Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, and Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson, all queer parents, spoke at the Democratic National Convention last night and reminded us that politics is personal—and joy is powerful.
Pete Buttigieg
Buttigieg, who has twins with husband Chasten Buttigieg, had the longest speech of the three, and emphasized the contrast between the Democratic and Republican tickets. “At least Mike Pence was polite,” he quipped, casting shade on JD Vance, the new Republican vice presidential candidate. He noted Vance’s statement that people without kids “have no physical commitment to the future of this country.” Buttigieg responded, as he has before, that when he was deployed in Afghanistan, he didn’t (yet) have kids, and many of those he served with didn’t, either. When the went outside the wire, though, “our commitment to the future of this country was pretty damn physical.”
Republicans, he said, “are doubling down on negativity and grievance, committing to a concept of campaigning best summed up in one word, ‘Darkness.’ Darkness is what they are selling.”
His faith, however, teaches him that there aren’t “good people” and “bad people,” he said, but that “each of us is capable of good and bad things.” Leaders matter because of what they bring out in us, good or bad, he explained. Rather than seeing those who disagree with you as the “enemy,” he believes in “a better kind of politics, one that finds us at our most decent, and open, and brave.” This is what Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are offering, he asserted. It’s a kind of politics that “feels better to be part of. There is joy in it as well as power.”
The makeup of our kitchen table, the existence of my family, is just one example of something that was literally impossible as recently as 25 years ago…. It was brought about by idealism and courage, through organizing and persuasion and storytelling, and yes, through politics, the right kind of politics—the kind of politics that can make an impossible dream into an everyday reality.
Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg
He comes to this belief, he said, not just from the experiences of his career and service. Instead, he said:
I’m thinking of dinnertime at our house in Michigan, when the dog is barking and the air fryer is beeping and the mac and cheese is boiling over, and it feels like all the political negotiating experience in the world is not enough for me to get our 3-year-old son and our 3-year-old daughter to just wash their hands and sit at the table. It’s the part of our day when politics seems the most distant. And yet the makeup of our kitchen table, the existence of my family, is just one example of something that was literally impossible as recently as 25 years ago when an anxious teenager growing up in Indiana wondered if he would ever find belonging in this world.
While the change has been fast, he said, it “didn’t just happen. It was brought about by idealism and courage, through organizing and persuasion and storytelling, and yes, through politics, the right kind of politics—the kind of politics that can make an impossible dream into an everyday reality.”
He then spoke to people of all family types, saying that our personal fears and dreams should compel us “to demand more from our politics than a rerun of some TV wrestling deathmatch.”
This election is not just about choosing our president and policies, but also of choosing “a better politics, a politics that calls us to our better selves and offers us a better everyday,” he concluded. That is what Harris and Walz represent, he said, “So let’s go win this.”
Watch his full speech here:
Dana Nessel
Nessel, who has twin sons with her wife, Alanna Maguire, spoke of the difficulties of being an attorney general and of Kamala Harris’s record when Harris held that office in California. Harris fought numerous kinds of lawbreakers, she said, but “what really stands out was when she stood up and protected her constituents’ freedoms.” Harris refused to defend California’s ban on same-sex marriage, Nessel explained. “She was fighting for families like mine.”
When Nessel faced a similar situation after the overturning of Roe v. Wade, which suddenly brought Michigan’s long-dormant abortion ban back to life, Harris reminded Nessel that “protecting people’s lives and defending their rights is our job.” The ban in Michigan was overturned.
“You can pry this wedding band from my cold, dead, gay hand.”
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel
“I’ve got a message for the Republicans and the justices of the United States Supreme Court,” Nessel said. “You can pry this wedding band from my cold, dead, gay hand.” The crowd roared. “And I’m retaining a lot of water, so good luck with that,” she added, smiling.
She went on to speak more about Harris; my personal favorite bit was when she said, “We know, when she takes an oath to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution, she’s actually read it.”
Here’s her full speech. I have the feeling we may be seeing more of her on the national stage in the future.
Kelley Robinson
Robinson, who has a son with wife Becky George, told the crowd, “The story of America is the story of progress towards freedom.” Her own family, she said, went from being enslaved in Mississippi to being the first free Black family in Iowa in just a few generations—and the 20 million LGBTQ Americans are further proof of progress.
She spoke of Daniel, a trans kid in Arizona going to his first prom; veteran Eric from Texas, who came home from combat to battle “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”; and Sandy and Kris, the first same-sex couple to legally marry in California (and also moms, I must add)—a wedding that Kamala Harris officiated.
“We’re not going back,” she asserted, and the crowd chanted the words back to her.
She continued, “Kamala Harris and Tim Walz: They are champions for LGBTQ+ freedom, y’all.”
We’re fighting for joy.
HRC President Kelley Robinson
“We’re fighting for joy,” she concluded. “And when we fight…”
“We win!” the crowd shouted in response.
Watch her full two-and-a-half-minute below, and read my 2023 interview with her here.
Are you registered to vote? Are you committed to voting? I’m proud to be a part of #PrideToThePolls, a coalition of LGBTQ+ organizations working to encourage voting and advance LGBTQ freedom and equality. I urge you to pledge to vote—your voice and vote are crucial in making a difference for us and for our children!