activists push to encourage more LGBT candidates

Jane Campbell and her wife were crushed when North Carolina passed a law that rolled back rights for gay, lesbian and transgender people. Then Campbell, a retired Navy captain, took a dramatic step: She decided to run against one of the bill’s supporters. “HB2 was really the thing that spurred my interest,” Campbell said, referring to what the law was called in the legislature.

Campbell and others gathered at a Charlotte hotel here last weekend to participate in a four-day training for aspiring gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender politicians and political operatives. The training, put on by the Gay and Lesbian Victory Institute, which works to elect LGBT people to office.

In the wake of last year’s Supreme Court ruling legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide, hundreds of pieces of anti-gay legislation were introduced in statehouses nationwide. The LGBT community has also been galvanized by the terrorist shooting attack two weeks ago in Orlando targeting a gay nightclub, killing 49.

In Mississippi, a law allowing businesses to refuse service to same-sex couples goes into effect this Friday, which is a disgrace in a country like the USA which prides its self on freedom for all.

This week, two transgender women won Democratic congressional primaries in the West. Misty K. Snow, a 30-year-old Democrat who works at a grocery store, will face incumbent Sen. Mike Lee in Utah’s Senate race. Misty Plowright, a 33-year-old IT consultant, will challenge Rep. Doug Lamborn in Colorado for a seat in the House district near Colorado Springs.

I am not associated with their movement but i say "Good Luck" to those people standing up for their rights and the rights of people they could represent one day.........www.washingtonpost.com... /c70514a8-3991-11e6-8f7c-d4c723a2becb_story.html?wpinl_politics&wpmm=1#comments

a reply to: tommo39

I am so tired of this. They are people, let the best person win.

Good luck to them.

Enough of the special class being shoved down our throats. I don't want a tag on my candidate. I want their ideas to represent them.

We have a big percentage voting for a vagina this election.

No more division, black, white, lgbt, Asian. # that. How about humans?

originally posted by: stosh64
a reply to: tommo39

I am so tired of this. They are people, let the best person win.

Good luck to them.

Enough of the special class being shoved down our throats. I don't want a tag on my candidate. I want their ideas to represent them.

We have a big percentage voting for a vagina this election.

No more division, black, white, lgbt, Asian. # that. How about humans?

Ditto.

When are we going to get someone who has special ideas instead of a special moniker.

Seems like the rest of the rancid politicians. Just a new twist to angle for votes.

I'm this, vote for me! Instead of standing for something on its own merit.

Why is your sexual preference, gender etc. included in this?

a reply to: tommo39

Oh God I think I just had a premonition.

First black president, voted for because black.

First woman president, voted for because woman.

First gay president, voted for because gay.

Somebody indict Hillary already, I'm not ready to be the next Nostradamus.

a reply to: tommo39

I say we should do everything we can to get the best candidates running and voted into office. Whether the best-qualified be a white middle-aged man of Christian belief and financially well off, or it be a homeless lesbian without a high school diploma, we should not be concerned as to whether or not someone is gay or straight or rich or poor or a Rhodes scholar or barely graduated high school--if they can do the job well and without corruption (i.e.: represent the people and put the society's needs and betterment ahead of personal interest), that should be the individual who should win.

LGBT or WASP shouldn't even be an issue.