In college, U.S. Rep. Becca Balint (D-VT) was nicknamed the Admiral by her womens crew team for her formidable skills motivating the rowers. At just five feet tall and south of 100 pounds, Balint may not have looked the part, but she defied first impressions and impressed with success. Shes displayed the same qualities in her political career.In her sophomore election last November for the at-large seat representing her state in the House of Representatives (tiny Vermont only gets one congressmember), Balint, 56, demolished her Republican opponent by more than 30 points; she did the same in her first run in 2022. The wins followed her quick rise to Majority Leader of the Vermont Senate after just two years in office. Shes the first woman and first openly LGBTQ+ person to represent her state inCongress.Effective leadership is more than barking orders and winning elections, though, and Balint listens as much or more than she speaks. While her opponents can come under withering criticism for behavior the mother-of-two finds juvenile (fellow members Nancy Mace, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and Speaker Mike Johnson fall into that category for their treatment of trans colleague Rep. Sarah McBride), Balint is also behind the scenes listening to help Republicans find their courage in the face of MAGA colleagues dangerous and cruel provocations.Not that Balint doesnt relish making good trouble. Insights for the LGBTQ+ community Subscribe to our briefing for insights into how politics impacts the LGBTQ+ community and more. Subscribe to our Newsletter today My wife always says, I find the line of decency, and then I cross it, she admitted.With that, the Admiral jumped right in.LGBTQ Nation: You made a to-the-point Facebook post in November, writing, Leave trans kids alone. Beyond the wild demonization of trans people that Republicans and the Trump campaign undertook to gin up their base, was there something in particular that inspired you to write that post late on a Saturday afternoon five days after the election? Rep. Becca Balint: Yeah, look. Heres what I want people to understand: this did not just happen with this campaign, okay? The Republicans decided before the 118th Congress that this was the issue they were going to use to fire up their base. So many Americans have moved on from being outraged about same-sex marriage and I always joke that, you know, everyones been to a lesbian wedding at this point so they decided, okay, well, weve lost that battle. Essentially, what is the issue and Im going to use their own words against them like, what issue is going to trigger them? And it was trans kids. And it came up in committee hearings, it came up in amendments, and it was a completely orchestrated, concerted effort to demonize children and their parents.And I just have had enough. Ive had enough that theres no bottom. Ive had enough that they will stop at nothing to turn Americans against each other. Every American, every child, deserves health care that is appropriate for them, and the fact that they have no qualms about making life more difficult for children is disgusting. And so it was a culmination of everything that I had seen. And, of course, this was the meanest, most dehumanizing, demonizing campaign a Republican ticket has ever run. And I think we need to call it for what it is, which is hate and fear-mongering.Pronouns: a well-intentioned fad or a cultural necessity?You know, I think that language takes a long time to take hold in a culture. And so what I see what I think Republicans are missing, as well is actually most Americans are really trying hard to figure out how to be allies, how to be strong supporters of everyone in their community. And so, of course, the Republicans like to mock the whole concept of pronouns, but really it comes down to people wanting to be seen for who they are, the totality of who they are.And so, one of the things that Ive been thinking about is, on the one hand can I swear? Go ahead.Okay. On the one hand, the Republicans need to stop being such mean motherf**kers. Like, they need to stop being so horribly cruel. And on the other side, we as Democrats also need to give people grace who are really trying who are really trying and maybe theyre not getting it quite right.And Ive heard this from young people, actually, who want to be good allies, who want to be supportive of their friends, and they feel like they dont always get it right, but there seems to be no grace given for them for trying. And I think we do have to give people credit for trying, because language and culture takes a while to shift. It really does. Youre introducing a bill in Congress called the Combating Loneliness Act, which is aimed at reducing social isolation in the United States and addresses what you call three critical areas: social infrastructure, community health care, and supporting mental health in schools. You wrote in an opinion piece about it, Humans, we are hardwired for connection, and went on to say that Americans have always had intense policy disagreements in this country. But we didnt so easily and casually attack the inherent dignity and self-worth of Americans on the other side of the political aisle. Were at a very unhealthy place right now, individually, and collectively. I think many people would agree, but as far as the causes behind that condition, I didnt see any mention of social media in your argument, which many of those same people see as the root cause of the mental health crisis and attendant loneliness epidemic your bill intends to address. Twitter gave rise to Donald Trump. Instagram is devastating young peoples self-esteem. Facebook is a cesspool of Russian bots and misinformation the first reply to your Leave trans kids alone post was generated by a bot. Exactly what kind of value does social media bring to society?I think about this a lot. Look, there is no question that social media is part of the problem of a crisis of disconnection, especially among young people. It can be a tool for good. It can be a tool for healthy connection, connecting groups together who might not find each other otherwise, especially if youre living in a rural area and you dont feel like you have a lot of opportunities for social connection around you. And most specifically, if you are in the LGBTQ community, right? So there are positives. The challenge for us in Congress in trying to attack this problem of the horrible algorithms that drive people, most specifically, to extremes on the right that are full of misogyny and homophobia and racism, is that you want to make sure its carefully crafted so that teens and youth can still access connections that they wouldnt be able to find otherwise. And whats been difficult is to thread that needle.Because what has happened is folks on the other side have tried to craft much more sweeping language, which would identify groups that were just trying to connect queer youth with each other as being pornographic, or being not fit for youth.And so, yes, weve got to address this issue. We have to do it carefully. But I also think there is a really important point here to be made about awareness. I dont think a lot of parents understand, really, how the algorithms work. And so when you are a young person, and your eyeball pauses for a few moments on something, the algorithm is learning that. Oh, you want to see more of that. And I have heard this from parents across Vermont, that they know that their kids, and most particularly their boys and young men and their families, are seeing material that is driving sexism, misogyny in particular, and certainly other content that is demonizing groups of people. So that has to be a focus of the work going forward.Would you support national mandatory service for young people in the military, or some other form of public service of their choosing, like the Peace Corps or Teach for America?Yeah, I mean, I would. I dont see this Republican conference ever going along with that, because they will do what theyve done for years, which is call it socialism and communism. They will not entertain any idea about bringing us together. Their brand right now is about dividing us and driving us apart. But yes, when young people feel a sense of purpose, a calling to do something that isnt just about them and its about their community and groups of people that need assistance, they do feel better about themselves. We know that altruism helps people feel better about their place in the world. Youve said that ever since you can remember, you wanted to run for public office. Whats your first memory of politics or a political event?Oh, well, I mean, it all depends on how you define political event, because I ran to be class president in first grade and was victorious, so long line. But one of the most meaningful moments that I had seeing how my voice could make a difference was I was tapped to sit as a high school student representative to my board of education, and I was in a room full of mostly men, I think overwhelmingly men. There might have been one woman on the board and they were debating whether to entirely cut the JV cheerleading program. And it was really funny because, as a gay woman, I think its kind of funny that I was the champion of the cheerleaders, but my older sister was a cheerleader. Their argument was that it wasnt really a sport. There wasnt a lot of worth in it. And I knew from my own sisters experience that she actually got a lot from it. It was physically very demanding. And I said, I think its really strange that youre thinking of continuing to fund not just the JV football team, but like, the third string team that plays, you know, scrimmages, essentially, and theyve lost every game, right? Like, what are we doing here? And I dont know where I found my voice to be able to say that to a room full of adults, but I made my case. I pointed out to them how unfair it was, and in the end, they voted to save the program. And so it was a moment of realizing, actually, when you speak candidly, when youre able to make your case and shine a light on aspects of the issue that theyre not thinking about, you can make a difference. That was very powerful for me.You cite slain San Francisco supervisor and activist Harvey Milk as an influence. How did you come to learn about him, and whats one thing from his experience in politics that youve brought to your own?I was a voracious reader of the news, starting in about 5th grade, you know? I just needed to know what was going on in the world, and when I heard about his assassination, of course, it was just personally devastating, as someone who really wanted a life in politics thinking, Well, maybe thats not going to happen in my lifetime. Maybe theres just not a safe environment to do that. One of the things that really intrigued me about Harvey Milk was that when he first ran, he ran on those issues that were directly impacting his community. And one of the things that was very important to people in his neighborhood was that people werent cleaning up after their dogs, and it was impacting peoples quality of life. And it wasnt a big, sexy issue, but it was about listening, about listening to the people. This is a small issue, but it impacts our quality of life, and feeling like people are not being respectful of each other, and that really stayed with me.You describe yourself as a progressive? How do you define the term?For me, it is about constantly looking to become better people, and through becoming better people, create a government that is better and meets the needs of all of the people. For me, it is a much more holistic kind of understanding of the word progressive. And I also see it as bringing as many people into the movement as you possibly can. Thats the only way that were going to have a real economic revolution here. And I mean revolution in the sense of a sea change, because when we talk about the crisis of loneliness, when we talk about issues around the hyper-partisanship, so much of it not all of it but so much of it is rooted in this gross, crass economic disparity.I taught history for a long time, and I do think you can really make a strong case that we are in a second Gilded Age here. You know, back to the Age of the Robber Barons, and the robber barons have just taken different forms. Theyre now Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos and others. But its killing us. Its killing not just the economy of so many people. It is destroying the democracy from the inside. And so I do think we as progressives if I can do a little self-critique here I think we as progressives have to be much better about being in rooms with people who dont necessarily agree with us, and we need to sit in that discomfort, and we need to listen deeply.We need to go back to what Sen. Paul Wellstone said: We all do better when we all do better. Weve forgotten that, when we idolize the billionaires at the top who are continuing to squeeze every last dime out of working people. They are like idols.Theres an anti-intellectual streak that runs through Trump and his MAGA base and loyalists that theyll be directing at college and university endowments in his second term, among other lines of attack. Youre a product of those elite institutions, with time at Barnard, Smith College, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and at Yale. Whats your defense of higher learning in America?Look, higher learning has a place to constantly be pushing the intellectual envelope, to to strive for evidence and data. And Im someone you know, I love footnotes, I love the details, I love to dive into the details. And I have had to retrain myself over the last few years about not talking about the details and the footnotes when Im talking to my constituents, because it can feel quite off-putting. I read a lot of history and philosophy and social psychology, and I try to sprinkle it into the stump speeches that I give so that we can think about sort of higher ideals, but I try to do it in a way that is inviting people in and not making a dividing line. We should be constantly examining the data and refining the work that were doing, and academics are so good at that. But the way that we are communicating the ideas has to be much more inclusive.As an aside, one of the things that Ive learned since the election and talking to my colleagues in more battleground districts is the fight over loan forgiveness has become a much more potent class issue than any of us, I think, anticipated. And so, of course, when you look at the data, the people who are really benefiting from that are low-income people. They are people of color, right? Overwhelmingly, theyre holding more debt. But the way that weve communicated about it and talked about it was really off-putting to people within the working class who had gotten other means of certification, who didnt necessarily go to college, and there was a question of fairness around it, and equity, and so we cant be blind to that. That took me by surprise.As elected leaders, there is this incredible pressure to be perfect and not admit mistakes and not revisit dont do the post-mortem entirely, and I think we have to do that. You know, thats how I live my life. Doesnt feel good, but you got to do it. Protecting the planet is high on your list of priorities. Whats the single most important thing the world should do to address the climate crisis?We have to absolutely reduce CO2 emissions. Theres just no other way around it. And I get so concerned with the reelection of Trump that we are no longer seen on the world stage as a potential leader on this issue. Its very, very heartbreaking for me, because it does impact real people on the ground. Weve had catastrophic flooding in Vermont now for two summers in a row. In our capital, Montpelier, two years ago, every single small business in our downtown was destroyed every single one, and its going to continue to happen. Were just going to continue to move closer to the point of no return. And I know for young people, in particular, its their number one issue. We cant shy away from that work because thats its critically important. Theres no other way around it.You met your wife, Elizabeth Wohl, when you were a rock climbing instructor at a Vermont summer camp in 2000. It sounds like a perfect meet-cute scenario. How did it go down? Oh, my goodness. Oh, we just, you know, we made each other laugh. That was it. I mean, we just crack each other up. Actually, one of the things that we bonded over, which is quite silly, but we used to write these historical parodies, because I taught history for a long time, so she would help me write songs to teach my kids about all the content so they could remember it. And we did a great Britney Spears one on all the Greek myths. We did one on the Romans and Egyptians, and one on the Pilgrims. And when you find somebody that you can just be creative with, while also having serious conversations, its just such a gift.You have two kids, Abraham and Sarah, as you mentioned. How old are they, and what do they think of politics?They are now 17 and 14. Sarah will be 15 this summer, and they are both interested in my work, for sure, and we have long-ranging family dinners. And they really challenge me. Like, Ill walk through the door and my son will say, Lets talk about your votes this week, which keeps you on your toes, right? (laughing). Whats the best thing about representing your constituents from Vermont in Congress?One of the best things about it is that this work combines my love of people and my interest in helping to solve problems. Doing meaningful work on behalf of Vermonters and their families is such an honor for me. As hard as it can be at times, the job is always interesting. And I really enjoy that aspect of it.Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.