Openly Gay ( and POC!) Candidates Win in Atlanta

Simone Bell	Alex Wan

Simone Bell and Alex Wan made history on Tuesday night by winning election to the Georgia House of Representatives and Atlanta City Council, respectively, as openly LGBT people of color.

Bell became the first African American lesbian ever elected to a state legislative position in this country be winning 53% of the votes in her runoff race for the 58th District race while Wan won 60% of the vote in the 6th City Council district, becoming the first openly gay man (and Asian-American) to the Atlanta City Council.

Both candidates were supported by the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund, whose Gay and Lesbian Leadership institute is hosting the 25th Annual International Gay & Lesbian Leadership Conference in San Francisco this weekend. Last year MadProfessah attended the conference as part of the LGBT Bloggers Initiative, but I am unable to make it this year due to a conflict with a board retreat and work commitments.

The Atlanta Mayoral race I blogged about earlier today is currently too close to call, but Kasim Reed is nursing a slim lead of about 800 votes out of more than 80,000 cast.