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When a 13-year-old Kim Jackson saw her hometown elect its first black mayor, she knew she wanted to run for office. At 35, she’s on her way to becoming Georgia’s first-ever LGBTQ state senator.
“I come from a really small town and went to a city council meeting and they elected their first black mayor, so there was somebody sitting in that seat that looked like me,” Jackson said in a new episode of Podcast Q. (Listen above)
“And I watched them make decisions that really made a difference, a positive difference in my city and that was that light bulb moment for me that said, oh I don’t know the where, I don’t know the when and I honestly don’t know how but I do know that I feel called to make a difference in the world and elected office was a clear way to make that happen,” she added.
On this episode of Podcast Q, we also talk with Jackson about being an LGBTQ priest, the personal impact of the coronavirus pandemic, the ongoing racial justice movement and taking gaybies to the Atlanta Pride parade, where both she and her wife have been honored as grand marshals. We even dish about the tiny lesbian enclave in her district called Pine Lake.
Jackson heads to the Georgia Senate after a commanding win in June when she bested a field of four candidates in the Democratic primary and captured more than 50 percent of the vote to avoid a runoff. She faces Republican William Freeman in November. But District 41 – which cuts across DeKalb and Gwinnett counties and includes Stone Mountain, Clarkston, Tucker and Lilburn – is heavily Democratic.
“Oftentimes the most anti-gay legislation, the most homophobic legislation that we get in Georgia often starts in the Senate. That’s the place. And there’s nobody who’s gay, who is queer, in the Senate. So they can do that without having to look someone in the face who it directly affects,” Jackson said.
“It’s important for me to be in that space for them to have to have that conversation not just about us but to me,” she added.
Photo by C Brown Photography
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