This white person doesn't get a say in how Black people feel about Black firsts, so I'll just read and pay close attention. I wouldn't have commented, but as I was about to click away after reading, I realized I feel as a gay man quite similar about LGBTQ firsts in government. Donald Trump and his supporters once made a big deal about appointing a gay conservative to a cabinet level post. Did I celebrate, did almost any LGBTQ people celebrate? The appointee in question is an overt misogynist and sexist, and he's done PR work for the proto-fascist Victor Orban regime and other anti-LGBTQ regimes around the world. Hell no, we didn't celebrate.

Joe Biden has done a pretty good job with representation, appointing more LGBTQ people than just Pete Buttigieg to "firsts" in administration positions. And that's nice. We appreciate it, I think, most of us. But those appointments are not what we are waiting to celebrate. We're waiting for the administration to push the Equality Act and the center LGBTQ civil equality in other ways in their top priorities. They aren't doing that, so they talk about representation instead, because that's easy and it doesn't cost them much.

I'll celebrate when they start doing the hard work for us. When they start making sacrifices. When they start being actual champions.

Representation is nice, but it's not worth champagne and fireworks.