See Ya, Sinema

Up, Down, and Out

A look back on first bisexual Senator Kyrsten Sinema’s rocky road as a Democrat.

BY DESIRÉE GUERRERO

IN THE DECADE that’s passed since Kyrsten Sinema made history in 2012 by becoming the first openly bisexual congresswoman in the U.S., a lot has changed. In the beginning, Sinema’s success stood as a symbol of hope and progress for the LGBTQ+ community, especially for bi/pan people, who tend to get very little representation in our world.

However, since making history again and being elected the nation’s first out bi senator in 2018, Sinema has made some questionable political moves that have left a bad taste in the mouths of the many liberal and LGBTQ+ folks who formerly supported her.

While the Arizonan has long been a moderate Democrat, she first started raising eyebrows within the party when she was one of only three Democratic senators to vote against the progressive environmental act known as the “Green New Deal.”

That was followed by concerns over whether she would vote to remove former President Trump from office after his two impeachment trials. That concern stemmed from the fact that Sinema supported Trump’s legislation more than nearly any other Democratic senator, according to the website FiveThirtyEight. Under much pressure from her party, Sinema ultimately voted in favor of Trump’s two impeachments (the Republican majority ultimately aquitted Trump both times).

Perhaps Sinema’s biggest “betrayal” to her liberal supporters came in 2021, when she refused to end the filibuster that was blocking the progress of the Equality Act, which would prohibit discrimination based on sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity. Still, her views are not consistently moderate or anti-left, as a FiveThirtyEight analysis also showed that Sinema has voted with President Biden 93 percent of the time since he took office — compared to Bernie Sanders, for example, who’s voted in line with the Biden’s agenda 91 percent of the time.

In the end, Sinema’s tendencies to distance herself from the Democratic party’s (and the LGBTQ+ community’s) core beliefs and values have won out. In December 2022, Sinema announced she was officially leaving the Democratic party and registering as a political independent.

“I’ve never fit neatly into any party box. I’ve never really tried. I don’t want to,” Sinema told CNN’s, Jake Tapper. “Removing myself from the partisan structure — not only is it true to who I am and how I operate, but I also think it’ll provide a place of belonging for many folks across the state and the country who also are tired of the partisanship.”

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema