FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WOWO): Taylor Vanover is not your typical candidate for Fort Wayne City Council.
The 21-year-old is openly gay, and is running as a Republican.
“That’s my identity, I mean, that’s who I am, and you know, it’s pretty exciting that I’ll possibly be the first openly gay Republican councilman, so yeah, I’m excited to be a part of inclusivity in our party,” Vanover tells our Partners in News at ABC 21.
He has support from Indiana Congressman Jim Banks, who hosted a fundraiser for Vanover Wednesday night, and says he thinks Taylor will be among a number of “prominent gay Republicans” on the scene.
Vanover has no opponent in the May primary and will face Democrat Geoff Paddock for the 5th district seat in November.
1 comment
I will never understand the Republican opposition to homosexuals. I get that we’re the party of “traditional family values” but we just elected the second most famous playboy (second to the late Hugh Hefner) to the White House. In the meantime, our party was built on accepting the negro and women as white men’s equals because we believed in individual freedom. We should be expanding that virtue to people of other sexual/gender and religious beliefs.
All people deserve to be treated with kindness, respect and dignity. You don’t have to agree with their lifestyle or the way they pray.
Also, diversity *is* a Republican issue. It’s about demographics. Diversity at the table gives us perspectives from all sides of an issue. Without that diversity, we can’t truly offer liberty to everyone, and THAT is what our party is about: freedom for all.