Why Not Today? A Brief History of Queer Politicians
Fighting for equal rights has never been an easy task. Sometimes in order to succeed, you can’t beg politicians to pass the legislation you want; you actually have to roll up your sleeves and get to work by electing openly LGBTQ citizens to public office.
A major milestone in the advancement of LGBTQ rights came in 1977 when Harvey Milk was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. In doing so, Milk would become the first openly gay politician elected to a major public office.
Tragically, Milk’s tenure on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors would be cut short when he was assassinated by fellow board member Dan White. San Francisco Mayor George Moscone was also assassinated by White in the same incident.
Milk knew that running for office would place his life in danger.
”If a bullet should enter my brain, let that bullet also destroy every closet door in the country,” Milk is attributed as saying.
To date, no openly LGBTQ politician has held the office of President or Vice President of the United States. However, there is a whole boatload of evidence that Abraham Lincoln was one of the family. Not only did Lincoln write a poem that included a line about two men getting married and trying to have a kid together, but he allegedly was rumored to have shared a bed with his bodyguard while he was President.
In Minnesota, Representative Allan Spear came out in 1974, making him one of the first openly LGBTQ politicians to hold public office. Spear would be instrumental in getting Minnesota’s LGBTQ civil rights law passed in 1993, making the state one of the first in the nation to ban discrimination on the basis of both sexual orientation and gender identity.
In Mankato, the first openly LGBTQ politician would be Jennifer Melby-Kelly who was elected to the city council in 2016.
In 2003, C. Rhys Gaffer was elected president of the MSU student senate and came out as transgender during his inauguration speech.
Clearly, we have a long way to go when it comes to the advancement of LGBTQ rights overall. Hopefully, we can look to past leaders for inspiration to guide our way forward.
It doesn’t require running for public office to make positive change in this world. One can make a difference in a wide variety of ways. Remaining active in our political process is one of the easiest ways we can make a difference. Being political active by voting and educating oneself on political issues is important, not just for the LGBTQ community, but for the overall health of our democracy.
At the very least, be sure to vote on November 5th, 2024.
Write to jeremy.redlien@gmail.com