Cynthia Nixon and Jumaane Williams are Trans United Fund’s Choice for New York

The New York primary election is rapidly approaching on September 13, and as a Board Member of Trans United Fund, I’m proud to exclusively announce that we’re endorsing Cynthia Nixon for Governor and Jumaane Williams for Lieutenant Governor of New York because we believe they will be champions for the needs of trans and nonbinary people.
The current governor has had several opportunities since 2011 to use his power to help our community, especially when it comes to getting GENDA passed and to his desk, and failed to decisively act to legislatively advance our rights in New York .

Trans communities don’t need lip service-we need action.

There’s been a lot of talk in these races, and many who are not a part of our communities have attacked Cynthia and Jumaane as if they were speaking on behalf of trans and queer people.

Let us be very clear: we speak for ourselves, and what we’re saying is: Cynthia Nixon and Jumaane Williams are our choice for New York.

Trans people of color throughout New York deserve a Lieutenant Governor like Jumaane Williams who has tirelessly fought against racist Stop and Frisk policies that target our communities for violence and criminalization. Our communities deserve a Lt. Governor like Jumaane who has organized to provide more beds for homeless youth throughout New York, where almost half of homeless youth are LGBTQ; who, in a time of widespread attacks on trans communities’ right to simply exist in public, stood firm and helped pass a bill that protected our rights to using public facilities. That is what championing our communities looks like: taking real action, even when it wasn’t popular, even when it wasn’t election season.

Trans and nonbinary people throughout New York deserve a Governor like Cynthia Nixon, who won’t make backroom deals with fake Democrats, but will actually champion GENDA and make sure trans, nonbinary, and LGBQ people are protected from discrimination. Our communities deserve a Governor like Cynthia who is herself a queer woman, and the supportive mother of a trans child, because for her, this isn’t an election slogan: this is personal, this is family. Trans and nonbinary communities of color deserve a Governor like Cynthia who is making fighting criminalization one of her top priorities: from ending cash bail, closing Rikers, ending the process of trying children as adults, to re-investing funds that have historically gone to incarceration into education and community initiatives that actually build up our communities and keep us safe.

Trans and nonbinary communities need real champions, not election-season lip service. It’s my belief, and the belief of Trans United Fund, that Cynthia and Jumaane are those champions, and we’re proud to endorse them for Governor and Lt. Governor.

Will Kim Coco Make More Electoral History This Saturday?

Kim Coco Iwamoto is no stranger to making electoral history in her home state of Hawaii.

She was twice elected to the Hawaii State Board of Education in 2006 and 2010, becoming the first out trans person to be elected to a statewide office.   Now the former member of the Hawaiian Human Rights Commission is attempting to become the lieutenant governor of the Aloha State

She has a contested Democratic Party primary election that she has to get through first that takes place on August 11.   There are four other Democratic candidates besides Iwamoto in the lieutenant governor's race, and should she win this still tight race that is up for grabs, that will put her one step closer to becoming Hawaii's lieutenant governor.

Iwamoto has been endorsed by the UNITE HERE Local 5 union that reps over 11,000 Hawaiian hospitality, health and food service workers and the Maui Times.    The Local 5 endorsement is considered a major one in Hawaiian politics, and she has been surging in the polls in the runup to the election with a lot of people still trying to make up their minds about who will be their next lieutenant governor. 

Here's hoping that happens for Kim Coco and for our community.   We'll find out if it does this Saturday.

Kim Coco Iwamoto Running For Hawaii Lieutenant Governor In 2018!

I have more than a few posts in the TransGriot archives about this trailblazing trans woman that I finally had the pleasure to meet during #CC15 in Denver.

She has been a two time elected member of the Hawaii Board of Education, ran for the Hawaii state senate last year, and is currently a member of the Hawaii Civil Rights Commission.

Now Kim Coco Iwamoto has officially announced that she will be running to be Hawaii's next lieutenant governor in the 2018 election cycle..

It's a crowded field with five other Democratic candidates in the lieutenant governor's race, but here's hoping that Iwamoto can break out of it and make more electoral history.

Leticia Van de Putte Convention Videos

As I keep pointing out, Wendy Davis isn't the only woman running at the top of the Texas Democratic party ticket this fall.   Longtime state senator Leticia San Miguel Van De Putte from the San Antonio area is running for lieutenant governor.

And yeah, she can also use some fundraising love, too

In Texas, the lieutenant governor's chair is a far more powerful one that controls the Senate's agenda, its committee structure, its rules, as well as playing a major role in crafting the state budget.

The Texas senate has historically been an institution where compromise and consensus are the norm and legislation is often passed by a center-right Democratic-Republican alliance.

That governing consensus is in danger if the hyperpartisan teabagger Dan Patrick gets the lieutenant governor's chair.   You know the Texas Repugs as exhibited by the junior senator from Alberta and their jacked up party platforms need to have a Jerrydome level of seats, and that off the charts Texas right wing lunacy is starting to go national.  

Patrick also made some racist, anti-Latino comments in his GOP lieutenant governor primary that will probably cost him in November.   With the opportunity to elect this wise Latina and longtime senator to become the state's lieutenant governor., the state's Latin@ is excited and motivated to make it happen.  

Senator Van de Putte has not only outraised Teapublican nominee Dan Patrick, she has the quiet support of many moderate Republicans (yeah, they still exist) who can't stand Patrick.  

Here's a double dip of LVP video.   First one is the humorous one of her intro to the recent Texas Democratic party convention in Dallas, and the next one is the speech she gave to the TDP convention.




The TDP Convention speech