LGBTQ+ families are on the ballot this November. Here's how to protect them

On November 3, your family is on the ballot across America. You might think I’m exaggerating, but I’m not.

Yes, this year’s election is a big one: There are 435 seats available in the House of Representatives, 35 U.S. Senate seats, and 36 state governorships up for grabs. No doubt, you’ve heard the media’s near endless coverage of these races, but there are much less flashy — though equally as, if not more, important — categories on the ballot that voters often skim past.

The first category is ballot measures. According to the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center, 145 certified measures are on the ballot for this November, and its research finds that voters unsure of a measure's intent are more likely to skip it or vote no. That is understandable! Ballot measures as written can be difficult to understand, and you might not be sure what the stakes are or what your vote will accomplish.

Sometimes, this is intentional. In fact, earlier this year, a Missouri court had to rewrite the summary of Amendment 3 — a ballot measure that repeals a voter-approved reproductive rights amendment and pairs that repeal with a ban on gender transition care for minors — so voters accurately understood it.

But just because ballot measures might be worded in a confusing way doesn’t mean they don’t matter or should be ignored. In case you still don’t believe me, look at Virginia. This November, voters will consider a ballot measure removing a dormant same-sex marriage ban from the state constitution.

Arizona, Colorado, Nebraska, and Washington, school sports measures are on the ballot, with states aiming to write a definition of female into law — and Washington’s would establish this definition through physical exams and blood tests according to the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center. Measures in Colorado and Missouri would strip families and clinicians of the ability to decide whether transgender youth in their care can receive healthcare.

Before you head to the polls, research what measures are on the ballot where you live. Read opinion pieces and explainers in local newspapers, talk with your neighbors, and determine what those measures mean and how your vote can help the cause for equality.

Then, look at the judges up for election. This is the second key aspect of a ballot that often goes unnoticed or ignored in favor of the more splashy seats open for election. If measures write the policies and values of a community into text, courts — and their judges, specifically — decide what that text means. For example, this January, Wyoming's Supreme Court struck down an abortion ban by relying on a 2012 amendment about health care choices, language written with a different goal in mind.

Thirty-two states hold elections for state supreme court this year, deciding more than 60 judge seats. Retention votes, where a judge faces only a yes or no, tend to be treated as formalities, but they’re not. Just like ballot measures, generic candidate statements can be hard to parse through or even misleading. So, do your research! Look up what incumbent or candidate judges actually think or believe about the law and their job as a judge to interpret the law.

When I say that LGBTQ+ families are on the ballot this November, this is what I mean: Every path to a family runs through decisions about a person’s body. What decisions about our bodies are allowed to be a choice? Who makes that call? All of those questions will be answered by judges who get elected in November.

In Alabama, for example, three seats are available. Two are held by justices who decided, in 2024, that frozen embryos are children — endangering IVF and closing clinics. In Washington, five of nine seats on a court that could hear a challenge to the sports initiative under the state’s equal rights amendment are up at once. In Montana, an open seat could shift a court that has struck down laws restricting abortion, transgender rights, and voter registration.

For a family, the stakes are concrete: whether a marriage is recognized, whether fertility care remains available, whether a parent can make health decisions for a child, and whether protections survive a challenge.

• Find your sample ballot. Scroll past the names at the top, and read the measures and judges below them.

• Check your registration and make a voting plan.

• Then, talk about what you discovered with the people in your family so that they can do the same.

Taking the time to read-up on your state's ballot measures and elected judges is a sure-fire way to exercise your vote and your influence in ways that will have an impact for decades to come.

Vote. Your family and thousands of LGBTQ+ families are counting on it.

Luce Remy is the vice president of Public Policy at Family Equality, a national nonprofit that protects and advances freedoms for LGBTQ+ families. Learn more at familyequality.org.

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