Surviving in a society that views Black bodies as inherently violent and unworthy of safety means navigating your Blackness differently based on the circumstances and your environment.
The goal is to make it home safely each day, to ensure that no one sees you as threatening or inconvenient in a way that might leave you harmed. While it’s a skill most of us have, each time you have to do it you’re minimizing a piece of your humanity to make someone else more comfortable.
Now, add being a woman living in a bigger body who is in a same-gender loving marriage to that equation. You can imagine all the hoops one must jump through just to stay alive and to access things like fair and equal wages, education and protection from law enforcement.
My candidacy in the race for Florida State House District 70 is an extension of my career as an attorney and advocate for social change. I often speak about how those experiences make me qualified to lead in a moment such as this, and I believe that’s true. My lived experiences as a Black queer woman living in Florida have prepared me to lead.
The most effective leaders are those who lead from a place of empathy and compassion – and there’s a particular kind of compassion and empathy that comes from being forced to dance through the complexities of being queer, Black and a woman. You understand how systemic oppression compounds at the intersections, making people feel like they have to choose what pieces of them are worth protecting or advocating for. You become acquainted with the pain that arises when someone celebrates a part of you they feel is acceptable, while erasing the other pieces as though they had a right to make that decision.
When I started being more vocal about my relationship with my now-wife, someone whom I deeply respect and who touted my career as a civil rights attorney as a credit to our race, told me that “I had ruined my career and my life.” Just for posting about being queer.
After the initial sting wore off, I decided to never let anyone tell me what parts of me had to be erased and which were worthy ever again. I’m inherently worthy.
The full breadth and depth of my humanity matters, and I commit to being the kind of leader who will fight every single day to make sure that anyone living here knows that theirs does too.
Campaigning has illuminated just how far our community still has to go. This summer, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that members of the LGBTQIA+ community cannot be discriminated against when it comes to employment. However, Florida still lags woefully behind when it comes to protecting queer and trans people, and to date has failed to pass the Florida Competitive Workforce Act. If elected, I will without question, sponsor or co-sponsor the legislation.
Many politicians have co-opted the language of movements for change and justice in saying that they’ll “center the needs of the most marginalized.” But in reality that’s a cool way of leveraging the lived experiences of those closest to systemic harms for political gain.
District 70 has a significant population of queer folks who are often overlooked and taken for granted, especially during election season when politicians swoop in with empty promises and treat our community like the gay best friend in a sitcom. Far too many elected officials try and align themselves as allies, then don’t return until the next election cycle, leaving our communities to advocate for themselves.
We are living with the reality that Black trans women are under attack in this country and right here in our district. Data shows that most Black trans women don’t live to see the age of 35 because they’re being murdered at alarming rates. We don’t have time to play games.
We need leaders who will act to keep all of us safe, but especially those experiencing the most harm. Residents deserve a leader who will fight for everyone’s full humanity to be seen and respected.
It is not lost on me that if elected, I would become one of, if not the first, openly Black queer women elected at any level of government in Florida.
I would be honored to serve my community and my state, and would view it as a privilege to legislate from the value-rooted stance that if Black lives – and specifically Black queers’ lives – are not free, then none of us in the LGBTQIA+ community are free. And if queer and trans folks of all races are not free, then no one is really free. I believe it’s my life’s purpose to work until that day is a reality.
Michele Rayner is a candidate for the Florida House, District 70 and has served as an assistant public defender and legislative aide. She earned her B.S. in Political Science and International Affairs and M.S. in International Affairs from Florida State University and her J.D. from Florida Coastal School of Law. She currently serves as local counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense fund, a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., and the Fred G. Minnis Bar Association. Learn more at MicheleForFlorida.com.
