Chance McCraw ‘21
Guest Editor
What now seems like a decade ago, on March 5, the Lambda Law Alliance hosted their second annual symposium, the Ele(Q)t Project for LGBTQ+ Leadership. The mission of the Ele(Q)t Project is to educate and motivate young LGBTQ+ leaders to run for public office. It is an afternoon-long series of panels and guest speakers. This year’s event culminated in the keynote by the President of the Campaign Legal Forum and the lawyer behind Stephen Colbert’s Super PAC Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow, Trevor Potter ’82.
The afternoon started with a panel of LGBTQ+ elected leaders from the area. The panelists were the Mayor of Winchester, John David Smith; the Durham County D.A., Satana Deberry; the Vice-Mayor of Roanoke, Joe Cobb; and a member of the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors, Donna Price. All of them gave candid advice to the attendees about running for office as a member of the LGBTQ+ community and all emphasized how they beat their opponents: pure hustle. Some of their opponents made an issue of their LGBTQ+ identity, but none of that mattered on election day because every one of them out-hustled their opponent. Donna Price, the first transgender member of the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors, also emphasized how most “[p]eople live in their own worlds” so they do not notice your LGBTQ+ identity. Joe Cobb further emphasized this as he recalled being commended by a fellow city council member for addressing LGBTQ+ issues as a perceived “straight guy.”
Reggie Greer of the Victory Institute hosted the next event, an international organization focused on encouraging and training LGBTQ+ people to run for office. He first conducted an overview of what you need to consider before you run for office. His presentation culminated as he divided the attendees into small groups to develop an elevator pitch for why they are running for office. Everyone received feedback from Reggie Greer and Judge John Arrowood of the North Carolina Court of Appeals. Notably, the number of openly LGBTQ+ individuals running for office in 2020 already matches the number that ran in 2018.
A campaign team panel composed of Mike Mings, Director of the Human Rights Campaign's Political Action Committee, and Roddy Flynn, Chief of Staff for Congresswoman Mary Gay Scanlon (PA-05) followed Mr. Greer. The panel began by discussing the historic presidential campaign of Pete Buttigieg. Both emphasized how different he was treated, as he was the only candidate asked about kissing his or her spouse. Additionally, they both emphasized how thoughtful Buttigieg is when he speaks because, as a veteran and closeted man for most of his life, he has spent time carefully calibrating his words and actions to pass as a straight person. The panel then transitioned to discussing the formerly bipartisan Equality Caucus to a 100 percent Democratic party caucus over the past decade. They attributed this to the end of bipartisanship throughout the Congress and on LGBTQ+ issues. Lastly, the panel discussed how important it is for a candidate to be comfortable with their identity, so they come across as authentic. Luckily, “[g]ay people have an advantage in politics. We have thought about our identity,” said Roddy Flynn.
The last panel before the keynote included Judge Shannon Baldwin of the Harris County Criminal Court at Law No. 4 and Judge John Arrowood of the North Carolina Court of Appeals. This panel allowed attendees to hear and ask about the advantages and disadvantages of a system of electing, as opposed to appointing judges. Both judges emphasized working with the system you have. However, Judge Arrowood highlighted his preference for the Missouri Plan. The Missouri Plan appoints judges by a non-partisan commission, and the judge stands in a retention election in the next general election. When asked about the benefits of having LGBTQ+ judges on the bench, both judges emphasized how having experiences similar to those who may come before you allows you to empathize and better understand the circumstances of a particular case.
The keynote culminated the event before the amazing spread of Cocoa and Spice desserts and wine. The keynote featured alum Trevor Potter highlighting the changes that have taken place in Washington, D.C. for the LGBTQ+ community from the days of being rooted out of government to more widespread contemporary acceptance. When Mr. Potter was asked to join John McCain’s presidential campaign, he asked whether Senator McCain knew he was gay. The response from the late senator, quite candidly, went something like,“[I don’t] give a f*** who anyone f**** as long as they do their f***ing job.” Mr. Potter then transitioned into discussing his perception of the evils within campaign finance. The two culprits in his eyes are the Federal Election Commission and Supreme Court jurisprudence. Currently, the FEC sits without a quorum, so it is doing nothing. When the FEC did have a quorum, three members were opposed to its very existence, so they prevented any measure from receiving the requisite four of six members’ votes. As for Supreme Court jurisprudence, he ran through the famous Buckley v. Valeo and Citizens United decisions that resulted in the D.C. Circuit opinion striking down any limit to donations to PACs, which resulted in the rise of Super PACs. Mr. Potter surmised that if the Supreme Court had envisioned Super PACs, the aforementioned decisions might have turned out differently.
Potter’s speech highlighted the change in the acceptance of the LGBTQ+ community within Washington D.C. and the many ills in our current political system. His last piece of advice centered around gerrymandering and how independent commissions for redistricting always pass when presented to voters. He encouraged everyone who can file a ballot initiative in their state to do so. His speech seemed a befitting end to what may very well be the last event at the Law School for the 2019-20 term.
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cbm5bk@virginia.edu