Four Stories You Should Know About

1. Maura Healy Enters Massachusetts Governor Race

Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healy (@maura_healey) jumped into the race for governor and Victory Fund is one of her first national endorsements! Maura will be the first woman elected governor of Massachusetts and the first out lesbian elected governor in the U.S. (together with Tina Kotek in Oregon when she wins too!).

Maura first gained national attention in 2009 when she led Massachusetts’s challenge to the Defense of Marriage Act. She then made the decision to run for office, becoming the first out LGBTQ state attorney general in the United States when she won in 2018.

She's been called "the toughest lawyer in Massachusetts" and "Trump's worst nightmare." As of 2020, Maura had participated in over 100 cases against the Trump administration. She led the charge to defeat Trump's Muslim ban and cuts to food assistance programs, as well as prosecuting COVID-19 scammers. Just last year, her Medicaid fraud division recovered more than $55 million and prosecuted student loan companies that executed deceptive student loan practices.

This will be an important election. One of Maura’s opponents, Geoff Diehl, is an advocate and proponent of Trump’s big lie about the 2020 election. He even hosted an event earlier this month on the anniversary of the U.S. Capitol attack, where he invited and campaigned with rioters present at the Capitol on January 6, 2021.

 

2. Voting Rights Are LGBTQ Rights

Many LGBTQ elected officials are on the frontlines in pushing forward voting rights bills and fighting against voter suppression bills, because voting rights is undeniably an LGBTQ rights issue. LGBTQ people of color are disproportionately impacted by voter suppression efforts and the bills make it more difficult to vote in urban areas, where LGBTQ people are concentrated. Unnecessarily strict voter ID laws also present enormous and sometimes insurmountable obstacles for trans and non-binary people attempting to access the ballot box. All these immoral efforts are a direct challenge to building a representative government reflective of the people it serves. And that is critical to our mission and to advancing equality.

While Senator Kyrsten Sinema is not currently endorsed by LGBTQ Victory Fund – we last endorsed her in 2018 when she was running against extremist anti-LGBTQ candidate Martha McSally – because she is an out LGBTQ elected official we are frustrated and angered by her role in defeating federal voting rights legislation. As President & CEO Mayor Annise Parker told NBC: “Instead of being an obstructionist, she has to help. If she cares about voting rights, she has to do something to make sure that this passes.”

Earlier this week, before the U.S. Senate voted on the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and the Freedom to Vote Act, Mayor Parker released a statement warning Senator Sinema that her actions at that moment will determine her future endorsement.

3. Malcolm Kenyatta Announces Endorsements from SEUI and More

News from Pennsylvania: Game Changer candidate Malcolm Kenyatta (@malcolmkenyatta), who will be the first out gay man ever elected to the U.S. Senate, received the endorsement of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Pennsylvania State Council. This union represents nearly 80,000 members from across the state from a variety of backgrounds and professions. Watch Malcolm’s remarks during the endorsement!

In addition to his SEIU endorsement, Malcom received the endorsement of Pennsylvania State Representatives Jason Dawkins and Jordan Harris on Wednesday.

Malcolm’s historic run is more important than ever as critical issues, such as defending the right to vote and equal ballot access, are caught in limbo in the U.S. Senate. His run for this Republican-held seat could have huge implications for the balance of power in the chamber.

4. 'Don't Say Gay' Bill Advances in Florida House

Legislation to watch: the Florida House Education & Employment Committee has passed HB 1557, which will now head to the floor of the Florida House. The inaccurately named 'Parental Rights in Education' bill has been dubbed the 'Don't Say Gay' bill by advocates and LGBTQ elected officials in the state. The legislation would ban any discussions about sexual orientation and gender identity in schools, effectively erasing LGBTQ identities and culture. LGBTQ students would also be targeted under the bill, even allowing parents to out LGBTQ students without their consent.

This bill is one of the latest to target LGBTQ kids and weaponize LGBTQ students and LGBTQ issues in schools. Hear from LGBTQ Florida state Representative Carlos Guillermo Smith on the horrific impact this bill could have and the steps we must take to stop its passage:

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LGBTQ Victory Fund is the political arm of the LGBTQ community. Since our founding in 1991, we’ve supported and elected LGBTQ candidates like U.S. Senators Tammy Baldwin, Governors Jared Polis and Kate Brown and all nine LGBTQ members of U.S. Congress. We've boosted out candidates running for state and local government, including California Senate Pro Tem Toni Atkins, Florida Senator Shevrin Jones, Virginia Delegate Danica Roem, Colorado state Representative Leslie Herod, Pennsylvania state Representative Brian Sims, Hawaii state Representative Adrian Tam, Oklahoma Representative Mauree Turner, and so many more (meet all of our current candidates here)! We’ve shattered rainbow ceilings in all 50 states and broken election year records. You can power our work and the next Rainbow Wave with a donation today!

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