By John Clise
With nearly 1,000 LGBTQ+ folks now serving as elected officials great inroads have been made, there is work to be done before proper representation is recognized.
The LGBTQ Victory Institute’s “Out for America 2021” report found the number of LGBTQ+ elected officials has increased to 17 percent with 986 now serving in office.
Between June 2020 and June 2021, LGBQ cisgender women state legislators surpassed the number of GBQ cisgender men state legislators for the first time. Additionally, LGBTQ elected officials of color grew at a much faster pace than white LGBTQ elected officials, with Black LGBTQ elected officials growing at the fastest pace.
Queer elected officials grew faster than all other sexual orientations, with an 83 percent increase, however, LGBTQ people are severely underrepresented among elected officials, needing to elect 28,116 more to achieve equitable representation.
Twenty-three states have transgender elected officials serving and 29 states have non-cisgender elected officials, with only Mississippi with zero known out LGBTQ elected officials serving.
According to the report, LGBTQ people are equitably represented among mayors of top 100 cities for the first time (with six), but are underrepresented among mayors overall and in all other public positions; The report also noted 84 percent of LGBTQ elected officials are Democrats with three percent Republicans.
Clise's Cornucopia 