The DJ was spinning a dance-mix of Belinda Carlisle in a mostly empty ballroom at the Embassy Suites in Olathe, Kansas. The room wasn’t empty for lack of enthusiasm; the doors had just opened, and I was one of the very first people there. By the time I grabbed a drink, almost all of the tables were already taken. I had to pull a table from the back wall—where it was covering part of a generator—just to find a place to set up. That’s how fast the room filled, and it kept filling for the next few hours.
The night may not have been quite the national “blue wave” Democrats were hoping for, but in the room, it was a flood. Nothing could stop it.
Why was there a torrent of bodies waiting to watch the election coverage of a Democrat in the middle of Kansas? In the days leading up to Nov. 6, the race didn’t quite get the national coverage it deserved, but a progressive bomb had been ticking the 3rd House District for weeks.
These people already knew it was about to go off. Because they knew Kansas deserves better.
A few hours after I set up in a packed room, Sharice Davids would become the first queer woman of color to be elected to U.S. Congress. She’s also the first Native American to hold office in the federal government since Charles Curtis, a Kaw-Osage from Kansas, went from the U.S. Senate to serve as the vice president under Herbert Hoover. That was 89 years ago.
The conversations I had with supporters at her watch party showed that her LGBTQ constituents need her. Most wouldn’t talk on the record, because as much as we can celebrate Davids, not everyone is comfortable with their communities knowing that they’re here and that they’re LGBTQ. It’s an uncomfortable realization: Those celebrating this milestone are aware their families will not—or maybe even cannot — share their joy. Read more via INTO