A Q&A with Trisha Calvarese, Lauren Boebert’s Democratic Opponent in CO-4
Lauren Boebert has been a disaster for Colorado’s LGBTQ+ community since she took office, and Trisha Calvarese is determined to unseat her.
Calvarese is Boebert’s Democratic opponent in the upcoming general election on November 5. Unlike Boebert, Calvarese grew up in Colorado’s fourth district. She knows her electorate and cherishes its heart and diversity, which includes the LGBTQ+ community.
Back during Pride season, Calvarese went to Lamar, Colorado to march in their Pride parade, and earlier this month, she went to Douglas County Pride as well. While it’s pretty easy to be better for the LGBTQ+ community than Boebert, Calvarese understands equality on a profound level after her time working with unions at the AFL-CIO:
“We stand together in solidarity that we all have the right to provide for our families, get an honest day’s pay, and not get taken advantage of on the job because of who you are or because of who you love. Those are basic principles of the labor movement,” Calvarese says.
Read on to see how Calvarese plans to protect the LGBTQ+ community in Colorado’s fourth congressional district.
In the primary campaign ad on your website, you laid out key policy differences between yourself and Lauren Boebert, but you didn’t mention LGBTQ+ issues despite her horrible voting record and offensive rhetoric against the LGBTQ+ community. As the representative for CO-4, what policies do you intend to enact that will counter Boebert’s?
One of the biggest and most important things I can do to help the LGBTQ+ community is to pass legislation that makes sure there are workplace protections and equal pay guarantees for LGBTQ+ people. One of the best ways to do that is with your union contracts.
It lifts up people at the intersection of Black women who are gay, lesbian, or transgender—who face that convergence of challenges and discrimination. A union contract is the best way to fight that on the job. So we need organizing rights.
And, of course, protections to be who you are. For the right to love who you want, wherever you are to be, to be who you are without Lauren Boebert having anything to do with it, or any politician having anything to do with it.
What about specifically, when it comes to issues like access to gender-affirming healthcare?
We need protections for providers. What is absolutely disturbing—and I heard about this recently in Lamar, CO—a nurse practitioner who was providing care to LGBTQ+ youth, her practice was set on fire within the first week of her setting up shop. She had it running the next day, though, with the help of the community there.
So, making sure that our providers are protected and that there’s access. Again, it’s very similar to choice, right? You have the right to make the decision in your own family. Politicians should have nothing to do with that.
Not too long ago the Biden Administration put out a statement saying that they don’t believe that minors should have access to gender-affirming surgeries. What are your thoughts on that?
I think that’s up to the families. Let’s look at the research. Where are we seeing progress? We’re in an era of absolute medical breakthroughs. I think that the whole scope of care even writ large across the way American healthcare is done is a bit primitive. It’s time for it to pick up its pace in the advancements that we’re seeing in this century.
It’s absolutely up to families, and that’s the thing. Once you put a restriction on it, you’re creating a one-size-fits-all scenario that’s not necessarily best in all cases.
When you were working with the AFL-CIO, did you enact or introduce new policies that would make it easier for LGBTQ+ people to join unions and or keep their jobs as part of unions?
Yeah, absolutely. It’s called the PRO (Protecting The Right To Organize) Act. It would basically restore labor law to what the original spirit of the law was. Unions are the counterbalance to concentrated corporate power in America. It is a critical part of our economy. It’s a critical piece of a good economic pathway for people of all walks of life, including LGBTQ+.
We fought tooth and nail to pass it. It did pass the House but didn’t pass the Senate. So, I would keep going with that, even if we have to pass pieces of it bit by bit.
What would you do to combat the rising tide of anti-trans legislation in the United States?
There needs to be protection for kids on a fundamental level, especially. It’s really chilling and disturbing just even locally here in Douglas County. I heard a story of an athlete who is nonbinary. Parents were online attacking this student-athlete. There needs to be something that protects the children, that enables them to be whoever they are, wherever they are. It should not be possible for adults to be attacking youth in any forum.
What are some specific things you could do as the representative for this district to accomplish that goal?
Let’s have a town hall. Let’s talk about it. I would invite the student-athlete and any student who’s felt unsafe. That’s the thing. You hear from parents and kids all the time where they’re just like, “I feel unsafe. I feel bullied by this environment that’s bigger than children and involves the parents.
I think it’s also very important to protect literature. To protect books that speak to the different experiences that it’s so important for our kids to be able to have access to through adolescence.
How do you think having a representative who is supportive of this community affects their ability to feel safe?
I think it’s permissive, and it’s so important. That’s why I drove two-and-a-half hours one way to Lamar’s pride event to speak for just a few minutes. To let them know that I stand with them completely.
I was talking to a few folks afterward, and this one guy teared up. He was like, “Look, I work at Walmart. I’m 4th generation. I’ve never left my town because there are no opportunities. I’ve been in the closet most of my life, and just the fact that you’re here showing up, wearing a Pride shirt, speaking to us …” Sometimes actions speak louder than words, and actually showing up and being there is so important.
The debate to watch will be in Colorado’s 4th Congressional District. @laurenboebert and @Hannah4Liberty let’s meet folks where they are. 21 counties. August recess. Debate tour. You in? #copolitics pic.twitter.com/vG3ZhkRVbw
— Trisha Calvarese for Colorado (@trisha4colorado) July 1, 2024
The district you’re campaigning to represent has a strong rural conservative population, and you’ll need their votes to win. How do you intend to appeal to them with their frankly anti-LGBTQ+ beliefs in order to win this election while still furthering equality for LGBTQ+ people?
I think it’s a contrast in values. We’re talking about a very different Republican and just politician. This person wants to get in your business. Lauren Boebert wants to dictate your healthcare decisions. She wants to make choices about your family for you, and I think that the best person to make the decisions for you and your family are you. Period. I sincerely think that’s fundamental to our freedom and actually a big ethos of the American West.
Your father was a lifelong Republican, and the district you’re running to represent has a long, conservative history. Why are you running as a Democrat?
Well, that was my great rebellion. I remember John Kerry was here, and he spoke about climate, gay rights, and a woman’s right to choose. I just remember those pieces resonated with me.
And I have to say, we had the best debates. It was joyful, the evolution of my beliefs versus my Dad’s and my Mom’s. We’d have these great discussions about it because we’d always land on the same places at the end of the day.
Everybody wants the same thing. They want to be able to spend time with and take care of the ones they love. They want to be able to afford their medicine, put food on the table, keep a roof overhead, and be who you are.
Trisha Calvarese and Lauren Boebert will be debating on Tuesday, September 3. Click here for more information. Featured image courtesy of Trisha4Colorado.
