The Democratic National Convention (DNC) recently announced that 38-year-old Pennsylvania native Sean Meloy will be the new chair of the organization’s LGBTQ Caucus. Meloy brings more than a decade of experience as an LGBTQ+ advocate and political strategist to the role, but his interests in politics first emerged 25 years ago — as a seventh grader watching the outcome of the 2000 election.

A tight margin between candidates George W. Bush and Al Gore triggered an automatic recount in Florida. Gore requested a manual tally of 61,000 ballots that the vote tabulation machines had missed — but the U.S. Supreme Court ended that process before it was complete due to a lack of uniform procedures for the recount, leading to Gore’s loss.

“I just thought it was such an injustice, and that’s what g

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