Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema has been losing support among progressives for a number of reasons, not least of which is her incoherent position on eliminating the filibuster. As Daily Kos previously covered, Emily’s List backed away from Sinema over her stubborn refusal to change Senate rules in order to eliminate the filibuster, deeply frustrating progressives and even moderate Democrats.
Recently the same group that prodded Emily’s List to act is calling upon the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) to step away from Sinema as well, as first reported by Politico. The group, the Arizona Coalition to End the Filibuster, shared an open letter to the HRC asking them (and donors to the HRC) to stop providing Sinema with financial support until she backs eliminating the filibuster. More than 100 LGBTQ+ activists and allies have signed the letter already.
RELATED: Emily's List reminds Sinema groups are happy to withhold endorsements if she doesn't do her job
“The toll of Sinema’s obstruction,” the letter reads in part, “which HRC continues to tacitly support and thus enable—for your constituents is growing each day.”
If you’re wondering why a group like the HRC might have a particular investment in the Senate filibuster, this makes sense on a couple of levels. First, Sinema is openly bisexual and has gotten a great amount of support from LGBTQ+ organizations and allies during her Senate campaign and time in office. One would assume an openly queer woman wouldn’t be a barrier in moving along pro-LGBTQ+ legislation, and yet here we are.
She is also the first Democratic senator elected to serve Arizona in several decades … And yet she insists on being a moderate.
That legislation (among others) is the Equality Act. The Equality Act would serve to offer extremely valuable and timely protections to LGBTQ+ people across the nation, including a federal ban on discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity when it comes to housing, employment, federally funded programs, and more. And yet she (and fellow Democrat Joe Manchin of West Virginia) have doubled down on their insistence that we can’t change rules. That’s much to the delight of conservatives, sadly.
She’s been consistent in her stance on not wanting to end the filibuster, but a statement she issued back in January 2022 once again played up her position as hoping to please both sides. She suggested proposed rules to change the filibuster would “deepen our divisions and risk repeated radical reversals in federal policy, cementing uncertainty and further eroding confidence in our government.”
Try telling trans youth who are desperate to leave their home states that honoring filibuster voting rules is more important than their safety, Sinema.
