Category: DELAWARE

What states are the best for LGBTQ+ people? These are the top 15

Read more at the Advocate.

Legislative attacks on the LGBTQ+ community have been pushed everywhere from city councils to the White House — but there are still some areas that are safe.

Over 1,000 anti-LGBTQ+ laws have been proposed across every state legislature in the U.S. over the past two years, according to the American Civil Liberties Union, and 126 have passed into law. Less than two months into the 2025 legislative session, 390 laws targeting LGBTQ+ people have been proposed.

Still, marriage equality and anti-discrimination protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity are still guaranteed federally by U.S. Supreme Court rulings (for now). On top of that, at least 15 states have “shield laws” protecting access to gender-affirming care and abortion.

Based on laws surrounding marriage, family rights, health care, education, and youth collected by the Movement Advancement Project, here are the 15 best states for LGBTQ+ people.

The states include California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington. Honorable mentions go to Washington DC, Delaware, Hawaii, Michigan, New Mexico, and Virginia.

You can read about each state in more detail in the Advocate’s article.

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Unpopular Texas Congressman adjourns hearing after blowup over McBride introduction

*The Hill is reporting the unpopular Texas Congressman Keith Self has no sense of decorum on his own committee. Read below.

A House Foreign Affairs subcommittee hearing ended abruptly Tuesday after Rep. Keith Self (R-Texas) referred to Rep. Sarah McBride (D-Del.), the first transgender person elected to Congress, as “mister.” 

Self, who chairs the subcommittee on Europe, introduced McBride as “the congressman from Delaware” during a hearing on arms control and U.S. assistance to Europe. McBride responded by calling Self “Madam Chair.” 

As McBride delivered her remarks, ranking member Bill Keating (D-Mass.) interjected, asking Self to repeat his introduction. 

“Mr. Chairman, you are out of order,” Keating said. “Mr. Chairman, have you no decency? I mean, I’ve come to know you a little bit, but this is not decent.” 

“We will continue this hearing,” Self responded. 

“You will not continue it with me unless you introduce a duly elected representative the right way,” Keating said. 

Self then adjourned the hearing. 

In a post on the social platform X, Self said, “It is the policy of the United States to recognize two sexes, male and female,” referring to an executive order President Trump signed during his first hours back in office. 

Spokespeople for Keating and McBride did not immediately return requests for comment. 

Self’s intentional misgendering of McBride is not the first time the first-term lawmaker has faced jabs from her Republican colleagues over her identity. On Feb. 7, ahead of McBride’s first floor speech, Rep. Mary Miller (R-Ill.) introduced McBride as “the gentleman from Delaware.” 

McBride brushed off Miller’s introduction. “FWIW, there’s an entire speech after I’m recognized by the acting speaker that’s worth a watch much more than the 15 second video of me being called on,” she wrote on X after a video of the introduction went viral. 

Other House GOP members have referred to McBride as “a man” on social media and moved to bar her from women’s restrooms on Capitol grounds. In interviews and social media posts, McBride has called Republicans’ targeting of her and the trans community “an attempt to distract” from issues like the rising cost of living. 

“I think we are all united that attempts to attack a vulnerable community are not only mean-spirited, but really an attempt to misdirect,” McBride told CBS News’s “Face the Nation” in a November interview. 

Still, McBride has signaled a willingness to work with Republicans in Congress. She introduced her first bill, legislation to tackle fraudulent practices in the credit repair industry, with Rep. Young Kim, a California Republican. 

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Sarah McBride could be 1st openly trans person in Congress, but her focus is on results for Delaware

This blog originally appeared at ABC News.

“We’ve shown that small states can do big things,” she said.

Sarah McBride is making history as she could become the first openly transgender person to be elected to Congress. However, she remains focused on delivering results and making positive changes for her constituents in Delaware. Advocating for healthcare, education, and workers’ rights, McBride’s campaign centers on addressing the needs of the community she aims to serve. While her groundbreaking candidacy is significant, she is determined to prioritize the well-being and progress of her state, highlighting the importance of her legislative agenda over her personal identity.

Sarah McBride vies to be the nation’s first openly transgender congressperson

McBride, 32, has been serving as a Democrat in the first district of the Delaware state Senate since 2020.

click here to see full blog: https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/sarah-mcbride-1st-openly-trans-person-congress-focus/story?id=100437396

Sarah McBride is used to being first. She was the first openly transgender person to work in the White House, the first to speak at the Democratic National Convention and the first to become a state senator, in Delaware.

If the campaign she announced on Monday is successful, she will be the first transgender person to serve in Congress — representing Delaware’s sole congressional district — and the first openly transgender person to be elected at the federal level.

Because Delaware’s at-large district is solidly Democratic, competition in the race will likely play out during the primary next fall. The seat is currently held by Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester, who announced last week that she is running for the U.S. Senate to fill the seat held by retiring Tom Carper.

McBride, 32, enters the race with endorsements from high-ranking Delaware lawmakers, support from LGBTQ advocacy groups and relationships with the Biden family. President Joe Biden wrote the foreword to her 2018 memoir, and she has called his late son, Beau, one of her mentors.

“I’m incredibly confident and optimistic going into this campaign that we will win in September of 2024 [during the primary] and then win in November of 2024,” McBride said. “I believe that Delaware is ready. We’ve shown that small states can do big things, and it’s time for us to do that again.”

A person reads about Delaware Legislature Sarah McBride becoming the first transgender person to speak at a political convention, displayed in the Rise Up exhibition at the Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum, on June 8, 2023, in Dallas, Texas.

Adam Davis/EPA via Shutterstock.

On the day she launched her campaign, she told ABC News that she has been happy to answer questions about her trans identity. But, she said with a smile, gender is not at the core of her job description as an elected official and she didn’t seek office to be “the trans senator.”

“My day-to-day focus is not explaining gender identity to people,” she said. “My day-to-day focus is delivering tangible results for the constituents that I serve.”

McBride is aware that trans candidates face increased scrutiny of their electability at the same time that the number of trans officeholders is growing, she said. She’s also running at a time of rising anti-LGBTQ extremism across the U.S., according to recent assessments from the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, the Anti-Defamation League and GLAAD.

click here to see full blog: https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/sarah-mcbride-1st-openly-trans-person-congress-focus/story?id=100437396

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