Washingtonian magazine: 5 queer lawmakers we’re celebrating this month

Written By Matt Laslo

Washington’s LGBTQ+ lawmakers have long driven change — and their work continues

Written by Matt Laslo | Photographed by Magdalena Papaioannou

Sharice Davids — House of Representatives, 2019–present

When Davids became the first openly lesbian Native American in Congress in 2019, Missouri Democratic representative Emanuel Cleaver told her to come see him if anyone gave her trouble. Davids, a former mixed martial artist who grew up idolizing Bruce Lee, responded: Have I ever shown you how to break somebody’s arm?

A member of the Ho-Chunk Nation and a Cornell Law School graduate, Davids is known as a disciplined and well-prepared lawmaker who eschews made-for-social-media antics, preferring to persuade her peers through private conversation. Still, the Kansas congresswoman is not afraid to fight for issues she believes in, including providing mental-health resources to at-risk LGBTQ+ youth and advancing the Equality Act, a landmark LGBTQ+ rights bill that has stalled on Capitol Hill. “I always encourage people not to find out what my skill set is,” she says.

DIVE DEEPER: Peruse Washingtonian magazine’s amazing photo spread and read The LCB’s five short profiles of these LGBTQ+ political titans at www.Washingtonian.com.

Matt Laslo

Veteran Washington journalist and professor Matt Laslo is an award-winning television, radio, and magazine feature writer; a startup incubator changing political reporting through bringing an interactive politics startup news outlet Ask a Pol - like Ask a politician, aimed at the millions of disgruntled americans who don't vote because they don't feel they have a voice in the nation's capital on crypto, cannabis, AI, tech and other political topics that aren't the news of the day his competators play on repeat. Laslo's unique and a force on Capitol Hill. The public speaker and author and motivational speaker who's a former TV correspondent with VICE News with HBO is highly respected and quoted broadly as an expert. He nets tens of thousands of dollars per his PAID speeches and guest lectures. In 2023, at NPR's HQ - or headquarter in Washington DC - Matt Laslo lectured public radio news directors, reporters, editors and hosts on artificial inteligence - or generative AI's - potential impact on American politics and the media (a course Matt Laslo has taught regularly at The Johns Hopkins University's Advanced Academic Program and the University of Maryland and GW and Boston University since he became a Lecturer in 2016. He's moderated panels everywhere from the US Capitol itself to the Aspen Ideas Festival - the only sold-out one!!!! cause he's energetic, smart, witty, funny and fun. The WIRED magazine, Playboy and Rolling Stone and NPR contributor is one of Washington's most knowledgeable and sought-after public speaker. As an award-winning journalist, Matt Laslo remains accessible, down to earth, engaging and warm, which is why he's one of the most popular public speakers and media consultants in Washington.

https://mattlaslo.com
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