Pride50
Can I (I)
Fighting
Out lawmaker Ian Mackey grew up surrounded by homophobia. Now he’s fighting back!
Missouri Democratic Rep. Ian Mackey made national headlines back in April for a speech he gave in which he blasted his transphobic GOP colleagues.35-year-old Mackey is openly gay and was elected in the November 2018 midterms to represent a suburb of St Louis. His speech came during a debate over HB 2140, a wide-ranging elections bill that aimed to introduce a new voter ID requirement.Republicans tried sneaking in an amendment that would permit public school districts to put a measure on the local ballot that, if approved, would ban trans girls from participating in girls’ sports.Related: Gay senator Shevrin Jones put his homophobic colleagues on blast and it was incredibleMackey’s speech targeted the author of the amendment, Rocheport Republican Chuck Basye, who revealed that he had a gay brother last year.Basye said his brother had been scared to come out to him for fear of his sibling’s reaction.