Godless Wednesday: Is U.S. Rep. Sinema An Atheist?

U.S. Representative Kyrsten Sinema, the first openly bisexual Member of Congress, was sworn in last week on a copy of the Constitution and is the only member who explicitly lists her religious affiliation as "None."

However, despite these facts, Rep. Sinema does not publicly identify as an atheist and atheists around the country are starting to wonder, does Sinema think there's something wrong with being identified as an atheist?

In an article titled "'Atheist' isn't a dirty word, congresswoman" on CNN's Religion blog, Harvard chaplain Chris Steadman says:

As a nontheist, atheist and nonbeliever (take your pick), I find this statement deeply problematic.

It is perfectly fine, of course, if Sinema isn’t a nontheist, and it is understandable that she would want to clarify misinformation about her personal beliefs. But to say that these terms are “not befitting of her life’s work or personal character” is offensive because it implies there is something unbefitting about the lives and characters of atheists or nonbelievers.

[...]

Why not instead say that she’s not an atheist, but so what if she was?

The 113th Congress is rich with diversity. As an interfaith activist, I am glad to see the religious composition of Congress more closely reflect the diversity of America. As a queer person, I’m glad that LGBT Americans are seeing greater representation in Washington.

But as a proud atheist and humanist, I’m disheartened that the only member of Congress who openly identifies as nonreligious has forcefully distanced herself from atheism in a way that puts down those of us who do not believe in God.

We are Americans of good character, too.

I agree wholeheartedly with Steadman's remarks and I want to add some thoughts. I see this debate over the label "atheist" similar to the debate over the word "feminist." Being a feminist means that you believe in complete equality between the sexes. Period.  That there are so many women (and men) who do not identify with the term (despite believing in the principle it embodies) is a direct result of the inequity feminism is trying to address (and a concerted effort by people who do not believe in equality to stigmatize the word).

To me, it's important to push back on those forces and re-affirm the principle of equality between the sexes by using the preferred, simplest term. Just like I see it is important to use the simplest term to communicate that I reject religion in all its forms, since the simplest way to do that is to reject the notion of "God"--ergo, the term "atheist."

What do you think?

Next Congress To Have 7 Out LGBT Members!

The 113th Congress of the United States will have a record seven people who are either lesbian, gay or bisexual. In the U.S. House there will be four newly elected Members who are LGB: Sean Patrick Maloney (NY-18), Kyrsten Sinema )AZ-09), Mark Pocan (WI-05) and Mark Takano CA-41). In addition, there are 2 LGB incumbents who will be returning to the U.S. House: Jared Polis (CO-02) and David Cicilline (RI-01).

And in a dramatic first, lesbian Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin (WI-05) gave up her congressional seat and ran (against former governor and Bush cabinet member Tommy Thompson) for the open U.S. Senate seat to represent Wisconsin. She not only became the first openly LGB person to be elected to the U.S. Senate but the 5th Congressional District of Wisconsin became the first congressional district in the United States to be represented by two different openly gay U.S. representatives (Baldwin and Pocan).

Two other important historic firsts will be achieved on January 3rd, 2013 when the new Congress is sworn in. Takano will be the first-ever openly LGBT person of color congressmember and Sinema will be the first-ever openly bisexual member of Congress, one of the youngest, at age 36, and one of the few who claims to be religiously unaffiliated.

The 6 openly LGB members of the U.S. House make up 1.4% of the 435-member body, which is still an under-representation of the 3.4% of Americans who are willing to tell a pollster that they are LGB or the 9% of Americans who are estimated to be LGB.

Baldwin will be 1 of 100 United States Senators, but in a body which allows a single member great latitude to wield disproportional power over federal legislation and public policy.

Victory Fund's 12 Races To Watch

The Victory Fund has put out a list of "12 races to watch" out of the 120 candidates that they have endorsed in state, local and federal elections throughout the country.

• Tammy Baldwin – U.S. Senate (Wisconsin) – Would be the first openly LGBT American in the U.S. Senate.
• Josh Boschee – North Dakota House of Representatives – Could become the first out member of the N.D. legislature.
• Kate Brown – Oregon Secretary of State – Second highest-ranking elected official in the state.
• David Cicilline – U.S. House (RI1) – Running for his first reelection to Congress in a tight race.
• Sean Patrick Maloney – U.S. House (NY18) – Would be the first openly LGBT member of Congress from N.Y.
• Marie Mayor – Delaware House – Could become the first out state legislator in Delaware.
• Tim Brown – Ohio House of Representatives – Tim would become the only openly LGBT Republican state lawmaker in the U.S.
• Kyrsten Sinema – U.S. House (AZ9) – Would become the first out bisexual elected to Congress.
• Stephen Skinner – West Virginia House of Representatives  – Could become the first openly LGBT state lawmaker in W.V.
• Andy Staton – Delaware Senate – Could become the first out state legislator in Delaware.
• Mark Takano – U.S. House (CA41) – Could become the first openly LGBT person of color in Congress.
• Richard Tisei – U.S. House (MA6) – Would become the first out Republican elected to Congress as a non-incumbent.

I pretty much agree with this list, and have been blogging about many of these same races, especially AZ-09, RI-01, MA-06, CA-41 and WI-SEN all year long, since the openly LGBT congressional candidates won their primaries. The most important to me is the Tammy Baldwin Senate race in Wisconsin, primarily because she is a great progressional candidate, and the simple power that an individual Senator can wield in that dysfunctional body. Happily, Tammy has had a clear lead in her race for weeks, has more cash on hand than her opponent, and she has never lost an election ever.

There are some races that I was unaware of, like the Kate Brown race for Secretary of State in Oregon. The number of openly LGBT people who have won statewide races is just more than a handful, so that would be another important milestone.

Of course, these candidate races are probably slightly less important than the specific ballot measure campaigns over marriage equality in Maine, Maryland, Minnesota and Washington.

RI-01: Gay Congressman Easily Wins Primary

Openly gay Congressman David Cicilline running for re-election for the first time easily survived a primary challenge from fellow Democrat Anthony Gemma which many people had expected the former openly gay mayor of  Providence, Rhode Island to lose. Cicilline received over 62% of the vote compared to 30% for the challenger.

Cicilline joins a slew of other openly LGBT candidates for Congress who have won party primaries this year: Mark Pocan (Wisconsin), Mark Takano (California), Richard Tisei (Massachusetts), and Krysten Sinema (Arizona). The only other openly LGBT incumbent besides Cicilline running for re-election isJared Polis from Colorado. Tisei is the only openly gay Republican running for Congress, the rest are Democrats. Sinema is the only self-identified bisexual, the others are identify as either gay or lesbian.

Tammy Baldwin is giving up her congressional seat to run for the United States Senate; that seat will likely be held by Mark Pocan.

AZ-09: Openly Bisexual Candidate Wins Primary

Krysten Sinema won a hotly contested Democratic primary election in Arizona's 9th Congressional District last night. She becomes the first openly bisexual major party candidate for a U.S. House seat and could potentially join a delegation of 8 openly LGBT Congresspeople elected this fall. Sinema was a State Senator in Arizona and resigned her seat to run for Congress. She defeated State Senate minority leader David Schapira who was accused by Sinema of resorting to homophobia-fueled attacks in the closing days of the primary campaign.

The 9th Congressional district is a new district that includes the city of Tempe. Her Republican opponent is still unknown because the primary is too close to call, but Vernon Parker is currently in the lead and is expected to place first in a crowded field of Republicans.

Hat/tip to Gay Politics.