CAHS for Biden Holds an LGBTQ+ Town Hall
By Chris Ponce, Saanvi Arora, Keya Mann, and Sammie Dostart-Meers
Since World War II, LGBTQ+ politics have been interwoven with larger social change. Parsed within efforts for state-building, contextualized within the growth of neoliberalism, and catalyzed within an exclusionary society, the movement has taken tremendous steps in dismantling the assimilationist character of American society. Starting with the first National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights in 1979, the United States has witnessed numerous advancements in protecting LGBTQ+ rights, including outlawing sexually oriented discrimination, forming the Harvey Milk terminal, and even dedicating the month of June to commemorating the 1969 Stonewall Riots. However, despite these achievements, why are members of the LGBTQ+ community still consistently unable to exercise influence in government? What challenges do they face, and what can we do to eliminate the exclusionary practices of American politics?
To answer these gripping questions, California High Schoolers for Biden held a LGBTQ+ town hall on June 28th with Assemblymember Evan Low and Senator Scott Wiener. According to both, gay men running for office often faced prejudices that were inescapable from the public eye. Senator Weiner stated “there are people who are not LGBTQ, who assume that your only focus is going to be on LGBTQ people. And you’re not going to care about everyone or anyone else. And then for some in the LGBTQ community, you’re never doing enough.” Similarly, Assemblymember Low recognizes how his young age, race, and his sexual orientation have forced him to face challenges with discrimination and prejudice within the political arena. “I’m different,” said Low. “I’m a millennial gay Asian from the Bay Area.”
Both members of the California Legislative LGBTQ Caucus, Low and Weiner emphasized the importance of LGBTQ+ representation in government. Senator Weiner elaborated on the caucus’ responsibility to push LGBTQ+ reform and support the LGBTQ+ candidates running for office, and explained, “there’s a lot of good work happening, but our job is to…make sure we’re getting our folks elected. It’s important for us to have our seat at the table, and that pro-LGBTQ legislation passes and the bad legislation gets defeated.” Furthermore, the caucus works to prevent future candidates from facing the discrimination that both Assemblymember Low and Senator Wiener dealt with during their own work experiences by electing LGBTQ+ representation.
Additionally, the United States Legislative branch disproportionately lacks LGBTQ+ representation, which in turn results in lack of legislation benefiting the LGBTQ+ community, an issue which both Low and Weiner’s republican counterparts are blissfully unaware of. Senator Wiener describes how “one of [his] Republican colleagues in the Senate came up to [him] on the Senate floor the day that that announcement was the Supreme Court ruling came out. He claimed that this was already law and [Weiner] didn’t know how to respond.” Assemblymember Low also described the blatant hypocrisy within Californian legislation that he witnessed while serving as the mayor of Campbell in 2010. He explained that while he could officiate marriages as mayor, he himself could not get married at that time due to his sexual orientation. In fact, despite hosting a blood drive for the Red Cross, he could not even donate his own blood because of FDA regulations restricting LGBTQ+ liberties.
However, with greater awareness of the exclusion faced by the LGBTQ+ community comes hope for inclusion. Assemblyman Low and Senator Wiener made it a point to emphasize their support for the Biden Campaign and how Biden’s win would help benefit the LGBTQ+ community, unlike the Trump Administration. Senator Wiener went on to say that supporting Joe Biden against Donald Trump was a “no brainer,” and explained, “I’ve always had a lot of respect for him…he’s someone who’s evolved on a number of issues.” Assemblymember Low also understands how important it is for Joe Biden to win the 2020 election. While voicing his support for the Biden campaign, he emphasized evaluating “the importance of the people.” The Biden Campaign itself emphasizes, “as President, Biden will stand with the LGBTQ+ community to ensure America finally lives up to the promise on which it was founded: equality for all.” Some of Biden’s policy plans for the LGBTQ+ community include but are not limited to enacting the Equality Act during his first 100 days, empowering federal agencies to be champions for equality, reaffirm that the Civil Rights Act prohibits employment discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity, reverse the trans military ban, and to reverse the Department of Defense policies that perpetuate stigmatization of and discrimination against people living with HIV.
Finally, Assemblymember Evan Low also emphasized that youth get more involved in politics, especially by taking action through social media platforms and contributing to various political groups. Furthermore, youth should use these platforms as stepping stones to promoting civic engagement, expanding voter bases, and increasing youth participation in formal government decision-making.
