Meet Garrett Baldwin. He’s an 18-year-old high school cheerleader and swimming champ from Ohio. He’s also gay. Oh, and he’s currently running for the 85th seat in the Ohio House of Representatives.
Baldwin hopes to unseat “family values” Republican Rep. Nino Vitale, the district’s current representative and a virulent homophobe.
But beating him won’t be easy.
Not only is Baldwin a newcomer who is barely out of high school, but he’s a Democrat running against an incumbent in a district that voted overwhelmingly (70%) for Donald Trump in the 2016 election.
Still, he’s optimistic.
“Around here a lot of people that voted for Trump are fed up with the system,” Baldwin tells Outsports. “We have an entrenched Republican representative, and that’s what people are fed up with.”
As for being gay, Baldwin, who came out when he was 14, says that hasn’t been much of an issue in his campaign… so far.
“When they hear I’m a gay candidate, I don’t get a lot of feedback on that because it’s not important,” he says. “They want to know what I stand for and how I’m going to move the district in the direction way they want it to go.”
Although it’s hard to imagine his sexual orientation won’t come up eventually. His opponent is a religious extremist who hates gay people, after all.
Not only does Vitale oppose same-sex marriage, but he authored HB36, nicknamed the Ohio Pastor Protection Act, which grants religious leaders the legal right to discriminate against LGBTQ people, or “homosexuals,” as he refers to them.
This Bill simply set the state back, sent a message to companies looking to invest in our state, and provided a form of legal discrimination to businesses. I couldn't disagree more with Representative Nino Vitale! This freedom is already guaranteed by the First Amendment! pic.twitter.com/VDf8YvcExG
— Baldwin for US (@garrettbaldwin0) June 27, 2018
“Vitale believes strictly in one man and one woman having children, that that’s his idea of a family,” Bennett says. “We have multiple LGBT families in the district, and it’s scary that we have a representative furthering those ideas in the statehouse.”
Bennett tells Outsports that he hopes that his message of inclusion will help unseat his antigay opponent.
Related: This Navy vet is making history as Mississippi’s first openly gay candidate in a congressional race
Kangol
I wish this young man the best in his run against the GOP homophobe, and urge everyone who can to donate to his campaign. Even though he’s only 18, he can learn on the job and if he replaces anti-gay Republican Vitale, it’ll be a victory for all LGBTQ Ohioans–and Ohio as a whole.
russellhm
Einstein wrote his first treatise on E-MC2 at age 16 so I cannot use this youngster’s age as a disqualifier. “Sincerely-held religious beliefs” describe a theocratic form of government that is NOT America. We are a secular nation. Trump’s embrace of the fundagelicals is only a vote-getter scam. He couldn’t care less about religion or Christianity or the Ten Commandments—except as show; hence, his feeble endorsement of Roy Moore, alleged pedophile wonderfully scammed by Sasha Cohen with his pedometer device. Moore’s first removal from office was his placing a marble Ten Commandments plinth on Alabama’s state capitol lawn. Alabamans voted for a Democrat for the first time in decades to prevent this ignoramus bible-banger from succeeding.
starkraver
If you care, give right here:
https://secure.actblue.com/donate/garrett-baldwin
ElPillo
I wish him well, but it should have been someone with more experience who would instill more confidence.
Hermes
If I may – I have been very involved politically for nearly 20 years (never as a candidate, though I came close this year – I had the finance committee in place when a more experienced pol finally declared for our side – good since I really did NOT want to run, but wouldn’t let the incumbent run unopposed). Experience hasn’t meant much if anything in politics in this country in decades, if it ever did. That is a 70% GOP district, the only thing that can give a Dem (quite often none would run in territory that Red) is some gimmick – and his is that he is fresh out of high-school. I give him more chance than a more experienced man would EVER have.
James Hart
This Garrett Baldwin is going to lose badly to his opponent. Hopefully, he’s been accepted to some college in September.
Billysees
But his effort will not go unnoticed. In some way or another, he’ll be recognized for his courage to pursue what you describe as an eventuality — ‘is going to lose badly’.
Hermes
Quick possibly – but that is unimportant – the run is. Quite often districts that are THAT Republican go with no candidate for the Democrats. I will send him money and who knows – he may make a race of it.
IWantAFullBeard
I’m really happy for him and I certainly think he would be a better representative than the incumbent, but I don’t feel comfortable with an 18 year old making decisions that would massively impact my life. He is the better of the two options, but it’s sad this is where we are at.
Bryguyf69
No worries. In the United States, no one legislator makes “decisions that would massively impact [your] life.” Legislating is a collaborative effort and he’ll be one of many voices. Too bad we can’t say the same thing about the Executive branch.
draven
Good luck
RobtheElder
Better to have an 18 year old willing to learn on the job, than to have a 70 something that never learned anything, and still knows nothing.
DugNick3
Or, maybe, god forbid, we talk about actual liberal LGBTQ+ candidates that support a woman’s right to choose and have progressive bona fides. Like, they’re all over, why are you doing an expose on this one who isn’t really a liberal?
jedymark
Harsh reality is marriage isn’t for everybody. Colton you don’t hitch up with the first cab off the rank. https://happywheelsnew.com