For the first time in U.S. history, openly LGBTQ candidates for public office this election cycle ran in all 50 states and Washington, D.C., the LGBTQ Victory Fund announced Wednesday.
A record-breaking number of openly LGBTQ candidates also will appear on the ballot next month after winning their primary races earlier this year.
More than 1,000 openly LGBTQ people ran or are running for offices with elections in 2022 — the most in the nation’s history, the LGBTQ Victory Fund, a national organization dedicated to electing LGBTQ leaders to public office, said Wednesday in a report.
Sixty-four percent, a total of 678 candidates, will appear on the ballot in November, up from just above 57 percent in 2020.
A record-shattering 416 openly LGBTQ people ran for state legislatures this year, according to Wednesday’s report. The record number of candidates comes as hundreds of bills that would negatively affect LGBTQ people were introduced by state lawmakers across the country.
Nine states this year approved laws barring transgender students from participating in sports consistent with their gender identity, according to the Movement Advancement Project, bringing the nationwide total to 18.
Dozens of others considered measures that would restrict or outlaw gender-affirming health care for transgender youth and others still introduced bills to limit how LGBTQ issues and identities are talked about in schools.
Annise Parker, president and chief executive of the LGBTQ Victory Fund, on Wednesday said the increase in LGBTQ candidates running for state-level positions this cycle reflects a mounting frustration among LGBTQ people and their allies toward sitting lawmakers intolerant of their identities.
“Voters are sick and tired of the relentless attacks lobbed against the LGBTQ community this year,” Parker said in a statement. “This November, we have an opportunity to elect more LGBTQ people to office than ever before. But it’s going to take each and every one of us. Sitting on the sidelines isn’t an option when our rights are on the chopping block. This is a time for action. This is a time for unity.”
More openly LGBTQ candidates than ever before — at least 119 — also ran for seats in Congress this year, according to Wednesday’s report.
Of all LGBTQ candidates that ran for public office this year, 38.2 percent were candidates of color and nearly 14 percent were not cisgender.