Karine Jean-Pierre is a powerful LGBTQI advocate and the first Black woman to be chosen for the role
BY SOPHIE GRIFFITHS, IMAGE VIA INSTAGRAM
History was made at the weekend as Joe Biden was confirmed as the winner of the U.S. presidential election. What made this even more of a massive win was that joining Biden as his Vice President for the next four years will be Kamala Harris – the first Black woman elected into such a position in the White House.
Kamala has shown huge amounts of dedication to the LGBTQI community throughout the years by vowing to end the epidemic of violence against trans women of colour, officiating a same-sex wedding in California, and by appointing a Black lesbian, Karine Jean-Pierre, as her Chief of Staff.
Karine Jean-Pierre has long been a vocal advocate for LGBTQI rights and equality herself.
The political powerhouse was appointed as the Chief of Staff to the Vice President back in August this year, just hours before it was announced that Kamala Harris was officially on the ticket.
To all the little girls out there…this is for you 👇🏿#RepresentationMatters
— Karine Jean-Pierre (@K_JeanPierre) November 8, 2020
pic.twitter.com/BVXueGapZT
Karine is a Haitian-American political campaigner, activist and lecturer who has worked on presidential campaigns for John Edwards, Martin O’Malley and former U.S. president Barack Obama.
#LesbianVisibility This is a wonderful start! May our revoked #LGBTQ rights start to be reclaimed ❤️🏳️🌈 @KamalaHarris Harris Picks Out Lesbian, @K_JeanPierre as Chief of Staff https://t.co/OwNHdDlCIW
— Linda Riley (@LindaRiley8) November 8, 2020
DIVA Publisher Linda Riley, Founder of Lesbian Visibility Week and ex board member of USA LGBTQI media monitoring organisation GLAAD, said: “I am simply delighted that the new administration has started in this way. Many LGBTQI rights in USA were revoked by Trump (and I know firsthand from my time at GLAAD that the rights revoked were only a fraction of LGBTQI rights that he was actually trying to revoke) and the aim is to get those rights back and achieve the Equality that the LGBTQI community has alway strived for.”
Speaking to The Advocate last year, Karine said: “No one handed it to me. I had to go out and take it. I got involved. I worked on campaigns and for politicians. Eventually, worked my way all the way to the White House.”
Karine Jean-Pierre’s job as Chief of Staff is to manage Kamala Harris’ staff and over the past few months she’s been busy helping Kamala to navigate her campaign. I think we can all agree she did a pretty good job on that one!
Karine tweeted: “To all the little girls out there…this is for you,” accompanied by Kamala Harris’ powerful speech this weekend.
She believes representation matters, telling The Advocate, “That is why I find so many of these young newly-elected members of Congress — many of whom are women and women of colour — so inspiring.”
This weekend’s historic win is proof that representation matters, and we can’t wait to see how the U.S. moves forward in the coming years with such trailblazers in the White House. 🌈
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