Follow these 10 empowering queer activists to help treat your 2024 election dread
Stay calm, carry on, and follow these 10 LGBTQ+ people to feel empowered to act this election season:
In saner times, being a convicted criminal, encouraging Americans to inject themselves with bleach to fight Covid-19, and refusing to accept the results of an election they lost fair and square would deem a candidate unfit for public office. But these are not saner times. This is 2024, where polarization and alternative facts reported by right-wing media have made the rematch between President Biden and former President Trump unnervingly close.
It’s easy to get cynical and disengage from politics when it feels like nothing matters. But elections do matter, as evidenced by the “unprecedented” attack on LGBTQ+ rights during Trump’s first term. Analysts, for what it’s worth, are warning his return to power would bring even more extreme policies than before.
Now’s not the time to tune out—it’s the time to plug back in. Stay calm, carry on, and follow these 10 LGBTQ+ people to feel empowered to act this election season:
1. Brian Derrick
Brian Derrick is a progressive strategist who founded Oath, a data-driven fundraising platform that informs voters on how their political donations can have the biggest impact on key races come election day. The tool analyzes thousands of elections “from president to school board” to ensure you’re getting the most bang for your buck in helping flip GOP-held seats and protect progressive incumbents in tight races.
2. Rebekah Bruesehoff
Rebekah Bruesehoff became a prominent transgender youth activist after the Trump administration began attacking LGBTQ+ rights, earning her a spot on GLAAD’s 20 Under 20 list in 2023. “As a young person, especially a young queer person, we see people every day trying to make decisions for us and about us,” Bruesehoff told GLAAD. “But we’re here. We have voices, and they matter. It’s our lives and our future.”
3. Ahmed Shihab-Eldin
When he’s not slamming Trump for being “divisive, dangerous, and disgusting,” former Al Jazeera journalist Ahmed Shihab-Eldin uses his platform to advocate for human rights at home and abroad, becoming a leading voice for Palestinian rights and speaking truth to power.
4. Chasten Buttigieg
Sure, Chasten Buttigieg keeps a lower profile than his husband, Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, but that makes his advocacy all the more salient when he uses his always-sunny social feeds to call on followers to act when it matters most. “When our kid was fighting for his life on a ventilator at two months old, [President Biden] was eager to pull Pete aside and remind him that the entire administration had our family’s back and was there for us,” Buttigieg recently told the Washington Blade. “That’s the kind of leader I want for this country, someone who cares about families.”
5. Kelley Robinson
In 2022, Kelley Robinson became the first queer Black woman to lead the Human Rights Campaign as president. Her feed is filled with important facts and stats and empowering messages of hope to fuel the policy fights that loom ahead. “This is a pivotal moment in our movement for equality for LGBTQ+ people,” Robinson said. “We, particularly our trans and BIPOC communities, are quite literally in the fight for our lives and facing unprecedented threats that seek to destroy us.”
6. Jon Lovett
Jon Lovett is the host of Crooked Media’s Lovett or Leave It podcast, which brings celebrities, politicians, and journalists together to chat, laugh, and make America gay again. He co-wrote, Democracy or Else: How to Save America in 10 Easy Steps, alongside his Pod Save America pals, with profits from the book’s sales going toward progressive candidates this election.
7. Blair Imani
(@blairimani)Blair Imani is a progressive activist, influencer, and author whose engaging content often puts present-day issues involving race, gender, sexual orientation, and intersectionality into historical context. “History shows us that targeting people for who they are and simply for existing is never something to look back on proudly,” Imani wrote on Instagram.
8. Mark Joseph Stern
Mark Joseph Stern is a reporter who covers the Supreme Court for Slate and uses his expertise—particularly on LGBTQ+ equality, reproductive rights, and criminal justice—to show how decisions from SCOTUS will affect marginalized groups.
9. Rachel Maddow
The cable news star may only be hosting her top-rated MSNBC show on Mondays nowadays, but it’s certainly not due to an early retirement. Rachel Maddow, who’s mostly active on Threads, recently launched the second season of her popular podcast, Ultra, exploring the history of corruptive, fascist forces within American democracy. I wonder why she thinks such themes are still relevant today?
10. Chase Strangio
Chase Strangio is the Deputy Director for Transgender Justice and staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union. An ardent proponent of trans rights, Strangio exposes how bigoted politicians exploit our legal system to attack LGBTQ+ people, then provides us with the tools to fight back.
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