Queer Lawmaker Liliana Bakhtiari Comes Out as Nonmonogamous
Atlanta City Council member Liliana Bakhtiari, the first queer Muslim to hold elected office in Georgia, has come out as nonmonogamous.Bakhtiari, a lifelong Atlantan born to immigrant parents, is the second Iranian-American on the council and one of just a handful of nonbinary elected officials or out queer Muslim officials nationwide.
They are not only the first nonbinary person on the Atlanta council but the first on any governing body of a major U.S. city.The councilmember has been with their partner Kris Brown for 10 years and recently spoke exclusively to NBC News about their relationship with Sarah Al-Khayyal.Bakhtiari said they chose to come out because they wanted to start a family together.They said that stories like this tend to be scandalous. “But we’re openly showing it and proud of it,” Bakhtiari, 34, told the outlet in a video interview with the outlet.
Brown and Al-Khayyal sat on either side of them. “It should be destigmatized. It’s a very valid familial structure that people should embrace.”Due to their previous work in International crisis relief, the travel made short connections with people easier, Bakhtiari said.
They met Brown in 2012 at a bar. Bakhtiari said they were open to Brown about their preference to being nonmonogamous from the start.“I was like, ‘That’s cool with me,’” Brown told NBC News. “It was the first time that I had been with anyone who didn’t want to be monogamous.
