Mississippi will have its first-ever openly gay state legislator after a House candidate won his Democratic primary election runoff Tuesday.
Fabian Nelson, a 38-year-old Realtor from Byram, prevailed over Roshunda Harris-Allen, an education professor at Tougaloo College and alderwoman in Byram. The race to represent the House district in the south Jackson metro area was decided in a runoff after neither Nelson nor Allen received a majority vote in the Aug. 8 primary. A local pastor finished a distant third and did not advance to the runoff.
Republicans did not field a candidate for the general election, so Nelson will go on to represent the district. He will be sworn in before the next legislative session in January. His win marks the fulfillment of a goal he’s had since visiting the Capitol on an elementary school field trip and telling his teacher he’d sit on the House floor one day.
Came to say exactly this. Especially given the wave of anti-LGBTQ legal attacks sweeping states like Mississippi electing their first openly gay rep is a big deal.
It’s only a big deal if they vote in a way that makes it a big deal. Look at the Supreme Court. It’s majority is black and female, but that didn’t stop them from killing the right to abortion.
Otherwise, it’s just meaningless symbolism. (But I hope this person uses their vote to do good things.)