Maura Healey’s election as the first openly gay governor of Massachusetts was part of a “rainbow wave” in the 2022 midterms, one with several historic milestones and a new high-water mark of successful LGBTQ candidates.
It’s a celebratory moment for LGBTQ advocates here, who hope to see the governor-elect bring her lived experience and her track record as attorney general into the State House.
“It’s thrilling to see Maura break down historical obstacles to both women and LGBTQ candidates to lead Massachusetts,” said Janson Wu, executive director of the Boston-based GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders. “It really shows the progress we’ve made as a society, in understanding that what counts is really the quality of the leader and not who they are.”
Democrats’ sweep of statewide offices Tuesday broke barriers on a number of fronts. Healey is also the first woman elected governor of Massachusetts, and she and Lieutenant Governor-elect Kim Driscoll join another pair of women from Arkansas as the country’s first all-female executive duos. Attorney General-elect Andrea Campbell is the first Black woman elected to statewide office.
Healey was also the first lesbian to be elected governor anywhere in the country. Oregon Democrat Tina Kotek claimed victory Wednesday night in a tight race, and will share that distinction with Healey if her electoral lead holds.
The LGBTQ Victory Fund, a national organization helps elect LGBTQ people across all levels of government, said that as of 2 a.m. Wednesday, at least 340 openly LGBTQ candidates, the most in U.S. history, had won their elections.
Annise Parker, the fund's president and CEO, said Healey’s win “is a sign — especially to LGBTQ kids in desperate need of hope — that LGBTQ people have a place in American society and can become respected public leaders.”
Many in the LGBTQ community pointed to a particular moment in Healey’s victory speech, said Arline Isaacson, co-chair of the Massachusetts GLBTQ Political Caucus. Healey directly addressed girls and young LGBTQ people watching, telling them she hoped her win “shows you that you can be whatever you want to be.”
“She’s been out and proud for many, many years, never hid it, and articulated it on the very first night that she was elected, and that’s pretty significant to a lot of people,” Isaacson said.
Having Healey as governor could make a difference for advocates. Gov. Charlie Baker signed several bills that were priorities of LGBTQ advocacy organizations, including public accommodations protections for transgender people and a ban on conversion therapy for minors.
But Isaacson said Baker often wouldn’t telegraph whether he’d approve or veto such bills beforehand, so supporters had to make sure they had enough votes in the Legislature to override potential vetoes — a heavier lift.
“With Maura, we’re not going to face that hurdle — psychological, political hurdle — at all,” Isaacson said. “She’ll be out front. Ditto on reproductive rights.”
Grace Moreno, executive director of the Massachusetts LGBT Chamber of Commerce, said she thinks Healey will “have a different level of sympathy for our community.” She said she doesn’t think Healey being gay will be the focal point of her administration “because it isn't for any of us — this is just a part of who we are, but it doesn't dominate anything we do.”
“She’s going to have to deal with the hurricanes that come or the various things that governors have to deal with that are spontaneous, and then the rest of it like balancing a budget and keeping the state running through a pandemic,” Moreno said.
Under Baker, Massachusetts became the first state in the country to recognize LGBT-owned businesses as part of its supplier diversity program, which Moreno said kicked off a trend among other states. She said she hopes Healey builds on that by setting targets for how much business the state does with LGBT-owned companies.
Wu, of GLAD, said he hopes Healey will continue her record of “fighting for the underdog, fighting for the principles and values of equity and quality, that everyone deserves a fair chance at living their best lives, regardless of who they are or who they love.”
“There’s certainly a number of issues in Massachusetts related to attacks on transgender healthcare providers, attacks on schools who have transgender-affirming policies,” he said. “These attacks are not coming out of nowhere. They’re part of a coordinated campaign from our opponents, and I hope that a Healey administration will lead the efforts to protect us and protect our community from those attacks.”
Rev. Laura Everett, executive director of the Massachusetts Council of Churches, said Healey’s win marks “a moment of rewriting the stories of who can govern the commonwealth, and not just who can govern the commonwealth, but who can lead.” But one person doesn't add up to systemic change, Everett said.
“This is beautiful and powerful, but elect Black queer leaders, elect Latina queer leaders, elect Native queer leaders,” she said. “We’ve got a lot more to go.”
Everett said she expects Healey to bring into the room voices of “those who systems of power have forgotten.”
“I think that’s one of the gifts of queerness, is a constantly expanding circle,” she said. “This is sort of the subversive edge that moves from the center to the margin, that is always asking who’s not here. There’s a difference between spaces that are welcoming and spaces that are inviting, and I’m not convinced that state government is yet inviting of queer leaders.”
