A gay doctor who is one of Louisiana’s only specialist paediatric cardiologists has left the state after the introduction of a Don’t Say Gay copycat bill and a ban on gender-affirming care for trans youth.
Jake Kleinmahon, who was one of just three doctors specialising in heart transplants for children in Louisiana, chose to leave the state with his family, as they no longer felt safe.
Kleinmahon met and fell in love with his husband Tom in New Orleans, and the couple expected remain in Louisiana, even after retirement. However, he told CNN that the state’s anti-LGBTQ+ legislation made him and his family feel unwelcome and that he ultimately “didn’t have a choice”.
And lets be honest, those coalitions almost always end up being mostly a 2 party system with more steps. The elect a bunch of different parties, then those parties all group together in 2 sides mostly. Possibly leaving a few that aren’t included and then their votes mean nothing. It’s like gerrymandering in a different way. You don’t need to change voting districts, you just have to get another party that agrees with you on the important things to also win some elections. You could even argue that, while technically under the same name, the Tea party was kinda of that. A whole different kind of politician was voted in, with the understanding that they would just be agreeing with the Republicans on legislation. It’s obviously not quite the same, but it’s not far off.
There’s literally 13 different coalitions in Germany for 17 (states and federal) governments involving five parties (not counting FW and CSU==CDU).
What you don’t see is Left (demsocs) and either Union (conservative) or FDP (neoliberal pretending to be ordoliberal), but those pairings exist on the municipal level. Usually by the Left managing to remind CDU folks what the “C” stands for or chancing upon a left-liberal FDP guy (who exist, rare as they are).
What you do see a lot, and I mean a lot a lot, is the Greens being in coalition with either CDU or SPD.
Also, one important distinction: In a proportional system, there being two big parties is a reflection of the electorate’s position. In a FPTP system, it is due to the system itself, the electorate doesn’t get a choice.