Pride Month is still needed

In 2020, I was one of the first openly LGBTQ+ individuals to be elected to the Delaware General Assembly in its 244-year history. During my four years in office, I’ve worked hard to pass legislation supporting the LGBTQ+ community.

Partnering with Sen. Marie Pinkney and the Attorney General’s Office, we updated and modernized our hate crimes statute. Last year, my House Bill 142 banned the LGBTQ+ panic defense in Delaware, a defense asking a jury to find that a victim’s sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression is to blame for a defendant’s violent act perpetrated upon an LGBTQ+ individual, up to and including murder.

This year, I’ve introduced legislation adding asexuality and pansexuality to the definition of sexual orientation throughout the Delaware code, and adding a Pride license plate to the long list of special license plates that Delawareans can purchase, with part of the proceeds benefiting a nonprofit.

Outside of legislation, I’ve worked to increase funding for programs that benefit LGBTQ+ youth, and to phase in having all public single-stall restrooms be gender-neutral with inclusive signage. I’ve worked with the Department of Correction to assist individual transgender inmates and to acquire a consultant to advise regarding transgender inmate health needs. I’ve met with members of multiple Delaware LGBTQ+ school student groups, and I’ve passed annual General Assembly resolutions declaring June as LGBTQ+ Pride Month in Delaware.

On my social media posts, I am frequently called a pedophile and a groomer, and told that I should stay away from children. I am called a pervert and accused of poisoning the minds of young people. I am accused of recruiting young people into a deviant lifestyle. I have even received threats to my physical safety. I worry about the young people and the closeted people who see such comments, reinforcing their fears and insecurities about being LGBTQ+.

In the last seven years, each year, the number of hate crimes perpetrated against LGBTQ+ Americans has risen. This year, hundreds of pieces of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation have been introduced in various states. Also, compared to their heterosexual and cisgender counterparts, LGBTQ+ youth have much higher rates of mental health and substance abuse issues, suicide and suicide attempts, self-harm, and homelessness.

Some have accused me of representing only members of the LGBTQ+ community. But the facts prove otherwise. I began this legislative session with 18 pieces of legislation, and only two of them are directly related to the LGBTQ+ community. Also, I help all my constituents with individual issues, and I am present at all kinds of events inside and outside the district. I speak with young people frequently about issues unrelated to the LGBTQ+ community.

But make no mistake, it took us 244 years to have a seat at the table in Dover, and because of that, many things that need to be accomplished for Delaware’s LGBTQ+ community have gone undone. I will not apologize for addressing these issues each year I am in office.