There’s only a few weeks left to go before the November 8 elections, and the LGBT vote will need to make its presence felt again to ensure the community will be heard by the next administration.
A recent NBC poll showed that majority of the LGBT community are going for Democratic Party candidate Hillary Clinton as compared to her Republican rival, Donald Trump.
The survey reported that 72 percent of registered LGBT voters support Clinton, as compared to 20 percent for Trump.
Even with Libertarian Gary Johnson and Green Party candidate Jill Stein in the mix, Clinton still had 63 percent of the vote against Trump’s 15 percent.
Historically, the LGBT community has supported the Democratic Party and this was evident during President Barack Obama’s re-election.
The LGBT vote and a Trump presidency
However, Jay Michaelson of The Daily Beast pointed out that Clinton’s present survey support is lower than the 2012 vote of 76 percent that voted for Obama.
Michaelson said that with the high court having ruled on same-sex marriage, the community may think “LGBT issues are not at stake in this election, and so they’re voting based on other factors.”
Unfortunately, he added this is not the case as the LGBT vote is still needed to ensure the progress made for LGBT inclusion won’t be undone by a possible Republican administration.
Michaelson listed the following problems of a Trump presidency: an ultra-conservative Supreme Court, the religious conservative Mike Pence as vice-president, and more discriminatory state laws.
The transgender people will also face worse, he said: “Protecting trans people from discrimination? Might as well protect dragons from being hunted. It’s easy to turn back the clock on “gay rights”– but on trans rights, the clock hasn’t even started ticking yet.”
The LGBT vote and Congress
The LGBT vote is also important in Congress as the coming elections could provide more LGBT representatives. Currently, there are 16 LGBT candidates running in the House.
Republicans have the majority with 247 of the 435 House seats while Democrats have 188 seats. One LGBT candidate is Angie Craig, a Democrat, who is running for Minnesota’s Second Congressional district.
In the Senate, Democrats have 46 seats but they need four more to tie the Republicans with 50-50.
Likewise, the Human Rights Campaign– an organization fighting for LGBT rights– is bringing the fight against anti-LGBT proponents by targeting North Carolina voters.
North Carolina– which had earlier passed the anti-transgender bathroom bill HB2– is considered a swing state.
The HRC– in partnership with Equality North Carolina– has mobilized its volunteers to campaign against Republican lawmakers and flip traditional Republican General Assembly seats in favor for Democratic candidates.
However, HB2 supporters have also been campaigning to reelect Republicans in North Carolina.
For more about the upcoming vote this November 8, check out the latest issue of Lesbian News for this month.