In a few short decades, the LGBTQ+ community in the U.S. survived police persecution, societal rejection, McCarthyism and the AIDS epidemic to emerge as a political force that couldn't be ignored.
Radicalized by ongoing legal discrimination and the poor government response to the AIDS epidemic, scrappy activists grew determined to elect LGBTQ+ leaders to local, state and federal offices.
The LGBTQ+ community is in the cross-hairs of America's culture wars, but that doesn't stop brave leaders from winning public office and making progress on LGBTQ+ rights in red states and blue states.
As more Americans are introduced to LGBTQ+ people on their TV screens, via the internet or within their family, out candidates run and win key races across the country.
In federal, state and local bodies, LGBTQ+ officials wield the gavel, and more LGBTQ+ leaders of color, bisexual and transgender officials are elected than ever before.
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