Openly bisexual senator seen as standard-bearer

Kyrsten Sinema is getting national attention as the first openly bisexual candidate elected to the U.S. Senate.

Now characterized by some as a standard-bearer for LGBTQ people, Sinema’s sexual orientation was barely mentioned during her hard-fought campaign against Republican Martha McSally for the seat.

That it wasn’t even an issue reflects of Arizona’s long libertarian tradition emphasizing individual rights that stretches back at least to the Barry Goldwater era of poli-

tics.

“It’s not a front-and-center part of Kyrsten’s identity, although she lives with great authenticity — she always has,” said Neil Giuliano, the nation’s first directly elected, openly gay mayor.

Giuliano, a former mayor of Tempe, now is president and CEO of Greater Phoenix Leadership, a business leadership organization.

At her core, Sinema would support federal policies that protect LGBTQ people against discrimination in employment, no matter her orientation, he said.

“Here’s what we know about politics: If you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu,” Giuliano said. “So it’s very important that she is at the table as a voice that comes from the LGBTQ community, openly, honestly and proudly. I think that’s tremendous.”

Sinema, 42, identified publicly as bisexual early in her political career at the state Capitol, where she served in both chambers. During her time at the Arizona Legislature, she fought for marriage equality, namely against a ban on marriage between same-sex couples.

She led the unsuccessful campaign in 2008 to defeat a proposed state constitutional amendment to restrict marriage to one man and one woman. Court decisions in 2014 overturned that voterapproved ban.

Sinema has never played identity politics, and her orientation has never been front-and-center in any of her campaigns. She was first elected to Congress in 2012, becoming its first openly bisexual member, a title she carries with her to the U.S. Senate.

Sinema is the second person to identify as LGBTQ in the Senate. U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., is lesbian.

“Very happy to say I’m no longer the *only* openly LGBTQ U.S. Senator,” Baldwin wrote on Twitter Monday evening, as Sinema delivered her victory speech. “Congratulations to @kyrstensinema on a well-deserved victory. The upper chamber is lucky to have your steady leadership.”

Sinema will be sworn into office Jan. 3.

The progressive Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer advocacy group, poured money into Arizona to try to flip it blue. The group’s strategy centered on drawing attention to candidates’ support or opposition to equal rights for LGBTQ people.

Arizona is one of six target states where the HRC is spending heavily for the midterms and through the 2020 presidential election as it tries to elect pro-LGBTQ candidates.

The Victory Fund, a political action committee that works to elect LGBTQ candidates, called Sinema’s win a “game changer” on its website.

Annise Parker, the former mayor of Houston and the CEO of Victory Fund, told The Arizona Republic that Sinema’s win represents the highest-profile win for the group.

Sinema has been involved in the group for years, participating in training and in a leadership-development program.

“The world is changing, but there are many states in the country where you can be fired simply for being LGBT,” Parker said. “There’s a growing trend to try to allow ... sanctioned discrimination.”

She added, “As we see those things, it makes it more important to have those who are from the community advocating in the halls of power.”

Chad Campbell, who served with Sinema in the state Legislature and is a longtime friend, said in Arizona, sexual orientation was a non-issue for candidates across the board. Arizonans judge candidates most on their ability to perform in elected office and less about their personal lives.

“The majority of Arizonans have changed their views on how they view LGBT issues and marriage equality, so it’s not really a hot-button issue,” he said. “It’s just who she is. It’s not a thing. “We’re more of a libertarian state.” In 1996, Jim Kolbe, then a 12-year Republican congressman representing a Tucson-area district, disclosed that he was gay. He said to the Tucson Citizen that he felt forced to reveal his sexual orientation because a national gay magazine was going to disclose his status in a forthcoming article.

And Goldwater, the 1964 Republican presidential nominee and five-term U.S. senator from Arizona, famously penned an op-ed in 1993 calling on the military to lift its gay ban.

“You don’t need to be ‘straight’ to fight and die for your country,” Goldwater wrote in the Washington Post. “You just need to shoot straight.”