Love Votes Wrap Up

In the weeks and months leading up to the election, thousands of PFLAG chapters, members, and supporters dug into our activist and advocate roots through our Love Votes campaign. Together, we registered voters, educated them on the issues that matter to our community, and mobilized our family, friends, colleagues, and neighbors to cast their ballots with love. We made a difference. You made a difference. 

Sadly, the results of the election are devastating and many of us are scared right now, including our LGBTQ+ loved ones and families. But make no mistake, PFLAG is not backing down from this fight. We will continue to stand alongside our community from the state house to the courthouse, the schoolhouse steps to the steps of the U.S. Capitol and Supreme Court. 

We’ve got this. We’ve got us.

State Matters

Here is a sample of what’s going on around the country. Please be kind to yourself and use your discretion while reading this section. You can share news from your state with advocacy@pflag.org for possible inclusion in a future newsletter. 

Abortion rights ballot measures pass in seven states. In Arizona, Colorado, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, and New York, voters adopted ballot measures to protect abortion rights in their state constitutions. Similar ballot questions failed to secure enough support in Florida, Nebraska, and South Dakota.

Marriage equality ballot measures pass in three states. Voters in California, Colorado, and Hawaii approved measures to remove language banning same-sex marriage from their state constitutions. These bans have been unenforceable since the Supreme Court ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges.

California - Gov. Newsom calls for a special session of the state legislature. The Governor called for lawmakers to convene a special session later this year to protect the state’s policies on climate change, reproductive rights, and immigration from the incoming Administration. 

Iowa - Aime Wichtendahl becomes state’s first openly trans legislator. Wichtendahl was previously the first openly trans person to be elected to any government body in Iowa when she won a seat on the Hiawatha City Council. 

Kentucky - Keturah Herron becomes state’s first openly LGBTQ+ woman elected to the state Senate. Senator-elect Herron is the first LGBTQ+ woman and the first LGBTQ+ woman of color ever elected to the state Senate. She was also the first openly LGBTQ+ woman elected to the state House, which she was elected to in 2022.

Montana - State Rep. Zooey Zephyr re-elected. Representative Zephyr became the first openly trans person elected to the Montana Legislature. She was censured and barred from the House floor for almost the entirety of her term after forcefully defending medically necessary care for trans and non-binary youth in a floor debate. 

New York - Voters approve Proposition 1. The proposition amends the state constitution to bar discrimination based on gender identity and pregnancy outcomes. 

North Carolina - Josh Stein elected governor; Republicans lose supermajorities in state legislature. Attorney General Josh Stein was elected governor in a landslide election, succeeding two-term Governor Roy Cooper. Simultaneously, Republicans appear to have lost their veto-proof supermajority in the State House.

Federal Matters

LGBTQ+ voters made up a larger share of the electorate in the 2024 election. According to an NBC News exit poll, 8% of American voters identified as LGBT in 2024 – the highest share of the electorate on record. The percentage of the electorate identifying as LGBT has doubled since President Obama was elected in 2008, when it was 4%. 

Trump wins second non-consecutive term. The former President will be the first to serve non-consecutive terms since Grover Cleveland.

Republicans take control of the Senate. Republicans netted at least three Senate seats, enough for a majority. Several Senate races remain uncalled, and the party that will form the House majority also is unclear.

Sarah McBride elected to Congress. McBride will be the first openly trans person to serve in the House of Representatives. Delawareans elected her to their sole congressional seat by a margin of almost 16 points.

Julie Johnson elected first openly LGBTQ+ U.S. Representative from the South. Johnson, who is openly lesbian, was elected to serve Texas’s 32nd Congressional District. 

Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) wins re-election. Baldwin has been elected to a third term in the Senate. She was the first openly lesbian woman and first openly LGBTQ+ person elected to the United States Senate as well as the first woman elected to the Senate from Wisconsin.

Global Matters

Germany - New gender marker change law takes effect. The new law makes it easier for trans, intersex, and nonbinary Germans to update their names and gender markers on official documents. Under the new law, people 18 and older can change official records to alter their names and genders or have the gender marker removed altogether with just a personal declaration. Minors over the age of 14 can also make these changes with parental permission. 

Kenya - Court awards same-sex couple $31k. The couple were arrested and forced to undergo a genital examination and HIV tests in violation of their rights. A court in Mombasa awarded them 4 million shillings ($31k) in compensation.

Media Matters

Leaders of over 150 LGBTQ+ organizations sign onto letter vowing to protect LGBTQ+ rights beyond 2024 election. The signatories include 42 PFLAG chapters as well as PFLAG National. 

TV stations airing anti-trans ads needed to add content warnings to the ads. Some anti-trans ads which aired during the world series featured very graphic images which required content warnings from the TV stations. 

Jennifer Solomon interviewed by Voyage Miami. Solomon is the President of PFLAG South Miami and the Parents and Families Support Manager for Equality Florida.

PFLAG National
(202) 467-8180 | love@pflag.org

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