Running for office while LGBTQ+ increasingly means preparing for violence

[Jessica_Rose ✅]

Running for office while LGBTQ+ increasingly means preparing for violence

https://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.

[AlisonM]

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.

This sickens me... how can they call themselves moral people when they do these types of actions... I mean, really!, threatening violence, even sexual violence against children... are they that afraid that they have to stoop that low?? And all because we want to live as our authentic selves???