Positive Political Developments

Despite New York’s rejection of marriage equality, there was some good news for LGBT politics this week.

During the debate in the New York Senate, eloquent and passionated speeches were made by Senators Ruth Hassell-Thompson and Eric Adams. Their statements brought a ray of sunshine to a disappointing day, and can be viewed below.

Considering that nine of the eleven black Senators in New York voted for marriage equality, I hope people will stop portraying black people as inherently homophobic and resistant to LGBT rights.

In other races, Simone Bell became the nation’s first openly lesbian black state legislator when she won election to District 58 of the Georgia State House. She is a long-time advocate for a variety of progressive issues, and it is great that she can bring those experiences to the legislative world.

In California, John Perez is set to become the state’s first openly gay speaker of the Assembly. This would make him the most powerful gay politician in California history. (Harvey Milk was a member of the Board of Governors in San Francisco.)

Elsewhere in the Golden State, Evan Low was elected mayor of Campbell, California. The 26 year old scored something of an upset, considering Campbell does not have a large gay community and Asian-Americans are only eleven percent of the population.

I offer these individuals as examples of progress for LGBT people and politics. Change does not come as quickly as we may like, but it’s important to remember support for LGBT issues is on an upward trajectory.