I know today feels incredibly bleak for many of you. You might be wondering about what the future holds. Hold onto the knowledge that the struggle for equity and justice is long. The coming days and months are going to be painful – especially as we fight against an anti-LGBTQ+ administration. The election was not the finish line. We will continue to push back on the racism, transphobia, and bigotry from our local communities to the highest levels of our government.
Even in this moment, we have reason to hope. We can celebrate the historic victories of:
• Delaware Representative Sarah McBride, who will be the first transgender member of Congress.
• Texas Representative Julie Johnson, who will be the first openly LGBTQ+ member of Congress from the South.
• Washington State Representative Emily Randall who will be the first Latina lesbian in Congress.
• Maryland Senator-Elect Angela Alsobrooks who will be the first Black person elected to the Senate from Maryland.
• Delaware Senator-Elect Lisa Blunt Rochester who will be the first woman and first Black person elected from Delaware.
• Virginia Representative Suhas Subramanyam who will be the first Indian American elected to Congress from Virginia.
• New Jersey Senator-Elect Andy Kim who will be the first Korean-American elected to the Senate and first Asian-American senator from New Jersey.
• Arizona Representative Yassamin Ansari who will be the first Iranian-American Democrat elected to Congress.
• North Carolina Governor-Elect Josh Stein who will be the first Jewish person elected governor of North Carolina.
Modern Military knows what it takes to fight – we will develop a roadmap to work with Congress and statehouses to protect the LGBTQ+ community. Our work is more important than ever as we fight for LGBTQ+ rights and particularly, transgender rights. We have an idea of the fights ahead – starting with a trans ban in the military, anti-trans discrimination in healthcare, rolled back protections for trans students, and a license for businesses to discriminate against LGBTQ+ people based on religious objections.
We need your support like never before to fight back against the threats that the LGBTQ+ community faces. The work we are doing around advocacy, discrimination reporting, peer-facilitated support groups, and suicide prevention efforts is more important than ever. With the support of our community we will find a way to continue this work and keep fighting.
In Solidarity,
Rachel Branaman, Executive Director
Modern Military Association of America
www.modernmilitary.org
