The LGBTQ community is heralding the election of the first bisexual Senate nominee, Democratic Arizona Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, who will face off with Rep. Martha McSally in the fall election.
“Arizona voters shattered a lavender ceiling in selecting Kyrsten Sinema as the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate,” said the LGBTQ Victory Fund.
The Washington Blade, the newspaper voice of the LGBTQ community, said after her election Tuesday that Sinema “achieved a significant victory on Tuesday in the Arizona primary when she became the first openly bisexual person to win a major party nomination to run for a U.S. Senate seat.”
JUST IN: Arizona’s @kyrstensinema won her primary and is now the first openly bisexual U.S. Senate nominee of a major American political party. She will face anti-LGBTQ opponent Martha McSally in November. pic.twitter.com/X1WHZL1N5o
— Victory Fund (@VictoryFund) August 29, 2018
The Human Rights Campaign noted that the lawmaker is the co-chair of the LGBT Equality Caucus in Congress and has led on LGBT issues.
“HRC proudly supports pro-equality champion Rep. Kyrsten Sinema — a strong, effective leader who puts solutions first and fights to ensure every Arizonan has a shot at the American Dream,” said HRC Arizona State Director Justin Unga.
In an interview with the Advocate this year, Sinema said that having faced bullying for her sexuality as a child made her a better leader.
“Growing up LGBT is often to be tried by fire and to wrestle with the fundamental question of who you are,” she told the magazine. “Virtually all of us have faced bullying, discrimination, exclusion, or worse. When you grow up like this, working to find common ground with people you sometimes disagree with is all you’ve ever known. That’s why LGBT leaders are some of the hardest-working, most effective leaders you’ll find,” she added.
The LGBTQ Victory Fund suggested in its statement that it will make sexuality an issue in the campaign. It called McSally, a retired Air Force pilot, “anti-LGBTQ.”
McSally is also a trail blazer. She was the first woman to command an Air Force fighter squadron and successfully sued the Pentagon to end a policy requiring servicewomen in Saudi Arabia to wear a body-covering abaya off base.
The LGBTQ Victory Fund said in its statement, “An LGBTQ Senate candidate taking down an anti-LGBTQ opponent in a red state will be a defining moment in this year’s rainbow political wave – and will further the evolution in how Americans view LGBTQ people and candidates.”
