In a move that signals systemic change in Washington and unprecedented visibility for LGBT political power players, the National Journal, one of the leading U.S. politcal magazines, has published its first Gay Washington special edition.
One of the stories in the issue, dated January 25, features D.C.'s 30 most influential out men and women, including Democratic U.S. senator Tammy Baldwin, White House social secretary Jeremy Bernard, Human Rights Campaign president Chad Griffin, U.S. Court of Federal Claims judge Elaine Kaplan, and The Dish editor Andrew Sullivan. The issue also includes an interview with former congressman Barney Frank on his career arc in Washington and the modern gay rights movement as well as an article about former Olympian Caitlin Cahow's decision to attend the Sochi Olympics as an LGBT advocate. The eight openly lesbian, gay, and bisexual members of Congress -- the most ever in that body -- appear on the cover.
"This town has always been a (sometimes ambivalent) home for ambitious, closeted gay men and women," executive editor Adam B. Kushner explained, according to MediaBistro. "But now, ballot measures, state legislatures, and federal judges are advancing LGBT rights by the day; more openly gay members join Congress every cycle; the issues they and their allies champion occupy pride of place on the political agenda; and even Washington culture has become entirely habituated. ... Our correspondents see these changes on their beats every day. In this first such special issue -- yet another first -- we've begun to record the transformation in a systematic way."
Kushner summed it up by saying, "This is what the new world looks like."
