| | | | |  | | By Jesús A. Rodríguez | With help from Jesse Naranjo, Ella Creamer, Brakkton Booker and Charlie Mahtesian
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POLITICO illustration/Photo by Geoff Forester, Concord Monitor via LGBTQ Victory Institute | What's good, mi gente! This week, Biden urges Dems to make South Carolina the first primary state in 2024, the Southern Poverty Law Center sues Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis over his migrant flight to Martha's Vineyard and Senate Republicans slowly evolve their position on marriage equality . But first, a conversation with a new member of the "rainbow wave." There may not have been a red wave this election, but LGBTQ elected officials are celebrating what they call a "rainbow wave." According to the LGBTQ Victory Institute, a nonprofit that seeks to increase the numbers of queer Americans in office, more than 436 LGBTQ candidates won their races in 2022 . That's 100 more than in 2020. Thirty-one of those victorious candidates are trans or non-binary, and they include the first transgender man elected to a state legislature: James Roesener of New Hampshire. Roesener, who is 26, was just elected as a Democrat to the Granite State's 400-member House of Representatives. He says he was inspired to run the moment that he learned of the leaked Supreme Court opinion overturning Roe v. Wade . Although Roesener lives in Concord, N.H., where he and his wife work retail, he drove to Washington for the Victory Institute's International LGBTQ Leaders Conference, an annual convening that brings together officials, activists and their allies from around the world. More than 600 people registered for this year's event.
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New Hampshire state Rep.-elect James Roesener speaks at the Victory Institute's International LGBTQ Leaders Conference, Thursday, Dec. 1, in Washington. | Demetric Blyther/Courtesy LGBTQ Victory Institute | Sporting an eggshell blazer, a multicolored floral button-down and a mane of candy-red hair, Roesener told the hundreds of guests in his opening remarks that recent state laws restricting access to health care for trans people "demonstrated the immense power that local politics levy against queer and trans lives, as well as the lives of all oppressed people." After his speech, The Recast sat down with Roesener to discuss his win, the political idiosyncrasies of New Hampshire and the Colorado Springs shooting. He's standing on the shoulders of other trans Democrats such as Virginia state Del. Danica Roem and Delaware state Sen. Sarah McBride , but he recognized the work isn't quite done yet. For one, Roesener wants to improve the representation of people of color among trans elected officials. "Our trans community — at least the way that I have experienced it and seen it — is segregated," he tells The Recast.
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This interview has been edited for length and clarity. THE RECAST: What prompted you to run for the New Hampshire state legislature? ROESENER: I believe I filed the last day eligible [laughs]. I really put it off because I was contemplating it heavily. It is a very demanding position, especially if I don't have a whole lot of free time and free money. But I was very inspired to run because of the released draft [Supreme Court opinion] of Roe being repealed. I have always been a very pro-choice, pro-abortion person. I have volunteered at a local clinic that provides abortion care as well as other LGBT health services, so I have seen the work that goes into this and the harassment that is experienced. And I sympathize with people just doing good work providing health care, being targeted by legislation by hateful people who threaten them and call them terrible things. I also just feel very strongly about preserving everybody's bodily autonomy, their right to making decisions for themselves. As a trans person, that also affects me. I, for a long time, was just the regular cisgender female, if you want to put it that way. I was at risk of being assaulted and needing an abortion, or being in a bad situation and needing that. I am a champion for trans rights, and abortion rights are trans rights. And I don't see any full liberation for people without reproductive justice. THE RECAST: Take us behind the scenes of your decision. Were you nervous about being trans and running in this political climate? How did your wife see this decision?
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| Every week, we sit down with diverse and influential characters who are shaking up politics. Who should we profile next? Let us know. Email us at therecast@politico.com .
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ROESENER: I was definitely nervous about being a trans person running. I think trans people, because of the political climate especially, feel like they're not respected, like their word isn't heard. I know I felt going into my campaign that that was going to be a limitation — that people weren't going to take me seriously. I did it because I knew I had what it takes.
I did speak to my wife about it, because being a trans person running [for office] is a safety concern. I'm not so much worried about myself, but about my family and my wife because that's not fair. I put myself in that position and I don't want to be dragging anybody else into it. She was very supportive. It was like, "I know who you are. You're going to do it." We've been together for going on nine years now, so we know each other.
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Geoff Forester/Concord Monitor via LGBTQ Victory Institute | THE RECAST: What was the campaign like? What are some of the issues that you talked about the most, and people were most excited to hear you talk about? ROESENER: I was really lucky to have a lot of the other Concord Democrats, who were also running, rallying to support me and really helping to carry my campaign, because I got sick with Covid really badly. Without them, I don't know how we would have pulled through. A lot of the issues that people had concerns about had to do with the daily aspects of living. People were concerned about being able to afford one thing after another. People were very concerned about the way that New Hampshire funds their schools, and the way that we [apportion] money [when] we are one of the most well-off states, and I don't think that's redistributed fairly to the people who live here. I don't think we have the worst situation, but I don't think we necessarily are doing all that we can by the people who live there. People are feeling that and getting upset about that. | 
| THE RECAST: New Hampshire is unique in the country for many reasons, but especially because of the way the legislature is set up. How do you think that has affected the issues that people care about? ROESENER: We are a true purple state. We've had a Republican majority for a little bit now, but we haven't seen the pieces of legislation that other states have seen, which have been very extreme. We've had some of them proposed, but they haven't passed. I really attribute that to the attitude of New Hampshire — we sometimes get a bad rap as crazy mountain people, but we very much believe in the [state motto], "Live free or die." To a majority of people, what it means is do whatever you want to do. People who live in New Hampshire are very kind, very helpful, but they don't necessarily want to sit around and talk to you all day. Good fences make good neighbors there [laughs]. So when you bring up these ideas that start to push into people's lives, that push the government into decision-making, it very easily backfires. Because that's just too much control. A good demonstration of this: There's a queer restaurant that recently moved into downtown Concord a few weeks ago. They had a drag queen story hour, and the Proud Boys showed up — it was a handful of them. But the showing for defending the event was over 100 people . The public came out and said "No, we actually don't agree with this hatefulness. We don't want you screaming at these children who are just going to a children's event." That is a true representation of where New Hampshire is politically. There are going to be those people on the fringes, but that is not the majority of New Hampshire on either side. It just doesn't represent what our values are.
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Geoff Forester/Concord Monitor via LGBTQ Victory Institute | THE RECAST: There's this split image emerging across the country these days. There's states like New Hampshire where people who are willing to show up to the scenes — and we often don't hear about these stories — but at the same time, horrible acts like the shooting in Colorado Springs are happening. What do you believe needs to change? ROESENER: I really hesitate to say that I have a [one-size-fits-all] answer when it comes to acts of terrorism. But legislatively, to stop these harms from happening, we need to not only push to affirm LGBTQ lives, but also push out this terrible "groomer" rhetoric that some have been spewing lately. Queer and trans lives are being targeted again in a way that I don't think we've seen for a long time. I've heard folks say that this reminds them of the '70s. And I wasn't there, but I would have to believe them because it's a scary time. I think that the outside world doesn't necessarily recognize that that's the climate for us right now, and maybe the Club Q situation has brought that to light now. But it's been like this. It's important, especially when it comes to elected officials, to hold them to task and to say that you can't use this rhetoric and spew this hatred in the decorum of the legislative process. So much of this escalation of homophobic and transphobic violence comes from the politics that are being pushed. THE RECAST: What do you think will be your first piece of legislation you'll focus on? ROESENER: I'm definitely very ambitious about trying to codify reproductive rights in any way that we can. And also to push back on legislation that has already been introduced. I've seen a bill about restricting transition of minors, and I'm going to be in opposition of that if it restricts any sort of health care for trans youth.
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| THE RECAST: Each cycle, more and more trans officials get elected, but the vast majority of them have been white. What work is still left to do so the racial diversity of the trans elected-official caucus increases? What barriers are still present for those folks? ROESENER: I can't speak personally on the trans person of color experience, but it's plainly clear that their voices just aren't centered. I had an edge because people were listening to me because I'm a white dude. Not every single person I came across necessarily saw me as that, but still, there is a strong white overtone when it comes to the trans population. We really have not had the conversations that we need to have as a community to understand one another and understand our struggles. I want to be in communication with the whole of the community and uplift those voices in the way that I can from my position of leadership. Our trans community — at least the way that I have experienced it and seen it — is segregated. Our experiences are too different and we're not actually talking to one another. It's the self-centeredness of whiteness that makes some think that they are the scope of what the trans existence is so that you can speak on all issues for everybody. THE RECAST: My last question is a fun one: We know that astrology is a major cultural force in the LGBTQ community . So I have to ask, what are your sign placements? ROESENER: [Laughs] I'm a Virgo sun, Cancer moon and Pisces rising.
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Stay tuned to The Recast for more news on Roesener and other LGBTQ elected officials. For now, let's jump into the weekend with some reading, viewing and listening recs.
A History Lesson — Yes, Haiti is in crisis. But that doesn't mean the United States should intervene with military force, argues former ambassador to Haiti James B. Foley in POLITICO Magazine. WATCH: Your host explored how the fall of Roe might be spurring more vasectomies in a recent episode of "The POLITICO Show" on Snapchat
|  | After Dobbs, the Snip — After the fall of Roe left many women without access to an abortion, one doctor set out to travel to Missouri to give men vasectomies out of his own truck. Your newsletter anchor today spent three days with him to report on what it means for men — and American masculinity . In pop culture news: Hip-hop star Megan Thee Stallion becomes the first Black woman to grace the cover of Forbes' 30 under 30.
|  Twitter | While Ye, better known as Kanye West, is making headlines for his embrace of Adolf Hitler and Mar-a-Lago meetings, take a moment to sit with this Los Angeles Times piece looking back at how he descended from fame to the far-right fringe. Diana Cam Van Nguyen's beautifully crafted, heartbreaking mini-film seeks answers about family and society through the epistolary format. Also, 91-year-old playwright Adrienne Kennedy finally gets her moment on Broadway. Jennifer Lopez answers the 73 questions you've (probably) been dying to know. Spend some time with poet Oliver de la Paz's latest work, " Diaspora Sonnet Traveling Between Apartment Rentals ," capturing elements of immigrants' experiences in sharp focus.
|  | BTS' RM (A.K.A Kim Nam-joon) invites us into his home for a chill, rap-driven NPR Tiny Desk concert . Enjoy the set while squinting at the eclectic assortment of items on his shelves. Asake has something to teach us in his new visuals for " Organise ."
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