Queer Quarterly

Dear friends and allies,

Welcome to the second edition of the Queer Quarterly, the newsletter of the Global LGBTQ+ Caucus of Democrats Abroad!  We've been busy since our last edition.

Before I tell you what we've been up to, let me say a few words about what you can find in this edition.  We've updated our Issues and Resources page with information about gender-affirming care and intersex identity.   We've highlighted four LGBTQ+ candidates for the US House who won their primaries on Super Tuesday and are now the nominees for the November election.    On our Participate page, we tell you how you can become a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago this August, and how you can get involved in the drafting of the Democrats Abroad Platform.  And we tell you what we're working on for Pride Month on our Events page.   So please click those links  to learn more!

Occupying most of our attention for the last three months has been the preparation and execution of the Global Presidential Primary, which President Biden won with more than 80% of the vote.  No suprise there, but here's a fun fact:  President Biden has now received more primary votes than any sitting president seeking re-election ever.  People are turning out to vote in large numbers for what everyone considers a foregone conclusion, despite worries about his age and other non-issues that the media gins up to get clicks.    

Meanwhile, the headlines on "the other side" constantly suggest that the mandarine monster is crushing his opponents, but when you dig into the numbers, we see that there is nowhere near the level of turnout that we're getting in the democratic primaries.   Indeed, in Georgia, a swing state that we barely won four years ago, more than 75 thousand republicans turned out to vote AGAINST the fascist candidate and FOR someone who wasn't  even on the ballot.   

We can't help but ask : where is the enthusiasm gap?  Most of those voters are not going to hold their noses and vote for Tr**p in the fall--either they won't vote, or they will vote for BIden.  And in a swing state like Georgia, that will be decisive. These are good signs for November and we must keep the Joementum moving forward.

So why is Biden generating such enthusiastic turnout in the democratic primaries?  it's

not just because the other guy is a danger to democracy, though that's surely part of it.  It's also because his record of achievement is consequential -- for the economy, for the environment, for the rights of women, and for our community.  President Biden has one of the very best records of any president on LGBTQ+ rights and protections.

Although he mentioned LGBTQ+ rights only twice in the State of the Union, and some would say didn't break any new ground, he nevertheless hailed the Respect for Marriage Act as a major accomplishment (despite its flaws), and called for the passage of "the bipartisan Equality Act to ensure LGBTQ Americans, especially transgender young people, can live with safety and dignity.”  In his three years in office, he has reversed rules of the previous administration that gave licence to discriminate, crated rules to protect LGBTQ+ children in foster care, and taken steps to address the rise in hate-fueled violence.   His record and his advocacy have been exemplary and the number of actions his administration has taken on behalf of our community continues to grow.   Joe made promises to our community when he was a candidate four years ago, and by and large, he has kept them.  Not bad for an old guy!

It's important to have a national leader who is not afraid to say our name and to go to bat for our community.  It sets the tone for other party leaders, and wherever we have Democratic Governors and state legislatures, we have strong allies who sign protections into law.  This is why it's so important to vote in down-ballot races--for town council, school board, and yes, even the dogcatcher.   When we vote, we win--Which reminds me:  have you requested your ballot yet?.  

When we don't vote, the other guys win, and the results are usually catastrophic for our community.  In republican controlled states,  legislators continue to propose, and occasionally pass, measures that seek to limit our rights, our access to medical care, our access to information about ourselves and our history. More dangerously, these initiatives -- in fact, even the mere discussion of them in the public space -- create a hostile environment for LGBTQ+ people, particularly the youth. These efforts put us all at risk.

This is not a hypothesis or a talking point.  This is real, and there is an abundance of tragic evidence for it.  In the last edition of the Queer Quarterly, I predicted that there would soon be another Matthew Shepard. It is with great sadness that we saw this prediction become truth when non-binary teenager Nex Benedict of Oklahoma died following an altercation with school bullies.  Nex did not die of the injuries sustained in the altercation.   Nex died of suicide because they simply could not take it anymore.   How many young people are at risk of this? How many bullies feel like they have license to do harm because of the hateful rhetoric of the right? Nex's death has become symbolic of the fears expressed by the LGBTQ+ community — that hateful rhetoric and restrictive legislation targeting transgender and gender non-conforming people will have tragic consequences.  When we say our lives are on the ballot this November, we mean it.

In addition to the swath of LGBTQ+ candidates who are winning their primary races at every level, there is some other good news that is coming out of the primary election season.  The right-wing strategy to use LGBTQ+ as a flashpoint in the culture war in an effort to feed the dogs red meat is backfiring.   It's not because they are attacking just us--it's also because they are attacking women, immigrants, minorities, and the least advantaged among us.   Last week in Alabama, Democrat Marilyn Lands flipped a deeply red state house district and won by a wide margin.   Why?  Because she made women's rights central to her campaign, while her Republican colleague focused on creating panic around queer people and their rights.   Ordinary people who vote and who care about their fellow citizens, even in deeply red places like Alabama, have had, quite frankly, enough of this shit.  And they--especially women--see themselves implicated in the Gilead-style laws that republicans want to pass.  

What this shows is that if all of us--LGBTQ+ people, women, racial and ethnic minorities--hang together, then we cannot be hanged apart, to borrow a phrase from Ben Franklin.  Coalition politics matter.  We must not be fractured by the narcissism of minor differences.   Together, we win.  And that's just one of the many reasons we continue to affirm our support for the ERA and for racial and social justice for all.

Our views and values about social justice, as both a Caucus and as an element of the Democratic Party, are going to be expressed in the Democrats Abroad Platform.   Among other things, we will call for the passage of the Equality Act, affirm our rights to freely express our gender identity and to access gender-affirming care, to let individuals and their families and medical advisors determine a course of treatment without government interference or restriction, to protect and support LGBTQ+ teens, and to exist as ourselves in a bully-free environment.  The entire DA Platform will be finalized and available for review around May 15, two weeks in advance of our Global Convention in Costa Rica, where the Platorm will be approved and delegations to the National Convention in Chicago selected.  If you're interested in knowing more about the Platform, or in running to be a Delegate,  please see the information on our Participate page.

Finally, I'm pleased to say that the Amsterdam Canalpride is happening !  Our bid was accepted, the boat has been reserved--and is nearly sold out--and we have a terrific weekend planned.  If you cannot come to Amsterdam, you can still support as an Ally.  Your 50$ donation (or even 10) will help DA get out the vote this November, by phone banking 200 people, or by placing an  ad for VFA in a local newspaper.   Outreach to Americans Abroad everywhere is essential this year, and our presence in the Canalpride parade will help to do that.    Donating to the this event is a great way to help Democrats Abroad be the margin of victory in key races once again this year.    Your donation could make an enormous difference, so please consider it.

There are real signs of hope this quarter, but hope is only aspirational.  Making it real requires engagement.  We’re going to turn hope into a reality in 2024.

We can only do this with your help and support.   If you’ve read all the way to the end, thank you, that’s already some support.  Now  here’s what else you can do:  

1. Spread the word.  

2. Encourage others to join the Caucus.   

3. Organize activities in your country committee with our support and assistance.   

4. Volunteer a couple of hours a week to help with the caucus (we can always use more help) or to do some phone banking.  

5. Donate to Democrats Abroad.  

6. Stay engaged.  

7. Request your absentee ballot via votefromabroad.org and encourage others to do the same. 

Together we can and we will make a difference!

Bob Vallier

Chair, Global LGBTQ+ Caucus