Democratic Caucus Chair Imposes Strict Identity Requirements for Leaders, Says Choosing on Merit ‘Absurd’

Caesar Valentine sent an email to the members of the South Carolina Democratic LGBTQ caucus just before 2 p.m. on the first Saturday in August. There would be a Zoom meeting on Monday. Members would have to RSVP to join, wrote Valentine, the black 31-year-old caucus chairman.

They would be voting on the caucus bylaws. There would be a special guest, a congressional candidate. And they would be voting on a caucus secretary, treasurer, and four vice chairs.

But not just anyone could fill the vice-chair positions, Valentine wrote.

“1st– has to be trans or non-binary, 2nd– opposing race to chair, 3rd– opposing gender to chair, 4th– younger than 35,” Valentine wrote. The nominations for the positions were closed.

The identity and trait-based restrictions don’t seem to have raised many concerns — the votes were held and the positions were filled, Valentine said.

But at least one South Carolina Democrat says the restrictions stink; they have “nothing to do with merit,” they limit opportunities, and they take the party’s obsession with identity politics to a “whole new level.”