Should Justine Gonzalez win her bid next year for a seat in the Los Angeles Assembly, she could be one of the first transgender members of the California Legislature and one of the first bisexual women to serve in Sacramento. Gonzalez, a resident of her city’s Silver Lake district, is running to represent the 52nd Assembly District.
The seat will be open next year as the incumbent, Assemblywoman Wendy Carrillo (D-Los Angeles), seeks to unseat embattled Los Angeles City Councilman Kevin de León, her former ally. Caught on tape making racist comments, a recording of which was leaked last year, de León has ignored demands to resign and has seen several attempts to recall him fail.
In announcing her legislative campaign last month, Gonzalez noted that she decided to seek the seat “because as a renter, a parent, and a transgender woman, I feel a responsibility to step up and raise the voices of those who are left behind. And I’m running because in front of the hundreds of attempts across the country to strip LGBTQ+ people and women of their individual and reproductive rights, I believe California must be an example for a more just and inclusive nation.”
González, 33 years old, is one of the two transgender candidates running in 2024 to be elected to the State House. Palm Springs City Councilwoman Lisa Middleton is seeking the open 19th Senate District seat that includes the Coachella Valley’s LGBTQ tourism and retirement mecca.
Middleton would be the first transgender person elected to the upper house of the Legislature, while Gonzalez would be the first in the lower house and serve alongside the first bisexual member of the Legislature, Assemblyman Alex Lee (D-San Jose ), who will probably be re-elected next November. .
Other bisexual female candidates are also looking to join them in Sacramento, including Palm Springs City Councilwoman Christy Holstege. After losing his bid last year for an Assembly seat by 85 votes, Holstege is now running to unseat the winner of that race, Assemblyman Greg Wallis (R-Palm Springs), the ‘next year from his 47th Assembly District seat.
Middleton and Holstege have been the targets of personal attacks and vitriol on social media because of their gender identity and sexual orientation, respectively, during their political careers. As Middleton noted in an interview with the Bay Area Reporter last month during a visit to San Francisco, while transphobic and homophobic attacks against candidates across the state and the US have “exploded in the last couple of years,” it just encouraged him to stand up. for legislative office.
“It has convinced me, even more, that we need to see committed, strong, capable candidates in these races,” Middleton, 70, said of the current political landscape.
Speaking to the BAR recently by phone, Gonzalez also said that the increasingly hostile environment for LGBTQ candidates, rather than a deterrent, had convinced her that it was “fundamentally important” that she make her first bid for to an elected office.
“As I watch my son grow up, I don’t want to imagine a world where we don’t make sure our voices are heard,” said Gonzalez, the father of CJ, a 9-year-old boy who is questioning his own gender identity. “I don’t think that’s something I can look forward to. What are we supposed to do? Should I never run for office? What would my son think? What would future generations think?”
Gonzalez is one of a number of younger LGBTQ people, some of whom are also parents, seeking legislative seats in California next year. He’s still adjusting to being in the public eye as a parent while trying to protect the privacy of his family and his parents, who he told BAR aren’t yet ready to be publicly identified.
“It’s a big deal for the community to have more parents within the LGBTQ community,” Gonzalez said. “We know that there are structural challenges for any parent who comes forward, let alone for aspiring parents in our community who also have barriers to family planning.”
It’s expected to be a record year for candidates outside the Golden State, with at least 22 LGBTQ people already withdrawing papers to run in 2024. (According to a count conducted by the BAR, the 2020 election will see a record 23 LGBTQ legislators). candidates.)
“We still have work to do in the Legislature,” Gonzalez said. “Trans women, trans men, people can be lawmakers. We deserve a chance. We deserve this, and I can’t back down.”
Growing up
His tenacity probably has its roots in being born and raised in the Bronx, New York, to parents of Puerto Rican and Afro-Latino descent. González is the middle child of five siblings.
At the age of 12, his family moved to the suburbs of New York City, and three years later, he had moved to Los Angeles, graduating from a high school in the San Fernando Valley. He struggled financially while in college and briefly found himself homeless in his 20s, just as he was coming out of the closet, and resorted to couch surfing with friends while looking for housing.
“I was a grad student working and trying to make ends meet. There came a point where it became too much,” Gonzalez recalled. “This little experience showed me how hard it is to go through this. We know that many of our streets in Los Angeles have been looking for a long time and can’t find the housing or help they need.”
Homeless services and building more affordable housing are among her top priorities that she would work on if elected to the Legislature. Legislation is needed to make it easier to build different types of housing across the state, Gonzalez argued, adding that he would seek incentives to get that construction done more quickly.
“I feel it as a parent and as a renter. The idea of where I can go, how I can buy a house, all these things seem more and more out of reach,” Gonzalez said. “This is a time to act. We need lawmakers willing to make tough votes to build more housing and pass a pro-housing agenda.”
One of four Democrats who have already filed papers for the Assembly race, Gonzalez has a wealth of local political experience. She was a legislative aide to former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and served as External Affairs Coordinator and LGBTQ Liaison to former Mayor Eric Garcetti.
In 2017, she helped establish a transgender advisory council in Los Angeles and later became the first transgender person appointed to the city’s Human Relations Commission. That year, Gonzalez was also part of the inaugural class of LGBTQ Victory Scholars who participated in a training for aspiring political office candidates hosted by the LGBTQ Victory Institute.
He has worked for both the state LGBTQ advocacy organization Equality California and the Los Angeles LGBT Center. Gonzalez currently works for the California Charter School Association.
“I feel very prepared in terms of what I need to do to win and build a strong campaign,” Gonzalez said, adding that she is excited about the prospect of serving alongside Middleton in the Legislature. “I’m so excited for us and for the possibility of both of us making history as trans candidates.”
To learn more about her campaign, visit justineforassembly.com
Web Extra: For more queer political news, be sure to check Monday mornings at Political Notes, the notebook’s online supplement. This week’s column reported on the politicization of Pride merchandise.
Got a tip on LGBTQ politics? Call Matthew S. Bajko at (415) 829-8836 or email m.bajko@ebar.com
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