Running for office while LGBTQ+ increasingly means preparing for violencehttps://www.advocate.com/politics/national/lgbtq-candidates-face-political-violence 🔗Christopher Wiggins (25 May 2026)
After years of escalating anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric in American politics, a new national report suggests the consequences are no longer confined to campaign ads, legislative fights, or online outrage. For many LGBTQ+ candidates, the threats have become intensely personal and increasingly physical.
The threats arrive in direct messages, voicemail inboxes, comment sections, and late-night emails. Sometimes they follow candidates home.
One LGBTQ+ candidate reported that a neighbor shot at their house after they advocated for transgender rights. Another described being shoved off a porch while canvassing. Others said strangers photographed their homes, stalked their families online, or threatened sexual violence against their children.
For a growing number of LGBTQ+ candidates across the United States, political campaigning increasingly resembles threat management.
A new report released by the LGBTQ+ Victory Institute found that harassment, intimidation, and political violence have become a defining feature of modern LGBTQ+ campaigns, reshaping not only how candidates run for office but also whether they choose to run at all.
