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Will Miami’s Black Community Elect Florida’s First Out Gay African-American Lawmaker?

David Smiley
/
Miami Herald
Cedric McMinn speaks during a rally in Miami Gardens Sunday for public school teachers. He’s hoping to become Florida’s first openly gay black lawmaker.";s:

On his campaign to represent a state House district stretching through the heart of Miami’s historically black communities, Cedric McMinn is touting his experience: as a former executive director of the local Democratic Party, as chief of staff to School Board Member Dorothy Bendross-Mindingall, and as an outreach director in Florida for the Barack Obama and Charlie Crist campaigns.

The fact that he is openly gay is incidental, if not irrelevant to his platform.

But McMinn’s sexual orientation lends a broader significance to his candidacy, even if it may make it more complicated.

If McMinn beats former state Rep. James Bush III next Tuesday and becomes the representative of Florida’s 109th House District, he’ll not only win the right to represent a majority-black district that cuts from Miami Gardens south through Overtown, but he’ll also become the first openly gay African American lawmaker in the state — possibly shattering the perception that homophobia remains an issue in black communities.

Read more at our news partner, the Miami Herald

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