U.S. Congressional candidate
Sharice Davids had trouble finding housing when she lived and worked on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota a few years ago, The Washington Post reports.
That's because Davids, who is the first openly LGBT candidate on the general election ballot in Kansas, and her partner at the time didn't qualify for Indian housing, she told the paper.
“I wasn’t able to get housing with my partner at the time because we were in a same-sex relationship,” Davids, who is a citizen of the
Ho-Chunk Nation, told The Post. “We violated their policies.”
Davids said the experience made her think about making a difference. After starting a
coffee business at Pine Ridge, making her
professional debut in mixed martial arts and working at a prominent economic development organization on the reservation, she became a
White House fellow during the Obama administration.
Her timing was auspicious. Earlier in 2016, the
Department of Housing and Urban Development proposed a rule to bring LGBT equality to Indian housing.
The regulation was finalized in November of that year, shortly after Davids was named a White House fellow. She spent a year in Washington, D.C., and returned home in Kansas, where she's seeking to make an even bigger difference as the Democratic candidate in the
3rd
Congressional District,
“I thought, ‘we need more people who have experiences like I do, like my friends and family do,’” Davids told the paper.
Davids is hoping to defeat Republican
Kevin Yoder at the polls in November. Despite being endorsed by President Donald Trump, his candidacy is in trouble -- the
independent,
non-partisan Cook Political Report just downgraded the 3rd Congressional District from Republican-leaning to "Toss Up."
Read More on the Story:
Sharice Davids, who sees past discrimination as her asset, could become the first gay Native American in Congress
(The Washington Post August 14, 2018)
Federal Register Notice:
Equal Access to Housing in HUD's Native American and Native Hawaiian Programs-Regardless of Sexual Orientation or Gender Identity
NNovember 17, 2016)
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