When you hear the word revolution, you almost immediately equate it with war.
As we progress as a society, the idea of a revolutionary change has shape shitted as great leaders and moments have emerged. Much like the Civil Rights movement and a slew of others, the LGBTQ+ community has taken the United States and our politics by storm.
NBC News online reported that more than 220 LGBTQ candidates celebrated election victories on Nov. 3.
To name a few of these notable ripples in time, Sarah McBride becomes the first transgender woman to be elected senator. Florida A&M University alum Shevrin Jones becomes Florida’s first openly gay state senator. And in New York state, Esquire Mondaire Jones and Ritchie Torres were the first openly gay members of the Congress elected.
Hot off the press and hot off a lot of Twitter fingers, the outpouring of joy over history being made was mounted everywhere.
“This year, @SarahEMcbride made history as the nation’s first transgender state senator. Sarah not only showed the country the power representation has, but rather not wait for anyone to tell you when it’s your time,” Tweeted young activist and senior adviser to President-elect Joe Biden, Justice Horn.
For a lot of the members of these long underserved and underrepresented communities, this was the moment that they realized that they had finally gained what popular culture has termed, “A seat at the table.”
Peter Embarrato, who serves on the board of directors for PFLAG Atlanta, a city branch of the national advocacy organization that offers support for families and children of the LGBTQ community, gave his personal recount of the day after hearing the finalized results.
“The celebration that happened on Nov. 3 was phenomenal. Most of us cried because you saw pride. In Washington DC, New York in California, in all of these major cities there was a LGBTQ presence. We got the diversity that we needed,” he said.
Couples, married and life partnered, expressed their pride at a major movement forward for society.
Bettie Barret and Marta Prieto, who originally resided in West Palm Beach, married in 2009 in Massachusetts but it wasn’t until the federal government acknowledged their union in June 2015.
“We got together in 1989. We were out to our families and our close friends but we were pretty a-political at the time. I was recognized by my friends but not by the bureaucracy as a whole. On an individual basis, you’re accepted but as an institution, your lifestyle is not.”
This year’s victories represent a win across the board. The next four years of leadership will alter the grounds for equality and acceptance in every avenue of the nation.