Iâm already tired of hearing her described as bisexual - why would anyone care?
Iâm glad she won - and if Rick Scott is beaten too, Iâll dance naked in the street âŚ(not a pretty sight).
As a bisexual, I care. We get disappeared a lot. We also are frequently seen as untrustworthy. She was my Representative in Congress and I am pleased to have voted for her again.
I think itâs fine to mention that Sinema is bisexual, because itâs a fact and a good one, but maybe as an aside? Why is that first and foremost in the headline? That probably shouldnât be a core reason to vote for someone, should it?
Personally, I donât care what someoneâs sexuality or sexual preferences are. I donât care what color their skin is. Or what gender they are (or identify with). Not when Iâm voting for someone to represent me in the halls of government.
All I care about is their policy platform, and how effective they may be carrying it out. Thatâs it! The rest should not matter in our decisions on who to vote forâŚ
That said, I think itâs pretty cool that notwithstanding being openly bisexual, Sinema won the Senate seat in Arizona. Kudos to her for not hiding who she is, and kudos to the voters for choosing the best candidate.
All the bestâŚ!!
Exactly this. It does matter but I wouldnât vote for a candidate based on that alone.
As for the âWho caresâ part I worked with a trans woman for three years. I never thought of her as anything but a woman. I didnât follow her around to see which restroom she used. We worked for a big box department store. (I never asked any of my female co-workers. I still donât know.) I donât care I assume that when she needed to use a restroom, She did. What more do I need to know?
When a customer asked me âIs that a dude?â I reflexively said No and gave hem a look like he had three eyes. I didnât think about it. I responded. Everybody in our store knew (to the best of my knowledge) and no one cared. Show up. Do your job. No one cares about the rest.
It should be that way everywhere. Should be but unfortunately it isnât.
Iâm very glad to see Sinema win.
The image that stuck in my head these last 3 weeks is McSally losing it six different ways at their debate. She kept saying her name âKyrsten Sinema! Kyrsten Sinema! Kyrsten Sinema!â and it always came out to me as âMarcia! Marcia! Marcia!â or something out of Clueless. There was a school girl level of jealousy that McSally had, and Sinemaâs calm demeanor just made her madder. McSally was an inveterate liar throughout the campaign. She deserved to lose. It ends up becoming one of the best rebukes of Trumpism through the entire election cycle. The Democrats have a very good chance to win AZ in the EC as well as the AZ Senate seat in 2020.
Well said. As a woman, I care that sheâs a woman. More women in the Senate is a big deal for me.
My username comes from the proportion of female TPM readers in Joshâs first reader survey, back in the day. The Senateâs proportion is only a tad better.
When you are in a minority of any kind, one of your own winning becomes more personal. Yay, Kyrsten!
I care about what Sinema can do for Arizona and the country. Who she sleeps with (consenting adults that is) isnât important.
It could be that Kyl will resign in late December. Then McSally will be talking to Gov. Ducey about that seat.
`Sinemaâs sexual identity barely came up in the race, a sign of how far the country has come on LGBTQ rights.â
So we put it in the headline.
Sinema Defeats McSally, Will Become First Openly Bisexual Senator
Well, not too openly, I trust.
(Seriously: I hope she is on the national stage for as long as she wants to be.)
Compared to when I was growing up through the 60s and 70s, we have come a LONG way. Weâve also regressed in some quarters, but that too shall passâŚ
Beyond ânot caringâ, I think itâs about simply accepting people for who they are (within reason of course). Pre-judging people based on these judgmental labels is a huge problem. Itâs âInherent Bigotryâ.
Of course, people who intentionally (or in some cases purely due to ignorance) bring harm to others with their actions, is not OKâŚ
But to me thatâs pretty much the entire criteria of whatâs OK or not OK in a civil society. Just stop hurting others. How hard is it?
Humans⌠pshâŚ
The other side of recognizing and emphasizing labels is that it is a small step from sheâs a good bisexual woman representative to sheâs a good representative for a bisexual woman. The second one minimizes her and you donât want that.
I think both of those over-emphasize her sexuality (not to mention gender), and pretty much ignore everything else that makes her human. I donât have âIâm a good heterosexual male musicianâ as my label. Why should âbisexualâ be part of hers?
I guess what Iâm advocating for is that we donât call those out, and create excuses for, using them as labels. I still ask why we differentiate skin color. As if, in a healthier society, that would actually have any bearing on anything? By minimizing the labels, we remove their power, donât we? True equality canât take hold if weâre organizing those labels hierarchically. Thatâs what really needs to stop.
I understand that when youâre trying to rise up from a place of oppression, itâs necessary to identify, codify and amplify the focus on that oppression and its sources. But too much weight in that direction can have the opposite of the desired effect.
How about, Sheâs a great representative. Oh, and hey⌠she also happens to be bisexual.
If you say âI am A bisexualâ you are making that label pretty much the core of your identity. In truth, I know very few people whoâs nature, character, personality and temperament are so utterly derived from who they are sexually. I know them for who they are with that included. But they are not who they are entirely because of it.
I think that should apply doubly to elected representatives. Again, it shouldnât matter one whit that Sinema is bi-sexual. That to me should be anecdotal.
Itâs great that sheâs the first openly bi-sexual person in the Senate. That ceiling has been lifted another notch. Kudos! But now shouldnât we put that aside and focus on the work that needs to be done?
Your argument makes sense in a world where people donât face daily discrimination for those labels. But they do. So visible representation still matters.
Iâm not really arguing, just putting a perspective out there. Iâm definitely not trying to minimize or invalidate the very real discrimination that is rampant in some quarters. Just suggesting possible alternatives to the label-based normsâŚ
So yes, to a degree, that visible representation matters. However, I agree more that visible normalization matters. That the differences arenât really meaningful differences at all. Lead by example, and minimize the power of those âidentity labelsâ.
It goes hand in hand with knowledge that 99.9% of the DNA in every human being is identical. But large percentages of us arenât heterosexual. And yet we are essentially the same. There is almost nothing to âdiscriminate againstâ when you look at it that way. I just prefer to promote normalization over the drawing of lines.
That is, to press forward regarding the meaninglessness of most of those differences that engender discrimination.
Anyway, your point is not lost on me. Just putting an alternative approach out there for changing the âstatus quoâ, so to speak.
Peace.
Iâm not disagreeing with you at all. In fact, weâre in total agreement near as I can tell. I agree they both overemphasize those points. I do believe they are worth mentioning but the candidate is better off running on a good platform than running on a label. The point I was trying to make is that label can become a weapon in more ways than the obvious. The hetero only crowd is obviously going to try to use it as a blunt object. But the dismissiveness I mentioned is less obvious and more insidious and also pivots on the label. As I said definitely worth mentioning, but Iâm not voting for a candidate solely for the label. I think itâs cool that we have a Bi Female serving in the house along with a diverse group of Democrats. I also think its cool that we have Muslims, People of every color and gender. Celebrate that diversity. It is our strength and one they donât have on the other side of the aisle. Getting too hung up on labels is counter-productive, I want good, effective legislators whatever their stripe.