Anyone could say it doesn’t matter that you have locked hair, no one cares. It certainly does matter when we are legislating what types of chemicals can go into hair products in Georgia. People always say to me oh it doesn’t matter that you’re part of the LGBTQ community, but in fact we are looking at our HIV diagnosis skyrocketing in the city of Atlanta, we must have targeted focus groups that include people living with HIV and making sure that they are at the solutions table. When we talk about it might not matter that I was homeless while I was in college, I argue that it absolutely does. The city of Atlanta has the largest shelter in the Southeast. People are bussed here in order to make a new life in our homeless shelter, and we make the policies about that.
Still, despite the fact that Georgia is a historically red state, Rep. Cannon says she wouldn’t want to legislate anywhere else. She lists some of the “crown jewels” of District 58: the capitol building, a trauma center that provides care to anyone who needs help whether they can pay or not, and the fact that it is where Dr. King was born, raised, and is currently laid to rest.She hopes to continue his legacy right where it all started. “We are right now in this political atmosphere standing on the shoulders of people who could not run with their full identities forward facing,” she says, “and I am proud to be as out, flamboyant, and fierce as possible at this time.”