On Oct. 9, Smith students gathered in Seelye Hall for a panel entitled “LGBTQ+ Politics and the US Election” that discussed homophobic bills, elite-led mobilization and LGBTQ+ rights on a state level.
The event, presented by the Smith College government department, had three panelists: Professor Abbie Goldberg of Clark University, associate professor Thomas Hayes of University of Connecticut and assistant professor Scott LaCombe of Smith, all of whom study legislation affecting queer people. Each panelist gave a presentation on their respective academic focuses, followed by a thirty minute question and answer session.
“This is an important election for LGBTQ+ people,” Goldberg said at the beginning of the panel.
Goldberg began the panel by discussing her studies on the Parental Rights in Education bill in Florida, which is more commonly known as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill. She referenced two studies: one dealing with concerns about the impact of parental rights in education law and another regarding the perceived impact of “Don’t Say Gay.”
The “Don’t Say Gay” law inhibits conversation about gender and sexual orientation in the classroom. When it was signed in 2022, it was in place for kindergarten through third grade yet new provisions of the bill changed this, prohibiting LGBTQ+ discussions from kindergarten to eighth grade.
During her presentation, Goldberg highlighted the negative effects of the Florida law and reiterated concerns from parents who participated in the studies. Most of these parents, as Goldberg shared, identified at least one negative emotion that came from this bill including fear, anger, shock and horror.
“Those legislature acts and those ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bills need to be abolished as fast as they can be because they are severely affecting the development of the child’s perception of, not only sexuality, but the community itself,” said Nargiz Akhmetova ’28, who added that she believed Goldberg’s findings were the most impactful part of the panel.
Following Goldberg, Hayes gave his presentation, which focused primarily on LGBTQ+ rights in the upcoming election.
Hayes spoke about both sides of the ballot, explaining that former president Donald Trump has expressed his disdain for transgender rights. Meanwhile, Hayes discussed Kamala Harris’ continued support for LGBTQ+ rights by reflecting that Harris has worked on legislation to help the queer community, such as the Equality Act.
The second half of Hayes’ presentation was about his book, “Elite-Led Mobilization and Gay Rights.” Hayes explained his work helping to develop an alternative theory called elite-led mobilization, which postulates that opposition to LGBTQ+ rights comes from those in charge rather than the masses.
LaCombe,the final panelist, focused his presentation on LGBTQ+ rights on a state level. LaCombe discussed his state politics lab, which tracks hundreds of state legislation proposals affecting queer people to find trends among the state legislatures.
Bua Pungsomwong ’26 appreciated the scatterplots and maps LaCombe presented during the panel. “I thought it was really interesting to see data [and] how it actually impacts us,” she said.
LaCombe’s presentation highlighted a map showing how LGBTQ+ rights are especially vulnerable in swing states, as the majority parties of these state legislatures often change, and LGBTQ+ legislation is often a partisan issue. This includes states such as Pennsylvania and Michigan.
The final half an hour of the panel was a question and answer session where the audience engaged with each panelist.
Both Akhmetova and Pungsomwong said the Q&A session was the most memorable part of the panel. Each of the three panelists took turns answering students’ questions with their respective experience. One student asked about hope in the upcoming election, which led the panelists to tell the audience to vote.
LaCombe stressed the importance of optimism in many of his answers. Echoing this sentiment, Pungsomwong said, “people are kind of hopeful and we’re going to get through this.”
“We should continue to have more kinds of these events, so that we promote awareness of the fact that we need to study these things, and there are a lot of changes to be made,” said Akhmetova.
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