It’s a great reality when we are still collecting stories from last Tuesday’s elections of LGBTQ politicians winning their races. The latest wonderful news is about Democratic Representative Samuel Park.
Park is the first Asian-American man elected to Georgia’s state legislature as a State Representative. He won that title last year when he became the representative for House District 101, and now he is able to retain that position for another term.
One main reason the 33-year-old Sam Park originally ran for office was to fight for health equality. A cause near and dear to him as his mother was fighting a battle with cancer.
"While we still have not expanded Medicaid to cover more than half a million Georgians, that's still a fight that I'm continuing." – NBC News
While his mother lived long enough to witness her son win his candidacy the first time and see him take office, she sadly died earlier this year.
Another factor playing into Park’s political goals was his desire to stop harmful anti-immigrant and anti-LGBTQ legislation. This is in part because of his belief in basic human rights, but also because he is a gay man who was raised by South Korean immigrants.
Park hopes to harness the diversity that exists in Georgia to help move the state forward. He did so in his own county of Gwinnett (where the median age is 35 and where a quarter of voters are below the age of 30) and he hopes to do it with the whole state in the future.
The Republican Party still holds the majority in the State's House of Representatives, something Sam Park will have to contend with.
“It’s important for us to introduce and work on passing legislation we think would benefit the state to at least demonstrate to those we represent what exactly it is that we are fighting for,” he said. “Being in the minority, it’s difficult to pass legislation, but that still doesn’t mean you can’t do it.” – NBC News
Congratulations to Sam Park on the re-election win and best of luck in the future. We're sure you will continue to help our community and show it support, like in this #NationalComingOutDay video released earlier this year.
h/t: NBC News
