Voting Rights Are LGBTQ+ Rights': Our Commitment to Equitable LGBTQ+ Rep
Dear reader:
Without free and independent media, Pride Source (and its print publication, Between The Lines) wouldn’t exist, and a community would go underserved when it comes to accessing vital content not found in traditional media outlets.
Since the first issue of Between The Lines hit the stands more than 25 years ago, we’ve been a part of a historically important, unified voice of those who are often ignored, discriminated against, and who live with a constant risk of physical and mental violence for merely existing. Our staff is diverse in many ways, including our individually unique political values, but together, we are united by a shared experience of what it is to be “othered” and misunderstood.
This united vision and deeply felt recognition of the importance of representation in government guides us as we consider political endorsements. We seek to only endorse those candidates who will respect the LGBTQ+ community in every way — candidates who will fight for our freedoms and rights and who always prioritize our ability to participate fairly in the government processes that impact all our lives. We demand respect for facts, science and representative democracy.
By that same token, we reject those candidates who relent against the veracity of the 2020 presidential election, as well as every politician who supports the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol Building.
As we look ahead to the upcoming presidential election cycle, we fear that our nation is headed for a repeat of the misinformation campaign and ensuing violence that underscored the 2020 election. One key example includes dozens of Republican legislators throughout the country who are determined to implement voter suppression tactics that are uncomfortably similar to the Jim Crow tactics that our nation faced only a few decades ago. Regardless of the way it is implemented, the outcome of these laws are objectively measurable and entirely predictable: longer voting lines in Black and brown communities where local communities support Democrats.
A reminder to these Republican legislators: Voting rights are LGBTQ+ rights.
In Michigan, our community has been fighting for basic protections at the workplace, in housing, and justice from those in positions of power who disagree with our fundamental existence as equals. We must not be comfortable with the status quo. We cannot ignore our Black and brown communities as if they are not also our community.
Every election year presents a new opportunity to act transformatively. The LGBTQ+ community in Michigan is sizable and powerful — let us demand representation through our vote, and let us ensure our democratic process is guaranteed for those who will come after us.
Join the discussion at [email protected]. Please include your full name, address and telephone number for verification only. Letters are limited to 200 words.
Read More
Trump Is Old And Tired, But That’s Not What Makes Him Objectively Terrible
I don’t know who needs to hear this, but old people get tired. Which is why disgraced former president Donald Trump fell asleep during day one of his [...]
25 and Out!
I am 52 years old and incredibly corny. As I write this, my final column, I keep hearing television variety show sign-off songs in my head, whether it’s [...]
Re-Remembering Brent Dorian Carpenter: A Writer Who Pushed Boundaries With His Fearless Essays
Over the past two decades, I’ve had the pleasure of seeing my name among the bylines in this paper of some pretty talented writers. I was blessed to win [...]
Lies, Lies — and the Conservatives Who Tell Them in Order to Assert Their Dominance
I know that this is going to come as a shock to everyone, but I have to say it: The folks who want to ban transgender people from public bathrooms and overturn [...]
Biden Declares the Easter Bunny Transgender, Conservatives Go Wild
I am writing this on March 31, the 15th annual Transgender Day of Visibility. All over the world people are celebrating the lives of transgender people, [...]
The Under-the-Radar Republican Amendment That Kills the Rainbow Flag
Republicans did something recently that went almost unnoticed. Through one simple act in 1970, the United States became the world's leader in making our [...]
