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OPINION: The Queer Case For Bernie Sanders

Marilyn Drew Necci | March 2, 2020

Topics: Bernie Sanders, Defense of Marriage Act, Democratic Presidential primary, Election 2020, LGBTQ civil rights

Voting in the Democratic primary tomorrow? Our editor-in-chief, Marilyn Drew Necci, wants you to know why she thinks you should vote for Bernie Sanders.

Virginia’s Democratic primary happens tomorrow. We’ll be one of 14 states voting for our pick to take on Donald Trump in the presidential election this November. By the end of the day tomorrow, one third of the delegates who determine the Democratic nominee will have been apportioned. The result of Super Tuesday will be extremely significant to determining who becomes the Democratic nominee for president. And I’m here to do what I can to convince you that that nominee should be Bernie Sanders.

It’d be easy to get caught up in the horse race here, to start making comparisons between Bernie Sanders and the other candidates left in the race (which, as of last night, no longer includes an openly gay candidate), but what I’d like to do here is focus on the reasons why Bernie would be a great candidate for the LGBTQ community of Virginia and the United States — and how he’s been the sort of politician we LGBTQ people should support for his entire half-century in politics.

It goes back to his first run for office, which took place in 1972. Today, Bernie’s famous for being the most successful independent politician in the United States in modern history, and it was always that way; in 1972, when he ran for governor of Vermont, he was a candidate for the anti-war Liberty Union party. And in addition to opposing the Vietnam war (which was still going on at the time), he made a statement in a campaign letter that was unequivocally in favor of gay rights: “Let’s abolish all laws dealing with abortion, drugs, sexual behavior (adultery, homosexuality, etc).”

Of course, Bernie lost that election, and his 1974 run for Senate and 1976 run for governor were no more successful. But in 1980, now a true independent candidate, he ran for mayor of Burlington, the most populous city in Vermont, and won. During his time as Burlington’s mayor, he was able to go beyond campaign statements and put his legal authority behind initiatives for LGBTQ rights. In 1983, he signed a resolution declaring June 25 to be Lesbian and Gay Pride Day in Burlington, writing at the time, “In a free society we must all be committed to the mutual respect of each others lifestyles.” Archaic language, it’s true, but that was nearly 40 years ago, and very few elected officials anywhere in the United States were being anywhere near this supportive of our causes.

In the early 80s, Bernie also supported the first-ever gay pride parade in Vermont, in spite of plenty of strong and vitriolic condemnation from many different sectors of the Burlington citizenry. But the LGBTQ people of the area appreciated him. “I thank you sincerely for your endorsement of Lesbian and Gay Pride Day in Burlington,” read a 1983 letter sent to Bernie by Vermont’s Bob Skiba. “Your endorsement gives me more reason to be glad for your re-election.”

Even back in the 80s, a truly tough time to survive if you were transgender, Bernie’s leadership in Burlington helped make the city one of the safest places in the country for trans people to live. Amber LeMay, who founded the League of Drag Queen Voters, moved to Burlington in the early 80s seeking a more accepting place than her Ohio hometown. “I was impressed with the open and vocal gay community,” she told the Daily Beast, pointing to Bernie’s leadership as a major factor in the progressive atmosphere Burlington had in the 80s.

From what I understand, [Sanders] didn’t do anything specific for the gay community. He just treated them like he treated everyone else. He gave opportunities and the gay community took him up on them.

It wasn’t just support of easy symbols like pride parades that showed Bernie’s commitment, even in the 80s, to LGBTQ rights. 1985 also saw a housing ordinance passed in Burlington that prohibited discrimination in housing on the basis of sexual orientation. We just got that protection here in Virginia last month! “It is my very strong view that a society which proclaims human freedom as its goal, as the United States does, must work unceasingly to end discrimination against all people,” Bernie wrote at the time. “This law will give legal protection not only to welfare recipients, and families with children, the elderly and the handicapped — but to the gay community as well.”

This statement sheds light on another important positive aspect of Bernie Sanders’ candidacy. Bernie’s focus, as a democratic socialist, on class issues often leads people to condemn him on the basis that he doesn’t focus enough on issues of social justice. But in reality, for Bernie and for the democratic socialist movement as a whole, issues of economic class and social justice are often inseparable. In 1990, when Bernie won a seat representing Vermont in the US House of Representatives, he met with Keith Goslant, a liaison to the Governor of Vermont for LGBTQ issues.

“He was very upfront that he was looking at us as a member of the working class, and what did we need as a part of that group,” Goslant told the New York Times in 2015. According to Goslant, Bernie told him at the time that even if he wasn’t in a position to introduce bills advocating for LGBTQ interests, he would sign on.

The crowd at the Arthur Ashe Jr. Athletic Center for the Bernie Sanders rally on Thursday. Photo via Bernie Sanders/Instagram

As a member of Congress, where Bernie has been either a Representative or a Senator for 30 years, he stood against LGBTQ discrimination at times when that was a very lonely fight. Bernie was one of few in Congress who thought in 1995 that Bill Clinton’s Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy didn’t go far enough, and pushed for full inclusion of gay people in the military. At one point, during an argument on the House floor, he responded to a Republican candidate who’d made reference to “homos in the military” by asking: “Was the gentleman referring to the many thousands and thousands of gay people who have put their lives on the line in countless wars defending this country?”

In 1996, Bernie opposed the hateful Defense Of Marriage Act, which was a direct roadblock to the progress LGBTQ Americans had made at the time toward marriage equality. In 1999, he voted against a bill that would have prevented adoptions by same-sex couples.

In the 00s, when his home state of Vermont was making some of the earliest progress toward marriage equality, Bernie supported both Vermont’s 2000 legalizing of same-sex civil unions and the state’s 2009 legalization of same-sex marriage. He encouraged then-President Barack Obama, who still wasn’t supporting marriage equality at that point, to get on board. “I am proud that Vermont was a national leader in legalizing gay marriage,” Bernie stated in 2011. “I believe the example that Vermont set has helped change people’s attitudes all across America. I also hope that it will help shape the thinking of all our elected leaders, including the president.”

Since the election of Donald Trump, we’ve seen a lot of LGBTQ rights get rolled back at the federal level, but Bernie has taken firm stands opposing all of these discriminatory Trump administration measures. He stood against the transgender military ban, and has opposed Betsy DeVos’s rollback of the Obama-era guidance that extended Civil Rights Act protections to transgender students. In a 2017 Facebook post, he wrote,

The attacks against transgender people are part of a bigotry which has got to end. To young transgender people I say: We stand with you. We will not allow Donald Trump or anyone else to take away your rights. We have got to continue to fight to protect and support all children in this country.

If you needed evidence that Bernie does now, and indeed, always has supported the LGBTQ community, I would hope you’re convinced by now. But there are still more reasons for the LGBTQ community to support Bernie Sanders, reasons that go beyond our direct interests to some of the many intersectional issues that have become a much-needed focus of LGBTQ activism in recent years.

Income inequality is the big one. Many marginalized communities suffer from lower pay and fewer economic opportunities, and the LGBTQ community is no exception — regardless of the myth that we’re all affluent shopaholics. The sad truth is that LGBTQ parents are three times as likely as straight parents to be raising their children in poverty, and one in five LGBTQ adults still makes less than $12,000 a year. Bernie’s continued push for a living wage in this country may not be an obvious LGBTQ issue, but the fact is that it would be a huge help for our community to have a president who supports such an initiative.

The same can definitely be said about Bernie’s Medicare For All plan. Trans people in particular suffer from less than adequate health care coverage. The 2015 US Transgender Survey found that one in three survey respondents had had negative experiences when seeking health care, and one in four avoided seeking health care treatments out of fear of discrimination and harassment. Most crucially, one in three respondents did not seek health care because they couldn’t afford it. Bernie’s health care plan would end all of that; creating a country in which not only queer, trans, and non-binary people but absolutely everyone could see a doctor when they were sick without having to worry about how they’d pay for it would be, for many of us, downright revolutionary.

I could go on, citing Bernie’s humane policies for undocumented immigrants, support of free four-year college and cancellation of $1.6 trillion in student debt, commitment to reducing emissions and being part of a movement toward a greener, more livable world, and more. If you’d like to know more, you can find plenty of info at feelthebern.org. Right now, I’ll just say that we as LGBTQ citizens of this country, have a responsibility to do what we can to make this a better place to live — not just for ourselves, but for all marginalized and disadvantaged people. I believe the best way we can do that is to send Bernie Sanders to the White House.

Top Photo: Bernie in Richmond VA, via Bernie Sanders/Instagram

Richmond Feels The Bern At The Arthur Ashe Center

Zach Armstrong | March 2, 2020

Topics: Arthur Ashe Jr. Athletic Center, Bernie Sanders, Democratic Presidential primary, Election 2020, Elizabeth Guzman, Lucy Dacus, Luis Aguilar, Michael Payne, No BS! Brass Band, Super Tuesday

Less than a week ahead of Virginia’s primary, Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders energized a near-capacity crowd at the Arthur Ashe Jr. Athletic Center on Thursday.

“In case you didn’t notice it, there are a lot of people in this room,” said Sen. Bernie Sanders to a crowd of thousands at the Arthur Ashe Jr. Athletic Center. 

The city of Richmond welcomed presidential candidate, self-described democratic socialist, and U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders on Thursday, less than a week before the Virginia primary. The event, which was originally planned for the 1500-capacity National, was moved earlier in the week to the Arthur Ashe Jr. Athletic Center, in order to accomodate the expected crowds. According to the Washington Post, the Richmond fire marshall estimated 4,700 people in attendance. 

The crowd at the Arthur Ashe Jr. Athletic Center. Photo via Bernie Sanders/Instagram

“Don’t complain about your student debt, don’t complain about climate change, don’t complain about racism or sexism or homophobia. Your complaints don’t mean anything,” said Sanders to the crowd. “What means something is standing up and fighting.”

Charlottesville City Council member Michael Payne, Virginia Director of CASA in Action Luis Aguilar, and the first Latina elected to the Virginia House of Delegates, Del. Elizabeth Guzman (D-Woodbridge), took the stage before Sanders to excite the crowd about the progressive campaign. 

“We believed in Bernie four years ago; he had a consistent message of progress, he had a base here in Virginia that believed in his message and voted for him, despite the establishment being against us,” said Guzman. “He has won Iowa, he has won New Hampshire, he has won Nevada, and we are getting ready to deliver Virginia to Bernie Sanders.”

Indie rock singer Lucy Dacus, who grew up in Richmond and is a member of the popular band Boygenius, performed a solo set before No BS! Brass Band also performed songs including “You Need To Vote.”

No BS! Brass Band performs for the crowd. Photo by Branden Wilson

The Independent Vermont Senator addressed several of his key campaign issues during the rally, including ending voter suppression, equal pay for women, providing universal child care, raising teacher’s salaries, implementing universal health care, making public colleges tuition-free, and legalizing marijuana. 

“There are some things a president can do through executive order, there are other things that need legislation. Turns out that one of the things you can do with executive order is legalize marijuana in every state,” said Sanders, to which the crowd reacted enthusiastically with “Bernie” chants.  

“I’ve been supporting Bernie since 2016 because he’s the only progressive Democrat that’s actually talking about the problems we have as a country, such as income inequality, or the fact that our political parties aren’t working for working class people,” said Blair Wilner, a current Ph.D student at the University of Virginia. 

Virginia will be one of 14 states who will hold their presidential primaries on March 3, known as Super Tuesday, when 33.8 percent of delegates are awarded to the candidates for the nominating convention. The South Carolina primary, which awards 63 delegates, will take place on Saturday, February 29. 

Bernie speaks. Photo by Branden Wilson

According to Five Thirty Eight, a poll analysis website founded by Nate Silver, Sanders leads in Virginia with a 24.8 percent polling average, while Joe Biden is closely behind at 19.8 percent. 

“We won the Nevada caucus, and that is getting the establishment very nervous,” said Sanders. “They are staying up days and nights trying to figure out how they can stop us, and when they see a turnout like this, they get even more nervous.”

The Vermont senator remains the Democratic front runner after three primaries and caucuses have been held. With 45 pledged delegates, Sanders holds a lead over other contenders Pete Buttigieg, Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren, Mike Bloomberg, Tom Steyer, Tulsi Gabbard, and Amy Klobuchar. 

Donald Trump is running for reelection in 2020 against whoever the Democratic nominee will be. As of Feb. 26, Realclearpolitics.com has Senator Sanders with a 4.7 point national lead over President Trump, according to an average of numerous polls conducted. The general election will take place Tuesday, November 3. 

Photo via Bernie Sanders/Instagram

“It gives me no pleasure to tell you this,” Sanders told the audience. “The sad truth is that we have a president today who is a racist, who is a sexist, who is a homophobe, who is a xenophobe, who is a religious bigot. And no matter what your political views may be, you understand that is not somebody who deserves reelection.”

Virginia’s primary election will take place on Tuesday, November 3. Virginia has open primaries, so you do not have to be registered as a member of a party to vote in its primary. You can find your polling station at elections.virginia.gov/citizen-portal/

Top Photo: Bernie takes the stage. Photo by Branden Wilson

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