Jason Bartlett
broke multiple barriers when the black state legislator
came out as gay.
Connecticut state
representative Jason Bartlett is used to being in the
minority. In 2006 the African-American politician won the
assembly seat in his district -- which is 96% white.
This February he officially became one of only six
openly gay black elected officials in the United States
-- and the first to serve on the state legislature level.
While the announcement shocked many people, his
family, friends, and even some of his political
colleagues weren’t among them.
That’s
because the 41-year-old had been having informal
conversations over the past few months with people who
worked on his campaign, chairmen of the town
committees he represents, and other legislators at the state
capitol. “I didn’t make an
announcement,” says Bartlett, who also serves
as cochairman for Hillary Clinton’s presidential
campaign in Connecticut. “I didn’t
gather people together. I just started dropping it into
casual conversation.”
Bartlett’s
constituents, on the other hand, weren’t brought up
to speed until they picked up the February 20 issue of
The [Danbury] News-Times. The
Advocate sat down with Bartlett days later to talk about
coming out, raising two teenage boys, and how voters
in Connecticut’s 2nd district are taking the
news.
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