More LGBT candidates on ballots

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Sharice Davids, a leading Democrat in a key congressional primary election Tuesday, finished a White House fellowship in the early months of the Trump administration. As a lesbian and a Native American, she became convinced that hardwon progress on issues like gay rights and the environment would erode under President Donald Trump and thought Kansans in her district might support her as a counterforce to the president.

“We had to focus on getting more people elected to decisionmaking positions because that’s the way that we offset someone who wants to destroy the EPA being appointed to run the EPA,” she said, referring to Scott Pruitt, Trump’s now-departed agency administrator.

Davids is among more than 400 gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender candidates running for office this year — a record number, according to groups that track such data. Most are Democrats, and several are mounting antiTrump congressional bids with a message broader than gay rights.

Around half of these candidates are running for state offices, a priority for activists who say many of the most important civil rights battles are happening close to home. In 2017, more than 120 bills described as “anti-LGBT” were introduced across 30 states, including adoption laws and so-called bathroom bills, according to the Human Rights Campaign. By January, 12 of them had become law.

Many are firsttime candidates like Davids in Kansas and Rick Neal, a former humanitarian aid worker in Afghanistan and Liberia and current stay-at-home dad in Columbus, Ohio.

Neal won the Democratic primary in the 15th District of Ohio and will compete in November against Rep. Steve Stivers, the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee. Neal said some voters were “naturally curious” about how he would appeal to people who “may not be comfortable” with his sexuality.

“I just talk about what I want to work on and what I want to do for people,” he said, citing issues like campaign financing and health care reform.