Voting is Your Voice — Vote With Pride
By Harry Bronson, New York Assemblymember
My name is Harry Bronson (he/him). I’m an Assemblymember representing the Rochester, NY area. Before being elected to public office, I was an attorney advocating for worker rights and justice. My work has always centered around ensuring that people can live as their authentic selves, and be seen for who they are, not how they identify. My motto, which really guides much of my policymaking, is, “No matter who you are, where you come from, what you look like, what your abilities, whom you love, or how you identify — we all have dignity and deserve equity, justice and the opportunity to succeed.”
As a child, I was frequently outraged over injustice and inequity. I wanted to do something to change things, so I knew from an early age that I’d be an attorney. This was, in part, inspired by my parents, but it was also inspired by understanding that I was different — I was gay, growing up in a rural farm community in the 1970s, and I had to find a way to live as myself and help others in similar situations.
I am the youngest of 12 siblings, and we were raised in poverty in a rural part of New York state. In fact, when I was young, we didn’t have indoor plumbing and heated our home with a wood burning stove. My parents worked very hard — they both had full-time jobs, ran the family farm, and raised 12 children, but they could never get ahead financially. My upbringing taught me the importance of hard work and community engagement, and later, these experiences helped me to recognize that government is critical to making sure that opportunity is a given and equal right for all people. We must have policies in place that protect people from exploitation and unsafe and unfair workplaces, that enable them to see the benefit of their hard work and live comfortably and safely as themselves.
This understanding and passion is what drew me to labor law. I saw how injustice in the workplace kept people down and tethered to poverty no matter how hard they worked. I also witnessed how judgements about how someone identified, or their sexuality, excluded them from opportunity. As an attorney and gay activist, I worked side-by-side with many in the LGBTQ+ community for social, racial, and economic justice. A group of my gay friends approached me and asked if I’d ever considered running for elected office. I had not. But it then occurred to me that the change I desired could better be accomplished as a policymaker and elected official, than through my work as an attorney. I started with a very local office — County Legislator. I was always forthright about my sexuality. I never hid it, but I also refused to allow it to be the only thing that defined my policymaking. From there, I went on to run for the New York State Assembly. The Assembly is referred to as “The People’s House” and I chose to run for that office because I wanted to serve the people of my community.
NY has a reputation for being a very progressive Democratic state — and we are — but we have a very diverse population, and, if you can believe it, when I was elected in 2010, I was the first openly gay person from outside of NYC to serve in elected office at the state-level. Although we have a lot of LGBTQ people in NY State government today, I am still the only LGBTQ state lawmaker who represents a district beyond NYC’s five boroughs. As you can see, even in extremely progressive states like New York, we still have work to do to bring LGBTQ experiences, voices and people into elected office. Which underscores why our LGBTQ siblings and allies, especially young people like you, who have mostly grown up very aware and accepting of the LGBTQ community, must get involved. Voting is the simplest way to do this. And as more and more people feel safe identifying as LGBTQ it is vitally important that we are represented in government. For instance, in 2011, the Governor of New York signed the Marriage Equality Act into law. This gave LGBTQ people the right to legally marry in NYS. Would that have happened without LGBTQ voices in state government? Probably not.
You must fight for what you want and need, and be the change you wish to see, and government plays an important role in enshrining rights and regulations into law and ensuring that the voice of the people is heard and carried through. As we’ve witnessed over the last few years with the shocking rise in anti-trans and anti-LGBTQ legislation across the country, our government is not serving the will of most people. It is disconcerting and can be demoralizing, but we can — and must — do something about it by voting for people who represent our interests, and by encouraging likeminded people to run for office at all levels! Last year myself and an LGBTQ senator sponsored New York’s Trans Safe Haven Act. This law guarantees that trans and gender nonconforming people, their families, and their doctors are safe from prosecution and extradition if they come to New York for gender affirming care. We’ve since seen a rise in TGNCNBI people moving to New York for this reason. Over the years, I have consistently worked to pass many pieces of legislation in support of LGBTQ people, but the more electeds we have from our community, the more we will get done.
It was my community who really encouraged and supported me in my run for office, because they believed that my experiences living as an out gay man at a time before it was legal and through the height of the AIDS epidemic meant I had something unique to offer that would benefit people throughout New York State. They were right. Being gay does not exclusively define my policymaking, but it is always prominent in my work. My experiences have enabled me to really understand inequity, injustice and oppression, and how they systemically marginalize groups of people. Which has helped me to impact change in New York’s labor and economic laws.
In the Assembly, I am Chair of Labor Committee. My priority is building an economy that works for everyone and increasing equity and justice in the workforce. When I first ran for office, many constituents had never met an openly gay person, but I was able to talk to them about issues that matter to all people: good paying jobs with benefits, economic security and opportunity. I work very hard to ensure that I am merging my labor priorities with my LGBTQ priorities, and showing how they complement each other.
Community organizing is critical to combating discrimination and inequity. Labor Unions and collective organizing have given so many workers rights and opportunity, and the LGBTQ community, which has always been a very strong, activist driven group, has used many of these same tactics to advocate for our rights. New York is the home of the Stonewall Riots, and Rochester, where I live, was the home of Susan B. Anthony and Fredrick Douglas. Collective organizing works — whether it be to rally around candidates who speak to your priorities or to advocate for issues you believe are important — we must join together and, as Susan B. Anthony said, “Organize, agitate, educate!”
I leave you with this: voting is your voice. Voting in local and state elections is crucially important because these are the people who will most impact your daily life; in the cities, towns and regions where you live. They are people you see in your community. Do all you can to make sure the place where you live represents the life you want to live and the principles that matter to you.
Be your authentic self and through the power of being you, always fight for social, racial and economic justice for others — for ALL!
