A lot of things happened this week:
Sarah McBride won her race in Delaware, making her the first ever out trans member of the United States Congress.
Tammy Baldwin fought back homophobic attacks against her as an out lesbian to hold her U.S. Senate seat in Wisconsin.
Julie Johnson made history as the first out LGBTQ+ person from Texas to be elected to Congress.
Keturah Huron became the first out LGBTQ+ person of color to be elected to the Kentucky State Senate.
In New York, an overwhelming majority of voters approved a proposed amendment to the state constitution to expand anti-discrimination and equal protection rights to include ethnicity, national origin, age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, pregnancy outcomes and reproductive health.
Voters also chose to support abortion rights in seven of the ten states where reproductive health was on the ballot.
The U.S. Senate will now include two Black women for the first time in history, Lisa Blunt Rochester from Delaware and Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland.
And about 200 LGBTQ+ candidates won their races in state legislatures nationwide, including here in Connecticut, where the number of LGBTQ+ legislators has expanded, with the re-election of Reps. Raghib Allie-Brennan, Marcus Brown, and Dominique Johnson, and the election of MJ Shannon.
All of those things happened on Tuesday. Let’s not forget that.
But, of course, Tuesday also reminded us that for too many people in this country, grievance and hate still trump equality and fairness when it comes to electing the U.S. President.
So let’s talk about what happens next:
A lot of us are scared, depressed, angry, numb. Whatever you’re feeling is valid and justified. The path ahead is still unfolding in ways we cannot yet chart.
But one thing we can be certain of: wherever that path takes us, we will journey it together. Firmly united, arm in arm, step by step.
Tuesday’s election may feel like a loss, but even if the outcome had been different, we know that this movement is far from over. Our intersecting communities have been fighting for equality for decades, and we won’t stop fighting now. As Vice President Kamala Harris so elegantly put it: “When we fight, we win. But here’s the thing, sometimes the fight takes a while. The important thing is to not ever give up. Don’t ever stop trying to make the world a better place.”
Here at the Leonard Litz Foundation, we remain committed to the safety and wellbeing of our LGBTQ+ community, particularly our trans siblings who have borne the brunt of these insidious political attacks. Whatever comes next, we will face it together, as a family.
The next few years will be tough. But we’re tougher. We’ve always been. We’ve always had to be.
Let’s get back to work.