“…Murray, who left his position as Mayor in 2017 after being outed as an alleged child sex abuser, allegations he denies.”

When Murray was first elected to the legislature, there were no statewide protections for LGBTQ+ persons. Anyone living outside enclaves such as Seattle could be fired, evicted, etc. for non-heterosexuality. Gay marriage was a pipe dream. Sen. Murray accomplished all of it. He built the house; everyone you’re praising here has merely dressed the windows.

Along the way, he made more than a few enemies out of some very, very hateful bigots. One of them provided legal representation for two of his accusers; another advised a third of his accusers to go public; all three were felons, convicted for crimes of deceit. The Stranger should never have swallowed the emissions of these male convicts; the voters of Seattle never have.

TL:DR those in the LGBTQ are a diverse group with a diverse range of political opinions and thinking they are automatically going to prefer TS political positions is really dumb. It's kind of feels like evaluating political candidates based on traits and not policy positions is equally dumb.

Some folks are IGMFU

So all gay people are required to think alike and have the same beliefs.

Have you guys missed the last 50 years of American politics? The “moral majority” drummed LGBTQ people out of the conservative movement decades ago and have been leveraging anti-LGBTQ policy as a wedge issue ever since. Of course some individuals can be conservative but they’re a rarity for a reason. Supporting progressive political causes is a matter of self-preservation for queer people.

wait til the Sloghaters come out for Diaz. get your popcorn!

@7, Reading comprehension isn’t your strong suit, is it? You’re batting 0 for 2 in this thread alone.

It’s messed up that we still need to remind people in 2024 that sexual orientation is but one facet of a human and there are all kinds of people so be critical thinkers y’all.

Republican support for same sex marriage is in decline right now because queer people are once again in the wedge issue hot-seat for this election cycle (RIP critical race theory, 2020—2022).

The idea that “gender ideology” is somehow distinct from the general revulsion movement conservatives feel for LGBTQ people is a fantasy straight out of “First They Came.” Same hateful rhetoric, same discriminatory goals, slightly different approach. The court could take away marriage equality just as easily as they gave it to us, and your willingness to throw trans people under the bus only helps them advance their goals.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/1249216/support-for-same-sex-marriage-in-the-united-states-by-political-party/

Gee, it’s almost like far-right extremists have been harassing employees and calling in bomb threats over Pride merchandise because there has been an increased focus on LGBTQ issues in conservative media over the past year. Are you trying to prove my point for me?

“Cultural divisions” is a nice way of saying one side of our culture wants queer people erased from public life and the other simply wants to live their lives in peace. Queer people existing is not the problem, it’s the bigots. It’s always the bigots.

https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/minnesota/news/lgbtq-leaders-concerned-target-removes-pride-merch-violent-threats-harassment/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/06/04/target-lgbtq-culture-wars/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/06/12/target-bomb-threat-pride

My god you're pathetic, a classic "enlightened centrist" running defense for bigots while thinking you're above it all: https://thenib.com/centrist-history-2-0be/

Let the record reflect that in the span of 3 comments, you've moved your goalposts from "America was cool with gay people until 'gender ideology' happened," to "Pride is so over," to "it's NBD that bigots are bullying our institutions into submission through the threat of violence because queer people will continue to exist." How do you type these things out and not immediately die from embarrassment?

@3: And LGBTQ elected officials who are worthless on gay-rights issues have been an issue in Seattle since the earliest days of the Stranger:

“In 1991, Sherry D. Harris was the first out black lesbian elected to public office in the United States. This also gave her the distinction of being the first African American woman on the Seattle City Council in Washington State.”

(https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/harris-sherry-d-1957/)

She spent what would be her only term of office demonstrating that being female, Black, and queer did not mean she cared in the slightest about the issues facing those communities.

In particular, the early 1990s saw growing threats to the LGBTQ community of Washington state. Bigots from both outside and inside the state started trying to remove civil-rights protections from LGBTQ persons. CM Harris was so utterly worthless against this threat, Dan Savage performed in drag at a fund-raiser for her 1995 opponent, under the stage name, “Scary Harris.”