She was a middle class girl from the Midwest. Big family, loving family. She had the usual schoolgirl crush on her teachers. A large group of loyal friends. It was ideal.
She moved down south to go to college, always with an eye for helping people. People liked her, they responded to her. It could have been her easy laugh or a “cool beans” thrown in here and there. She took the gift of connecting to people and decided to run for office.
Before she knew it, she’s standing in the chamber of the Georgia Capitol being sworn in as a state representative, with the love of her life of 20 years standing by her side smiling proudly. Six months into the job, she’s found her footing. She’s really helping people, this time on a grand stage.
It’s a uniquely American story. It’s about love and perseverance. It’s about the first African-American lesbian to serve in a U.S. State legislature.
Planting the Seed
Rising to a position of power was never a far-fetched idea for Rep. Simone Bell, partly due to the racial makeup of her Detroit hometown. “Everyone was African-American, we were definitely the majority,” she says. “The mayor, the school board, everyone was. So I always saw myself in power.”
Coming from a family of entrepreneurs and self-starters influenced her as well. If you wanted something, you went out and worked for it until you got it. It was the Bells’ way, it’s the American way.
Bell knew who she was very early on. “I came out around 13,” she says. “It was more to myself than anyone else. Then people figured out what was going on from there.”
Like many American families, the Bells had trouble accepting the fact that their daughter was gay. But eventually, the acceptance came. “We’re very fortunate and blessed that time has healed it. It’s pretty freaking amazing,” Bell says. Her family even came down from Detroit to help her on the campaign trail last year. “We are very blessed that we have a lot of love and respect in our family,” she says.
But her move to the South as a teenager began with adversity. She went from a high school of 2,000 students to a college a quarter the size, Fisk University in Nashville. Aside from the culture shock, the campus was not altogether gay-friendly. Luckily she had some friends attending a lovely school down in Decatur, Georgia. She decided to visit.
Love in The A
Agnes Scott College was a blessing, and before long Bell decided to make the move to Atlanta. After some time at Dekalb College (now Georgia Perimeter College) and working in the healthcare administration field, she enrolled at Agnes Scott and flourished.
“We were young and gay and we all had each other,” she says of she and her friends. “It was love, it was awesome.”
She spread the love by helping the disenfranchised: fighting for affordable healthcare and workplace equality, helping erase the stigma of those with HIV/AIDS and going to bat for kids, for women’s rights and LGBT rights. She organized, she spoke up, she advocated. She used her voice.
That voice made her an American original.
Time to Fly
Rep. Simone Bell is at ease in the Capitol chamber. She compares it to a big classroom, with lots of talking and laughing and papers all over the desks. She even shares high-fives with her fellow representatives when good legislation is passed. One of those “classmates” sits behind her: Rep. Karla Drenner, the only other openly gay member of the Georgia General Assembly.
Bell appreciates Drenner’s presence. “We are disturbed by a lot of the same things, we cheer about a lot of the same things, we laugh at the same things,” she says.
Her sexuality wasn’t a big secret at the Capitol—just like at school, people gossip. But not everyone knew. The first person she formally “came out” to was a preacher. After a spirited conversation about social justice issues, the preacher mentioned how long he and his beautiful wife had been together. “I figured, ‘Well I’ve gotta come out to someone so why not him?,’” she says.
She mentioned how long she had been with her beautiful partner. He was taken aback for a second but very complimentary. They’ve been allies ever since.
Bell is running unopposed in this year’s election for the 58th District seat and is well aware of the work left to be done for her constituents and her state.
She’s aware of the work ahead for the LGBT community as well. Part of that involves using the strength of the LGBT community to help other movements, therefore building stronger allies for our cause. “Having a voice, being engaged, that’s how we get the job done,” she says. “We have to be on the outside agitating as well as being on the inside. We can’t give up.”
It’s also about having a sense of self. About knowing who we are and what we’re capable of.
“We need to live 100% of who we are every day,” Bell says. “We need to represent as LGBT Americans.”
