimination protections for federal employees in the EEOC’s decisions in Macy v. Holder (2012) and Baldwin v. Foxx (2015) and the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Bostock v. Clayton County (2020).
“It appears that these changes may be an attempt by the department to dissuade employees from reporting gender identity and sexual orientation discrimination,” the lawmakers wrote. “Without forms clearly enumerating gender identity and sexual orientation as forms of sex discrimination, the average employee who experiences these forms of discrimination may see these forms and not realize that the discrimination they experienced was unlawful and something that they can report and seek recourse for.”
“A more alarming view would be that the department no longer plans to fulfill its legal obligations to investigate complaints of gender identity and sexual orientation and ensure its
employees are working in an environment free from these forms of discrimination,” they added.
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