I thought I was going to hell

All too aware of the punishment that awaited me in the afterlife, according to my family’s ultra conservative Southern Baptist church, I would wake up night after night with the sweats, fearing for my eternal soul. Mel Manuel For US Congress Hi {NAME} - if you and I haven't met yet, I think it's important that we do. At eight years old, I knew I was queer. All too aware of the punishment that awaited me in the afterlife, according to my family’s ultra conservative Southern Baptist church, I would wake up night after night with the sweats, fearing for my eternal soul. My community of St. Tammany, where I live to this day, felt as unsafe as the church, and as a consequence most queer folks stayed closeted. Unsurprisingly, I didn't know any out queer people growing up which made public school difficult to say the least. In retrospect lots of my friends were on the rainbow spectrum, but this was rural Louisiana in the 90’s and it simply wasn’t safe to be out. Me when I was growing up. For these reasons among others, (including hurricane Katrina, which interrupted my time at Tulane University), I left Louisiana for nearly a decade. When I returned, I remembered why it had been so scary growing up queer on the Northshore. The LGBTQ+ community here was isolated without any way to find each other. That’s why I co-founded Queer Northshore - a group focused on building community, visibility and acceptance for LGBTQ+ locals. Since its founding 2.5 years ago, we have grown to over 2700 members, produced over 100 events, founded the first LGBTQ+ krewe to parade on the Northshore, and introduced the first local pride parade with over 600 participants. Our work organizing the LGBTQ+ community on the Northshore turned political when the extreme right in St. Tammany Parish, my home, began to call for books featuring queer and trans authors or characters to be banned from local libraries. In response, local activists and I founded the St. Tammany Library Alliance centered around opposing censorship and keeping our libraries a safe space for everyone. As we fought to keep books on shelves, my friend Katie Darling, the last Democrat to run for Congress in this district, passed the proverbial torch by asking me to run. I was apprehensive at first, but the erasure of our community via the book banning movement and hundreds of anti-LGBTQ+ bills nationwide convinced me to be a voice for queer and trans Louisianians. I announced my candidacy the following Spring.  I was a K-12 teacher for over a decade, but fearing retribution for speaking frankly on trans issues, I retired from public school teaching and took a position as Director of Operations at the Louisiana Abortion Fund.  I hope to talk more about my experience with the abortion fund in future communications, but for now I will say that women in Louisiana are already living Project 2025 - abortion is completely illegal here. Currently our community members have to travel an average of 1400 miles to receive abortion healthcare because so many of our neighboring states have restricted access to care. The increased associated expenses means that we are able to fund less and less women who desperately need help.  My opponent, Congressman and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, is a Trump-loving, self-described “David Duke without the baggage.” His political stances are very much in line with the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 plan, which will see abortion effectively banned nationwide, the mass roundup and deportation of immigrants, and a crackdown on the LGBTQ+ community via bans on gender affirming care, gay marriage and more.  [In Louisiana, Democrats have the numbers, we outnumber Republicans, but we lack the infrastructure to get these voters out to the polls. Can I count on you to make a donation of whatever you can spare to help us build the infrastructure that will unseat Majority Leader Scalise before it’s too late?]( If you've saved your payment information with ActBlue Express, your donation will go through immediately: [Donate $5]( [Donate $25]( [Donate $100]( [Donate $15]( [Donate $50]( [Donate $250]( [Donate another amount]( or [multiply your impact with a monthly contribution!]( Where I’m from, Project 2025 is already the reality that we live everyday. I hope you will help me stop Congressman Scalise before this becomes the reality for our nation.  Mel Manuel Democratic Nominee Louisiana's 1st Congressional District  Mail Checks to:  Mel for Louisiana 508 Loden Way, Madisonville, LA, 70447, United States  Sent via [ActionNetwork.org](. To update your email address, change your name or address, or to stop receiving emails from Mel Manuel for Congress, please [click here](.