LGBT Politicians Open Up

Five openly lesbian, gay, or transgendered politicians discussed the role that sexual orientation plays in their careers at a panel discussion in the Lowell JCR last night.

At the open forum—organized by the Harvard College Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) Political Coalition and co-sponsored by the Harvard BGLTSA and the Harvard College Democrats—most of the speakers agreed that sexual orientation should not define a politician.

Nancy F. Korman, a lesbian who worked with openly gay Congressman Barney Frank ’61 for twelve years, said one’s sexual orientation is not an indicator of success, either in office or elsewhere in life.

“You are a parent, you have a child in your arms, the child is critically ill,” Kornan said: “You don’t ask about the sexual orientation of the doctor.”

A political candidate—regardless of sexual orientation—should run on competence, intelligence, and honesty, she said.

While Korman encouraged candidates to be up-front about their sexual orientation, she said a politician should not depend on this facet alone.

“You don’t hide who you are, but you don’t run on that,” Korman said.

However, Jarrett T. Barrios ’90, a former Massachusetts senator and representative who is gay, said an LGBT candidate should not “run from the issue” once elected to office. He said an LGBT candidate—just like any other candidate—should foster close communication with constituents to humanize himself so that attacks regarding his sexual orientation do not define him or her.

“We are the people who were the poster children—who had to be, in an important way, because it was our families that were affected,” Barrios said.

Mass. State Rep. Elizabeth A. Malia, who is lesbian, said it is imperative to have both LGBT allies and straight allies who are willing to embrace LGBT issues.

Diego Sanchez, a transgendered person and the former co-chair of the Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition, said LGBT politicans must engage in conversation or “we’re never going to come to a solution together.”

“If you do have an immediate political aspiration, pursue, pursue, pursue,” he added. “You can count on the rest of us to be there.”

—Staff Writer Esther I. Yi can be reached at estheryi@fas.harvard.edu.