Rep. Sharice David (D-Kansas) says fighting in a mixed martial arts (MMA) match is a lot like fighting to win an election.
“Everything that determines who wins or loses on fight night happens long in advance,” says the pioneering Democrat from Kansas and former MMA fighter. LGBTQ nation. “At the end of the day, it’s about getting up every day and going to work, even if you don’t feel well, even if you know it’s going to hurt.”
David knows what she’s talking about. She won her first professional mixed martial arts match in 2013 and defied the odds in 2018 by defeating incumbent Republican Rep. Kevin Yoder, effectively flipping her home state’s red House district and becoming the first-ever She made history as the first Native American to openly identify as a lesbian. to parliament.
Tribune News Service via Getty I Democrat Sharice Davids gives a victory speech after winning the state’s 3rd Congressional District election at a watch party in Olathe, Kansas, on Tuesday, November 6, 2018. John Sleezer/Kansas City Star/Tribune News. Service provided by Getty Images)
LGBTQ+ Guide to the 2024 Election
Stay ahead of the 2024 election with our daily newsletter covering candidates, issues and perspectives that matter.
David is grateful for his mother’s success. Her mother, who raised her as a military drill sergeant in a poor family, encouraged her dreams while reminding her of the hard work required to achieve them. David says this support helped her study hard, work multiple jobs, go to college, law school, and train in mixed martial arts, and ultimately learn how most members of Congress look like her. He said it helped motivate him to get elected to a dissimilar legislative body.
“Having someone who nurtures your different passions and quirky ideas and at the same time makes you understand that it’s not easy is probably how I ended up.” [overcoming adversity],” she says.
But David says the key to winning the 2018 election (and re-election in 2020 and 2022) was staying engaged with voters and his Republican colleagues in the House. By showing up regularly and listening to their concerns, she has shown a willingness to work hard on issues that affect them despite her political disagreements.
“Even though I know I’m probably going to have an uncomfortable meeting because some people in the group didn’t vote the way I thought I should, I still have to do it,” she continued. Masu. “As much as you show up to have a fun conversation, if you’re not willing to show up and have a difficult conversation, someone might have a better argument for why you’re the right person to represent them.” yeah.”
Addressing mental health disparities
Congresswoman Sharice Davids. Photo courtesy of the Office of Congresswoman Sharice L. Davids (KS-03).
Davids is currently fighting for a fourth term in office this November, but the demographics of the district have changed and become less Democratic, and Republican opponents are lining up to challenge her. This makes it a tough battle. But she’s also fighting another very important battle: the fight to increase access to mental health care.
Mr. Davids has co-sponsored bipartisan legislation to fund mental health programs in local clinics, schools, and law enforcement centers, as well as bipartisan legislation to help people recovering from substance abuse reenter the workforce. Ta. She also supports dozens of bills to lower medical and prescription drug costs, and the Mental Health Pride Act, legislation that would improve data collection and resources for at-risk gay youth. has been introduced.
For David, mental health is something that touches a particularly personal chord. She is part of two distinct groups with disproportionately high suicide rates: Native Americans and LGBTQ+ youth. According to a 2022 report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Native Americans die by suicide at a higher rate than any other race or ethnicity. Another recent CDC study found that LGBTQ+ youth are more than four times more likely to attempt suicide than cisgender or straight youth.
But the issue cuts across political, geographic and generational boundaries, she says. Instead, Americans’ mental health has worsened amid the isolation, fear, and anxiety caused by the coronavirus pandemic. More than half of adults with mental illness neither have access to nor can afford mental health care.
Data provided by Mental Health America.
Davids believes increasing access to mental health care is more than just “putting a Band-Aid on a broken arm.” Rather, she believes such access is an essential part of improving people’s overall mental well-being.
“I think this is similar to all of the above approaches. do “We need to think about the most serious and sometimes acute issues that are happening around mental health and mental illness,” Davids says. People in the foster care system don’t have people around them who understand, and they don’t have the training to understand what they’re going through as part of the LGBTQ+ community. ”
“What we’re doing over time is helping people understand how to deal with, how to recognize the effects of trauma, or people who have experienced those events. “If it’s about helping people interact,” she continues. band aid. I call it the necessary work to keep people healthy and safe. ”
Many Americans have loved ones struggling with mental health, so she often watches committee hearings and press conferences of her conservative colleagues as an opportunity to reach them across the aisle on this issue. Listen to find out.
“There are people who care so much about the mental health and emotional well-being of young people that they can’t even think about the LGBTQ+ impact,” she says. Some of her conservative colleagues are “often surprised” to learn of her aforementioned CDC statistics. These discussions can also lead to larger discussions about LGBTQ+ civil rights.
Melanie Willingham Jaggers, executive director of GLSEN, an LGBTQ+ student advocacy organization, praised David’s bill to improve data collection on the mental health of gay youth, saying, excluded, erased and further stigmatized.” The adults who are supposed to protect young people are damaging the mental health and overall well-being of LGBTQI+ youth. ”
Related:
David says: [my conservative colleagues] You may not realize how common discriminatory acts are [against LGBTQ+ people] Permitted under the law. “It’s not right, it’s not fair, and it’s not consistent with the values we aspire to as Americans and to which we all strive to always strive,” she says.
The mental health disparities faced by the LGBTQ+ community are just part of the institutionalized discrimination that queer people experience.
Research shows that when gay people have the same legal protections as cisgender and straight people, their mental health improves and anxiety and depression associated with concerns about discrimination are reduced. When Davids pointed out to her colleagues that people could be turned away from juries based on their sexual orientation or denied housing based on their gender identity, she said, He points out that he is not trying to grant any special rights. We strive to ensure that all individuals have the same rights, protections, and responsibilities under the law as other citizens.
Questioning the long-term impact of the 2024 election
The New York City “Defend Results Coalition” gathered for rallies and marches before “summoning” candidates in each state after President Trump allegedly intended to claim victory before the results were tallied. He demanded that all votes be counted. November 4, 2020. Photo credit: Erik McGregor/LightRocket, Getty Images
Since arriving in Congress, Davids has noticed that Republicans have increasingly targeted LGBTQ+ rights as they attack diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts.
Last year, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and members of the far-right Freedom Caucus pushed for LGBTQ+-inclusive DEI from 12 spending bills to effectively fund all U.S. government agencies. They demanded that the policy be removed. She and other Republicans argued that the policy was “woke” and anti-American, wasting taxpayer money and undermining the nation’s security.
Similar criticism is particularly accelerating now that we are in an election year.
“Change is happening. We’re seeing it, and we’re seeing a ‘two steps forward, one step back’ shift happening in state legislatures,” she said. “A ‘step back’ is happening in quite a few places on a wide variety of issues.”
“We have a responsibility not only to those who come after us, but also to those who came before us.”
Congresswoman Sharice Davids
President Joe Biden signed a law requiring government agencies to recognize same-sex marriages nationwide, and the Supreme Court ruled that firing someone just for being LGBTQ+ is unconstitutional, but Republicans in other states He is pushing for legislation that would allow discrimination against LGBTQ+ people on the basis of religion. Including by your health care provider. The Biden administration has restored protections for transgender and nonbinary students to access school facilities and sports teams according to their gender identity, but Republican-led state legislatures and school boards are trying to roll back these rights. .
Polls show voters are not enthusiastic about a rematch between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump. Ms. Davids urges voters to consider not only the immediate issues facing their communities, but also the long-term effects of the policies we support. This is what her Native American identity as a member of the Ho-Chunk Nation has taught her to do.
“I ask questions about long-term effects, not for political purposes, but because that’s kind of how I think about things,” she says. “We have a responsibility to our families, to our communities, to our tribes. We have a responsibility to our country. And we have a responsibility not just to those who come after us, but to those who came before us. We also have a responsibility to the people we serve.”
Editor’s note: This article mentions suicide. If you want to talk to someone right now, trans lifeline Call 877-565-8860. We have a staff by and for transgender people. trevor project provides a safe, judgment-free space for LGBTQ youth to have conversations by calling 866-488-7386 or text 678-678 to get started. You can also call . National suicide prevention lifelinee, 988.
