Note: From January 30 to February 20, this letter excluded Two-Spirit people in our language. Signatories 1 -4,154 signed a version of this letter without the “2” in the acronym LGBTQ2IA. We apologize for our error and appreciate the person who held us accountable to being more inclusive. We regret perpetuating erasure of the Native community and we are committed to doing better in the future.

Open Letter

Dear fellow members of the LGBTQ2IA community,

This election cycle we will be presented with plenty of options. Up and down the ballot, candidate’s stances will impact us, our families and communities. If we’ve learned anything from our ancestors and transcestors, it’s that we must speak out… and act up. This primary election is one such example.

There has been much talk about identity and diversity in the race to win the Democratic party nomination for president. Some have touted former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg’s openly gay identity as proof of progress in our politics. However, being gay is not enough to earn the support of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, and Asexual (LGBTQ2IA) communities.

We cannot in good conscience allow Mayor Pete to become the nominee without demanding that he address the needs and concerns of the broader LGBTQ2IA communities. While many see different issues in silos, we are clear that LGBTQ2IA people are directly and disproportionately impacted by police violence, incarceration, unaffordable healthcare, homelessness, deportation, and economic inequality among other things.

Mayor Pete is leaning on the support and actively courting the LGBTQ2IA community, but has shown time and time again that he is out of touch, not fit to be President of the United States, and simply falls short.

Mayor Pete has not said if he would support a moratorium to end deportations or that he would decriminalize border crossing;

Mayor Pete opposes complete Medicare for All and universal childcare;

These gaps in Mayor Pete’s platform will fall particularly hard on LGBTQ2IA communities. Take housing as an example: 40 percent of homeless youth are LGBTQ2IA. Nearly one-third of trans people have experienced homelessness, and one in ten have been evicted from their home for being trans. This is only exacerbated by the fact that there is no federal law that consistently protects LGBTQ2IA individuals from housing discrimination. And while Mayor Pete, like the rest of the field, supports the Equality Act, this isn’t enough. Public housing remains in disrepair in the U.S., with billions in backlogged repairs due to decades of underinvestment, and the changes Pete proposes are grossly inadequate relative to the scale of the problem, and will not solve our housing crisis. We need only look to Pete’s track record of tearing down hundreds of homes in Black and Latino neighborhoods in South Bend to show us that he is not committed to protecting our communities.

As LGBTQ2IA people, our lives are layered and must have an intersectional framework in our analysis, organizing, and movement building. We know that: Education justice is LGBTQI2A justice. Racial and economic justice are LGBTQ2IA justice. Decarceration is LGBTQ2IA justice. Immigrant and refugee justice is LGBTQ2IA justice. Health justice is LGBTQ2IA justice. Housing justice is LGBTQ2IA justice. Demanding corporate accountability and for wealthy people to pay an equitable share of taxes is LGBTQ2IA justice.

During this critical election, it’s important that LGBTQ2IA people demand more from our leaders and from a candidate claiming to be in community with us. Leaders within our communities -- especially Black trans women -- have worked tirelessly over the past two decades to push LGBTQ2IA movements to value and fight for our full identities and experiences. We cannot afford to go backwards or accept the status quo.

It is for these reasons and more that a group of us have come together under the banner of #QueersAgainstPete. If you agree, we invite you to add your name to this letter and join our collective voice against Pete Buttigieg’s candidacy for president. We believe the LGBTQ2IA community deserves better than Pete.

More sources: www.queersagainstpete.com/sources