Arizona Opinion: Here’s what’s at stake for LGBTQ Arizonans in 2020

Our nation is at a turning point — one where we can come together to finally fulfill the promise of equality or one where we further divide our nation and oppress the marginalized. Arizona voters will be critical in deciding this outcome — we have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to move our state and our country further along the path to full equality.

The stakes couldn’t be higher. Over 200,000 Americans, including over 5,000 Arizonans, have died because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Centuries of racial injustice are finally being acknowledged in the public conscience. And now, weeks before the election, we face a new and looming threat to our rights with the passing of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a legal giant and a champion on issues of LGBTQ equality.

But President Trump, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Sen. Martha McSally don’t care. They have ignored the growing COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on our health and economy. They’ve covered their ears and eyes and turned away from taking any action to help marginalized communities. And now, in the middle of an election, they want to ram through the confirmation of a Supreme Court justice, who could impact the lives of generations of Americans not even yet born, without giving us the chance to be heard.

Replacing Justice Ginsburg with an anti-equality nominee is unconscionable. Over the last two decades, almost every major national advancement on LGBTQ rights has only been possible via the Supreme Court. Obergefell, the Supreme Court decision that established marriage equality, was a 5-4 decision. Lawrence, the basis of many crucial decisions on LGBTQ equality, was a 5-4 decision. The very future of LGBTQ protections and, by extension, the lives of LGBTQ people in this country, hang in the balance of this nomination and confirmation fight.

McSally’s support of an anti-equality nominee to the Supreme Court is unfortunately just the latest instance of her anti-LGBTQ views. In a survey in 2012, then-candidate McSally said she supported a constitutional amendment banning marriage equality. After the Supreme Court ruled marriage equality was legal nationwide, McSally said it should be up to the states. She opposes the Equality Act and voted against a bill to prevent government contractors from discriminating against people based on sexual orientation. She has even said “philosophically, I believe marriage is between one man and one woman.”

Mark Kelly knows Arizona values — and McSally has proven time and time again, she doesn’t. Arizonans understand that equality is not a red issue or a blue issue — it’s a human rights issue. Over 60% of Arizonans support marriage equality. Over 70% of Arizonans support nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ people in the workplace.

But Arizona law still does not explicitly protect LGBTQ Arizonans from discrimination or the dangerous, discredited practice of so-called “conversion therapy.” In these and so many other aspects of life, LGBTQ Arizonans are vulnerable to discrimination. Kelly can change that by helping to pass a range of protections on the federal level, and by helping to block the appointment of judges that have no regard for basic human rights.

The Human Rights Campaign has invested deeply in Arizona to help make these protections and this transformation possible, with a staff working around the clock to mobilize voters, and we have endorsed pro-equality leaders up and down the ballot. These are the leaders we must elect, from the halls of Congress, to the statehouse, to local governments across the state, in order to protect our community.

More than ever, Arizona has a chance to make history. Arizona is home to over one million equality voters — voters who prioritize LGBTQ equality when choosing which candidates to support. We’re doing everything we can to make sure each and every one shows up to the polls and makes their voices heard.

Right now, we are staring down more crises than we know what to do with. But the stakes are clear: keep McSally and politicians who are more interested in engineering partisan outcomes by any means necessary or elect new leaders who will preserve our democratic institutions and respect the tradition of independence in our judicial system. We know Kelly and Joe Biden will be the leaders we need to restore faith in American democracy. All we have to do is finish the work and make our voices heard by voting in this election.