Latvian Parliament elects first openly gay print of a Baltic natn

Contents:

• OPN AMERI HAS ALREADY HAD A GAY PRINT
• NEARLY 70 PERCENT OF AMERINS ARE OKAY WH A GAY PRINT, POLL SAYS
• 11 U.S. PRINTS WHO MIGHT’VE BEEN GAY
• LATVIA BE 7TH NATN TO BE LED BY AN OPENLY GAY HEAD OF STATE
• GAY MAN ELECTED AS PRINT OF LATVIA
• WILL THERE BE A GAY PRINT OR AN ITALIAN-AMERIN PRINT FIRST?
• THE ELEPHANT THE ROOM: CAN BUTTIGIEG, A GAY MAN, BE ELECTED PRINT?
• LATVIAN PARLIAMENT ELECTS FIRST OPENLY GAY PRINT OF A BALTIC NATN
• WILL THE UNED STAT EVER ELECT AN OPENLY GAY PRINT?
• CAN AMERI ELECT A GAY PRINT?

OPN AMERI HAS ALREADY HAD A GAY PRINT

“If elected, you would be the first openly gay print of the Uned Stat, ” Stephen Colbert said to Pete Buttigieg after the mayor of South Bend, Ind., clared his ndidacy. While the characterizatn of beg openly gay or “out” is relatively new, the fact is the Uned Stat has already had a gay print whose ntemporari knew : Jam Buchanan. Ined, the Uned Stat has also had a gay vice print and, maybe more surprisgly, a gay senator om stunts takg U.

Andrew Jackson referred to Kg as “Miss Nancy”— a phemism for a gay ntemporari lled Kg Buchanan’s “better half, ” and one ngrsman referred to him as “Mrs. ” All this would be que peculiar if Buchanan was not gay.

At most uld suggt Buchanan was not openly discsg this moment, we fet that beg gay the mid-19th century did not tomatilly exclu a man om natnal learship. The ia that some people, cludg policians and social lears, are gay was not news or shockg to our forefathers. S., sorry, Pete Buttigieg, you n’t aim to be the first gay print, although you uld be the first married gay print.

NEARLY 70 PERCENT OF AMERINS ARE OKAY WH A GAY PRINT, POLL SAYS

How would the world react if an openly gay person was elected print of the Uned Stat the next electn? A recent poll shows one more issue illtrative of this trend: Voters have bee much more acceptg of gay Amerins seekg the hight office the was a time when South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg’s sexualy — he is gay — would have ma him unelectable many parts of the recently as 2006, when Buttigieg was 24, most Amerins said they would be “very unfortable” or have “rervatns” about a gay person nng for has changed dramatilly. Acrdg to a recent NBC-Wall Street Journal poll, nearly 70 percent of Amerins said they would be eher enthiastic about or fortable wh a ndidate who is gay or lbian.

11 U.S. PRINTS WHO MIGHT’VE BEEN GAY

To put that perspective, 85 percent said they were enthiastic about or fortable wh a female Imse, spokman for the LGBTQ Victory Fund, a group that helps elect gay people to office, told the Fix that Amerins’ views on LGBTQ people polics have changed wh other cultural shifts. Acrdg to NBC, “While senrs are more likely to voice rervatns about gay ndidat, a majory (56 percent) now say they have no objectns.

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

”To those who have fought for equal rights for the LGBT muny for s — this year is the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall rts, a pivotal moment the gay rights movement — this change the public’s support is nsired progrs.

GAY MAN ELECTED AS PRINT OF LATVIA

But others argue that should not be terpreted as a place of Gos, an opn wrer for The Washgton Post, wrote that gay ndidat seekg high offic still face very real challeng: “The ia that ’s not hard to be gay Ameri is ludicro.

There’s been only one openly gay man elected ernor and no such senators (Tammy Baldw of Wisns is the chamber’s lone lbian, and Arizona’s Kyrsten Sema is bisexual), let alone print. ”Buttigieg is showg that a gay man n make a ser n for the princy.

WILL THERE BE A GAY PRINT OR AN ITALIAN-AMERIN PRINT FIRST?

Buchanan, JFK, Clton, Obama, LBJ and more prumably gay U. )Consirg how much people love to speculate on who might and might not be gay — I thk ’s replaced baseball and oby as Ameri’s favore pastime — I was surprised I uldn’t fd a sgle list out about the potential closeted homosexualy of the U.

Prints, ranked om least likely to most likely gay.

Apologi to Elanor Roosevelt who would’ve ma the cut if I really need to fudge thgs… and also to Harry Tman, whose ployg of the Enola Gay was gog to be my emergency 11th pick if I uldn’t fd anyone better.

THE ELEPHANT THE ROOM: CAN BUTTIGIEG, A GAY MAN, BE ELECTED PRINT?

” That sounds, tabloid speculatn and beg one of the most pro-gay rights prints ever isn’t enough to ph him any higher on the list than last. ) — which suggts he wasn’t gay. That beg said, a book lled Jack and Lem dug ep to his lifelong iendship wh a gay man named Lem Billgs… and at least threw some iffs to the mix.

LATVIAN PARLIAMENT ELECTS FIRST OPENLY GAY PRINT OF A BALTIC NATN

There was a sarstic New Yorker wre-up of why Thomas Jefferson might’ve been gay last year. )Sce the man who was clost to LBJ for 25 years turned out to be gay on the down low (he had a wife and six kids; they separated a few years after the sndal) — speculatn surfaced that maybe there was somethg between Johnson and Jenks. If the past ten years have tght anythg, ’s the lour a polician ralli agast gay rights, the more likely he is to wd up gettg ught sgg “Glory, Glory Hole-allujah.

WILL THE UNED STAT EVER ELECT AN OPENLY GAY PRINT?

)In 1953, Eisenhower signed Executive Orr 10450, which classified gays and lbians as potential natnal secury threats and banned them om workg for the ernment. But I rearched every sgle print for this list — and when people do get around to jawg on Chter A., the homosexual thg keeps poppg generally centers on three thgs.

There’s a ton of talk about Lln’s potential homosexualy.

If any prumably regnized gay U. 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.

CAN AMERI ELECT A GAY PRINT?

”Rkēvičs “proudly” announced he is gay on Twter November 2014, though the untry, a former Soviet republic, is not pecially LGBTQ-clive. ” He said he knew there would be “mega hysteria, ” but he end wh the hashtag “#Proudtobegay.

”He is one of jt a few openly gay heads of state the world.