Chad Banks is a gay Democrat serving in Wyoming. Here’s what he says it’s like.

Wyoming State Representative Chad Banks
Photo: Facebook

For freshman Wyoming State Representative Chad Banks, being an out gay man in a deep red state has not at all felt like a limitation.

Despite Wyoming’s reputation as one of the most conservative states in the country, and despite the fact that it has no LGBTQ anti-discrimination laws on the books, Banks told LGBTQ Nation that he has personally not faced much discrimination.

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“Wyoming gets a black eye as this kind of backwards place,” he said. “That’s not the Wyoming I know. Even when I came out I never experienced anything that was hateful.”

Banks came out in his forties and is a fifth-generation resident of the Wyoming city of Rock Springs. He describes Wyoming’s people as “live and let live” and believes that despite the Republican party’s official stances, even most Republican residents support LGBTQ people’s right to live freely.

In fact, Banks is one of three out LGBTQ legislators in the state’s House of Representatives – one of whom is a Republican.

Banks served…

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