"It goes to show how far as a community the LGBTQ community has come," said Bryan Ball, the president of the Stonewall Democrats of Western New York. 

The LGBTQ Victory Institute recently released its Out for America 2020 report, which revealed there are now more than 800 open-LGBTQ elected officials in the country. That's a more than 20 percent increase just within the last year. 

"That report is great news and it's the result of many, many years of work by a great many people," Ball said.

When you head over to this map on the Victory Institute's website, you can see the breakdown by state. According to the map, there are nearly 40 LGBTQ elected officials in New York. One of them sits on Buffalo's Common Council, Mitch Nowakowski.

"As we see society moving to a more advanced and open society, we're seeing that more representation looks like the community in which they serve, which LGBTQ community is an extremely important facet that needs to be represented," Nowakowski said.

Nowakowski, an openly gay man, was elected last year to the Council's Fillmore District seat. He believed being gay would have been a liability as he ran for office but realized that wasn't the case.

"It was really vindication that last year speaking to many voters and getting elected that it really didn't matter, he said. “They just want someone to really work hard, as long as you represent people in their neighborhoods, they will vote for you."

The Stonewall Democrats of Western New York help elect candidates from the LGBTQ community and those who support their cause. Its president, Bryan Ball, says the more people who come out results in more awareness and legislative victories, and hence more elected leaders. 

"Marriage equality becoming the law of the state of New York and our country over the last 10 years, also transgender civil rights being increasingly legalized state by state and then also the most recent decision to come out of the Supreme Court that protect LGBTQ people and their employment," Ball said.

The Out for America report also shows only 0.17% of U.S. elected officials identify as LGBTQ. Ball says work still needs to be done but the numbers are headed in the right direction.

"There is absolutely still a long way to go in Western New York,” he said. “We have about 3 or 4 openly LGBTQ elected officials and we absolutely need more but that's where we are today is light years from where we were even 5 years ago," Ball said.

Ball believes this is only the beginning of what's to come. Councilmember Nowakowski urges more candidates like himself to get involved politically in their own backyards. 

"My biggest focus is state and local governments because you really want to achieve these successes on the local and micro level, because they really show the barometer of openness and acceptance in your community," said Nowakowski.