As Election Day 2020 approaches, them. is interviewing LGBTQ+ politicians who are making America’s political landscape more queer, more progressive, and more inclusive. Check out more from our series, Inside the Rainbow Wave, here.
The effects of injustice can be seen in the air itself in San Diego. As with other cities around the world, climate change and pollution have hit historically marginalized communities hard. People of color and lower-income residents are more likely to live in areas zoned for industrial use. Diesel trucks rumble down the streets and factories blot the landscape, leaving community members at greater risk of developing health problems. One of the areas with the most permitted waste sites and generators in the city is Barrio Logan, in south central San Diego.
Barrio Logan is where Georgette Gómez grew up. Gómez, who once described the air in the neighborhood as having a “slight metallic flavor,” says she spent two decades as a community organizer, pushing policies aimed at keeping toxins out of neighborhoods. In 2016, she transitioned into politics, becoming the first queer Latina member of the San Diego City Council; she was unanimously appointed City Council president two years later. Now Gómez is running for California’s 53rd Congressional District. If elected, she will be the first queer Latina in U.S. Congress — an opportunity she says she never saw coming.
Gómez is running to replace Democratic Rep. Susan Davis, who announced her retirement from office last year. Because of California’s top-two primary system, both candidates in the general election are Democrats: This November Gómez faces Sara Jacobs, a former Hillary Clinton adviser who serves on the board of Equality California and is the founder and chair of an organization addressing child poverty in San Diego. Both candidates support Medicare for All and a Green New Deal, popular issues among voters.
As fire turned the sky orange and rained ash over much of the West Coast — lending a renewed urgency to discussions about the environment and climate — Gómez, who lives in San Diego with her fiancé and two dogs, Canela and Totoro, spoke to them. about the issues key to her candidacy and her hopes for the upcoming election.“We are a wealthy city, a wealthy state, a wealthy nation. We can do things better if we had the right people elected to push on these issues.”
What inspired your move to politics after years of community organizing?
I’m a first-generation Mexican-American. I grew up in the barrio here in San Diego. My parents immigrated, came here undocumented, and they worked many jobs to be able to provide the necessities that we needed as children growing up. We, at one time in my life, had to live with another family to be able to have shelter. My home was the living room for a family of five.
At times we didn’t have health care. I saw my mom making hard decisions. When I was sick, she would consider, “Do I take her to the emergency room or not? I still need to pay that bill.” When you’re growing up poor, you need to think about all this stuff.
As someone who grew up in the barrio, I never thought that I would ever say, “Mom, I’m gonna run for Congress.” I never saw that in my wildest dreams. I always thought [of myself] as someone who was an organizer, a public policy advocate, pushing decision makers to do the right thing, to create a government that is more inclusive and more reflective of who we are. I have dedicated my life to fight hard to ensure that we’re creating a government that is more responsive and more inclusive of the community members that have been left behind. We are a wealthy city, a wealthy state, a wealthy nation. We can do things better if we had the right people elected to push on these issues.“You don’t see people like myself in government. It’s other people who are not coming from the community that get elected. I never had that type of mentorship.”
How would you bring your experience at a municipal level to a position in federal government?
All my work has been guided by community members on the front-lines of all these different social injustices, from the climate crisis, to housing insecurity, to income inequalities, to not being able to afford a home because of the cost of living in California. I learned very quickly as a community organizer that to truly change the discourse that elected officials had been having, the people that are living with the impacts of these social injustices need to be at the core and need to be at the center of the conversations.
From the housing crisis to the climate crisis, we’ve been acting at the local level. I’m not saying those issues have been resolved, but the reason they have not been resolved is because we need Congress to act. There’s a huge gap. In order for us to truly advance these major issues, that journey leads you to the federal government needing to do more.
What are some key policies you’d hope to move forward as a member of Congress?
I’m a strong fighter on the Green New Deal, making sure that we’re truly acknowledging that we have a climate crisis and we’re living through an emergency right now. We’re seeing the fires in California, we’re seeing that people are losing their properties and that people are exposing themselves to dangerous situations.
I have dedicated my life to fighting for environmental justice. I understand what it means to live in a community that has high pollution and what that means for people’s health. It’s time that we start investing in communities of color. It’s time that we acknowledge the climate crisis and start transforming the way in which we do business. We have the technology, we have the resources.
We have an opportunity to move on immigration reform because right now some of our frontline workers are undocumented people and yet they’re still putting themselves on the line to continue moving this country forward. I’m trying to represent a district that is right by the border. Developing the wall is not something that we need; it’s a waste of resources. It creates more division between us and our partner in Mexico. We should be investing those resources in communities.
The gap is getting greater. There are more wealthy people, but there’s more poverty at the bottom. We need to start flipping these issues and make this country work for working families.“I’m running for Congress because it matters — because we need to show future generations that a queer Latina can be a strong elected [official], while carrying the community with them.”
If elected, you’d be the first queer Latina member of Congress. What do you hope your candidacy signifies for other queer Latinx people or other members of historically marginalized groups?
It’s definitely a great honor to be running for Congress. I never saw myself as a member of government, but there came a point [as a community organizer] where I was asked: “You should consider running. You have a lot to give, and you’re connected to what people are struggling with.”
You don’t see people like myself in government. It’s other people who are not coming from the community that get elected. I never had that type of mentorship. It’s critical that we start electing people that are reflective of who we are as the new majority. As I believe someone very famous said, “If you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu.” If we’re not there, we’re not seeing the policies being discussed that are impacting our community. It’s time that we started electing more of us to ensure that we’re building a nation that is inclusive of all of us.
I spent my four years in City Council addressing housing — the housing crisis, we were successful in updating some antiquated policies that gave freebies to market-rate developers and holding them accountable. That wouldn’t have happened if I wasn’t there. My first resolution that I introduced was to have the city of San Diego oppose Trump’s border wall. That wouldn’t have happened if I wasn’t there. To have the [country’s] eighth-largest city be silent on the border wall — it wasn’t an option. And it’s in our backyard, too.
I’m the one that pushed to have the city of San Diego stand up for our trans community members who were not allowed to serve in the military because Trump made an executive decision that they were no longer welcome — they’re not fit, for no reason whatsoever, aside from this hatred and bigotry. The city of San Diego signed on to an amicus brief standing up with [trans student Gavin Grimm and] the community. That wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t pushed those conversations.
I’m running for Congress because it matters — because we need to show future generations that a queer Latina can be a strong elected [official], while carrying the community with them.
What are your hopes or fears around the upcoming election?
I’m very hopeful that we’re starting to see the uprising of folks that have been oppressed for very long. We’re living through a pandemic that is impacting brown and Balck communities, low-income communities the most, the hardest. We are living through an economic crisis that is also impacting communities of color and low-income communities. And we’re living through a climate crisis that is doing the same thing.
It’s not new, but the issue of police accountability has exploded. We’re living through these moments of “enough is enough.” People are tired of it, and they’re wanting this very wealthy nation to start doing better for everybody. I’m hopeful that people are demanding what’s right and that we’re electing the right people that are ready to step up to this demand.
Story provided by THEM