Record number of LGBT candidates running for governor

[ismnotwasm]

Rep. Jared Polis (D) on Tuesday won the Democratic nomination to be the next governor of Colorado, outlasting three other prominent Democrats with the help of millions of dollars he gave his own campaign.
In the process, Polis becomes the third member of the LGBT community to win a gubernatorial nomination this year -- the first time in American history more than one open LGBT person has won a nomination in any given year.

Polis faces a close race in a state that gave Hillary Clinton its electoral votes by just a five-percent margin in 2008. Democrats have won three gubernatorial elections in a row, though Republicans captured a U.S. Senate seat now held by Sen. Cory Gardner (R) in the 2014 midterm elections.

Polis will face Walker Stapleton, the first-term state Treasurer who won the Republican nomination on Tuesday. Stapleton, the second cousin of President George W. Bush, outlasted several other Republicans including Doug Robinson, an investment banker who is also Mitt Romney's nephew.


But his nomination is historic nonetheless, in a year in which more gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender candidates than ever before are running for office.

http://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/394314-record-number-of-lgbt-candidates-running-for-governor?amp&__twitter_impression=true

[eleny]

1. Stapleton is beyond regressive

He's a stone Trumpite. His ad was proud to point that out. We'd be in a real mess here if he won the election.

It's Polis or bust!

[Behind the Aegis]

2. This is good because this is reality...

Only 0.1 percent of elected officials are LGBTQ, new report finds

Just before the 2009 Houston mayoral runoff election, 35,000 postcards were sent to houses across the city showing one of the candidates, Annise Parker, being sworn in as city controller next to the woman who is now her wife. The caption asked, “Is this the image Houston wants to portray?”

Houston voters answered “yes” on Election Day, making Parker the first openly gay mayor of a big American city, the most populous in Texas.

While her election surprised many non-Houstonians, Parker remembers being the city’s safe candidate. After all, she had 12 years of experience as a city official and was running against a man who had never held public office.

---snip---

Still, there are only 559 known openly LGBTQ elected officials in the U.S., just 0.1 percent of elected officials nationwide, according to a new Victory Institute report. To achieve proportionate representation, America’s estimated 11 million LGBTQ adults (roughly 4.5 percent of the adult population), would need to hold nearly 23,000 more public offices, a 4,000 percent increase, according to the report.

https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/only-0-1-percent-elected-officials-are-lgbtq-new-report-n885871

[ismnotwasm]

3. A depressing statistic

I hope this changes over the next few years.