First LGBTQ statewide official in Mich. seeks re-election
washingtonblade.comIn such a political swing state as Michigan has emerged to be in recent elections, the presence of an out LGBTQ statewide official for the last four years — a first in the state’s history — has been as much of a political anomaly for the region as it’s been a cultural one.
Running for re-election in November after becoming the state’s first LGBTQ candidate to be elected to statewide office, Democratic Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has sought to use her office and identity as an out, married lesbian to advocate for LGBTQ equality.
Prior to her run for office, she had been involved in LGBTQ legal advocacy efforts in the state, having served as co-counsel in the 2014 DeBoer v.
Snyder case that briefly ruled Michigan’s ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional in the leadup to the U.S. Supreme Court’s legalization of same-sex marriage nationwide in 2015.
