As a member of the LGBTQ+ community, I’m responding to a recent op-ed from the Log Cabin Republicans praising Susan Collins as a champion of LGBTQ+ people (“Proud of Susan Collins’ championing gay rights,” June 27).

Collins has served in the U.S. Senate since 1997. While LGBTQ+ Americans were fighting for basic equality, she rarely supported those fights. In 2011, LGBTQ+ advocates urged her to co-sponsor the Respect for Marriage Act to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA); she would not. She didn’t publicly support marriage equality until 2014, two years after Maine voters approved it and public opinion had already shifted. Only in 2022 did she become a chief Republican sponsor of the Respect for Marriage Act.

That distinction matters. Leadership means standing with people while equality is still being fought for.

More recently, Collins withdrew her support for the Equality Act, voted to confirm judges that many LGBTQ+ organizations warned would threaten our rights for generations and publicly signed Maine’s anti-trans sports referendum petition.

Log Cabin Republicans have every right to support the candidates they choose. For years the organization has endorsed candidates and policies that many LGBTQ+ advocates believe have undermined LGBTQ+ equality, particularly the rights of transgender people. That history is also part of the context.

The op-ed highlights only a few moments in Collins’ record. Context and nearly 30 years of choices tell a much more complete story.

Civil rights are advanced by leaders who are willing to stand with people while equality is still being fought for not just after it has become politically popular.

Rep. Cheryl Golek
House District 99
Harpswell