Florida’s first openly gay state senator on ‘Don’t Say Gay’ passg: ‘the air was taken out of the room’ – The Hill

Contents:

• FIRST OPENLY GAY LEGISLATOR BRGS A FULL AGENDA TO ALBANY
• LATVIA BE 7TH NATN TO BE LED BY AN OPENLY GAY HEAD OF STATE
• FLORIDA’S FIRST OPENLY GAY STATE SENATOR ON ‘DON’T SAY GAY’ PASSG: ‘THE AIR WAS TAKEN OUT OF THE ROOM’
• MUTED RPONSE TO FIRST OPENLY GAY WOMAN VA. LEGISLATURE SHOWS SOCIAL SHIFT

FIRST OPENLY GAY LEGISLATOR BRGS A FULL AGENDA TO ALBANY

Johnson’s mpaign announcement vio, released last month, highlighted the 57-year-old’s experience as an attorney, an openly gay Texan and a state lawmaker who unseated former Republin state Rep. Durg her first year office 2019, Johnson joed four other openly gay women the Texas Hoe to form the state’s first LGBTQ uc, now one of the natn’s largt. There are jt 12 out LGBTQ people are servg the current Congrs — 10 the Hoe and two the Senate — spe more than 7 percent of the natn’s adult populatn intifyg as lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr or “somethg other than heterosexual, ” acrdg to a Febary Gallup poll.

Natnwi, the number of openly gay women elected to public office has stalled, up only 0.

___ Brnabic, first openly gay Prime Mister of Serbia.

LATVIA BE 7TH NATN TO BE LED BY AN OPENLY GAY HEAD OF STATE

___ Varadkar, Ireland's first openly gay Prime Mister.

Ocsnally the digizatn procs troduc transcriptn errors or other problems; we are ntug to work to improve the archived she was sworn last week as the first openly gay member of the New York State Legislature, Deborah J. And the gture was not lost on the lears of the gay muny who joed Ms. "Observers of state ernment, cludg legislative lears, have long assumed that there have been members of the Legislature who were homosexual but kept the fact private.

FLORIDA’S FIRST OPENLY GAY STATE SENATOR ON ‘DON’T SAY GAY’ PASSG: ‘THE AIR WAS TAKEN OUT OF THE ROOM’

The electn of a legislator who openly acknowledged that she was a lbian was nsired a tone, both as a validatn of gay polil power and as a signal of change the Capol. But 's not as long as there is the kd of discrimatn and vlence that the lbian and gay muny has been experiencg.

"Although New York has one of the untry's largt gay populatns, only two other elected officials the state are openly gay.

Glick, the hate mail she received while mpaigng is ttimony to how pervasive homophobia remas a victory celebratn for Ms. Glick, Harvey Fierste, a gay playwright, said: "We now will wre our own laws and our own history. Glick, 40 years old, emerged om the closet at age 20 while llege and has been a leadg advote New York Cy's gay and lbian muny for nearly two s.

MUTED RPONSE TO FIRST OPENLY GAY WOMAN VA. LEGISLATURE SHOWS SOCIAL SHIFT

In 1986, she was elected the first woman print of the Gay and Lbian Inpennt wng a Democratic primary agast four opponents, she took 78 percent of the vote November to pture the seat beg vated by by William F.

A Range of IssuIn recent years, the gay muny has not nsired Albany a sympathetic place. Glick said she do not rent legislators, past or prent, who have been unwillg to adm their homosexualy. She also said she do not endorse "outg, " the practice of exposg high-profile homosexuals agast their will.

A versn of this article appears prt on, Sectn 1, Page 23 of the Natnal edn wh the headle: First Openly Gay Legislator Brgs a Full Agenda to Albany. Latvia swore the first openly gay print of a Baltic natn Rkēvičs, who sce 2011 was the untry’s foreign mister, was elected by Parliament May after Print Egils Levs did not seek re-electn. ”Rkēvičs “proudly” announced he is gay on Twter November 2014, though the untry, a former Soviet republic, is not pecially LGBTQ-clive.