Uproar in the US: the outrageous step – for fear of angering Muslim voters

Melissa Chaudry, the candidate for Congress from the Democratic Party in Washington state, is at the center of a political storm after it was reported that she deliberately omitted from the official website of her election campaign a reference to the rights of the LGBT community for fear that this would alienate Muslim voters.

According to reports in American media in recent days, during an interview held as part of a political event, Chaudhry, who is associated with the progressive current, was asked why there is no mention of LGBT issues on her campaign website. In response, she replied that “unfortunately, many Muslims do not feel that way”, referring to the positions of some voters.

The remarks provoked sharp criticism among activists and democratic organizations that support LGBT rights. One of the organizations called on the organizations that had already given Chaudhry their support to reconsider their position and even cancel the recommendations given to her.

Andrew Achioppo, chairman of the organization Washington State Stonewall Democratssaid that Chaudhry’s words are unacceptable because, according to him, they point to a conscious decision to hide her positions on LGBT rights while trying to win the support of the Democratic Party. He added that a candidate from the party should express open support for the community, and that hiding positions raises serious questions about integrity, credibility and alignment with the party’s basic values.

According to him, quoted by Fox News, transparency and trust are an integral part of the democratic organizations’ endorsement process, and when a candidate admits that she has concealed positions related to civil rights or adjusted her messages to avoid referring to the LGBT community, this damages the trust placed in her. The organization specifically called on several local branches of the Democratic Party, which had already expressed support for Chaudhry, to reconsider their decision.

The storm also extended to another issue, after a report by The Stranger claimed that Chaudhry said she intended to run for Congress as a Democrat and then switch to the Green Party. According to the report, she even requested that this information not be published during the procedure of receiving the support.

This disclosure caused further concern among members of the Democratic Party. According to the report, members of one of the local party branches even discussed changing the bylaws, because today it is not possible to cancel official support that has already been given to a candidate.

On the other hand, Chaudhry rejected the criticism against her and wrote on the X network that she supported full equality for the LGBT community throughout her life and not just since she started running for elections. She noted that her only brother belongs to the LGBT community, she said that she helped establish the Gay Straight Alliance at the high school where she studied at a time when, according to her, they had to hide the meeting place for security reasons, and added that one of her closest friends is a woman A lesbian with a disability.

Chaudhry also claimed that the media presented her words in a distorted manner, and said that she wanted to set the facts straight. In addition, she stated that the atmosphere during the support interview was hostile, and according to her, this affected the way she formulated her answers.

Chaudhry is running in the Democratic primary against veteran congressman Adam Smith, who has represented Washington state’s 9th congressional district since 1997.