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John,
I’m so excited to share Victory Institute’s latest report with you today. The Decision to Run: Uncovering the Barriers and Motivators for LGBTQ Women Running for Office is now live! You can read the full report online here.
Thanks to a generous grant from the Ascend Fund, my team and I have been examining one important question: why don’t more out women run for public office? We conducted four focus groups and surveyed nearly 290 LGBTQ women to find out – and we will use the findings to launch new efforts to encourage more LGBTQ women to run (more on that below).
One big takeaway: nearly three out of five LGBTQ women considering a run are concerned about anti-LGBTQ violence. Nearly three of four potential trans women candidates say the same. We also learned that LGBTQ women would run in higher numbers if they had an LGBTQ woman mentor who had run previously. You can see all the findings by reading the report here.
We are already getting to work addressing the two issues above in hopes that more LGBTQ women take the leap to run. First, we have adjusted out training curriculum to put more emphasis on safety on the campaign trail. And today, we are announcing a new initiative: our Women Out to Win mentorship program .
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This new mentorship program will provide qualified LGBTQ women with a serious interest in running for office with supportive programming and mentorship. Program participants will receive at least two LGBTQ women mentors who are current or past elected officials that can provide mentorship and personalized support for each women’s journey towards elected office. Participants will also convene quarterly for programming sessions and attend our International LGBTQ Leaders Conference in December.
While we can’t solve all the issues facing out women candidates today, we’re hopeful that by sharing this information and mentorship opportunities, more out women will have the support and network they need to run.
We’ll have more updates soon –
Ruben J. Gonzales
Pronouns: he|him|his
Executive Director, LGBTQ Victory Institute
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LGBTQ Victory Institute is a tax-exempt organization as described in Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code; EIN 52-1835268.
Victory Institute is a global organization dedicated to elevating openly LGBTQ leaders who can further equality at all levels of government. Through our trainings [[link removed]] , professional development programs [[link removed]] and yearly conferences [[link removed]] , Victory Institute prepares hundreds of out individuals to launch an influential careers in politics, government, business and advocacy. Many of our trainees join the more than 1,000 openly LGBTQ elected and appointed officials [[link removed]] now serving around the world.
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