A “rainbow wave” swept across the United States during elections Nov. 5 as 81 openly LGBTQ candidates won in political races across the country.
LGBTQ Victory Fund, an organization dedicated to ensuring the victories of openly LGBTQ candidates who can further equality, came out with a report documenting all of the election results.
The report found that 47 gay men, 20 lesbians, eight bisexuals, seven queer-identifying people and one pansexual were elected. Also, five transgender women and one gender-nonconforming individual were elected.
The majority of the election wins were on the local government level, with 73 LGBTQ victories. There were also five state legislature wins, four mayoral wins and one judicial win.
Notable victories include Virginia Democrat Danica Roem, the first transgender person to be re-elected to a state legislature, N.J. Akbar of Ohio, one of the first out LGBTQ Muslims elected in the U.S., and Virginia delegates Dawn Adams, Mark Sickles, Mark Levine and Sen. Adam Ebbin.
“From state legislatures to city councils to school boards, LGBTQ candidates are winning in regions and in numbers unimaginable even a decade ago,” Mayor Annise Parker, President and CEO of LGBTQ Victory Fund, said in a statement. “And as LGBTQ candidates continue to prove their electability in every corner of the country, more will be inspired to run and win.”
