Gays and lesbians measured the Nov. 6 election more by who lost than by who won. None of the major victors in the off year campaigns is a particular champion of the community, but often times the loser was decidedly less gay-friendly.
Virginia offers the clearest lesson. Republicans controlled all of the statewide offices in the Old Dominion, historically one of the more conservative states in the union and home to both Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell. Yet antigay rhetoric had never played well in statewide races, the approach was more one of benign neglect. Few Democrats actively courted the gay vote for fear of being labeled as "liberal," they often took that vote for granted.
Lt. Gov. Mark Early had built his career as a darling of social conservatives and now was running as the Republican for Governor. As the campaign heated up at the end of summer, he and his running mate for the number two slot began accusing their Democratic opponents of wanting to legalize gay marriage in Virginia. They were rebuffed as being divisive.
Early began using the phrase "Virginia values, not Vermont values" as code words for his social agenda. It played well with the hardcore right-wingers who were going to vote for him anyway, but it alienated swing voters who he had to add to that base in order to win.
In the closing days of the campaign, Early grasped for support by blanketing the airwaves with television commercials of Rudy Guiliani offering his testimonial: "If I were a Virginian, I'd vote for Mark Early."
Seeking political salvation by clutching at the hem of the Mayor of New York City, one of the most gay-friendly elected officials of either political party, and the Republican that social conservatives most hated ( at least prior to Sept. 11 ) was an ironic twist to the concept of "Virginia values."
Early lost with 47 percent of the vote. So did his fellow social conservative running for Lt. Governor. But Jerry Kilgore, the Republican candidate for Attorney General, surged to victory with 60 percent of the vote, while the party padded its control of the redistricted state legislature by adding a dozen seats.
Many factors were at play in these races, but among them was the fact that those who tried to gay-bait were defeated. Republican Kilgore had refused to play that game, and in fact had expressed an interest in addressing a meeting of Log Cabin Republicans, something one would not have expected from a law-and-order candidate running from a base in the more rural southwestern corner of the state. It opens the door for moderate to regain control of the state party from social conservatives.
In New Jersey, centrist Democrat James McGreevey defeated another conservative favorite, Bred Schundler. Schundler was known more for his economic than his social views, but supporters tried to gay-bait during the closing month of the campaign, to no avail.
In New York City, both candidates were seen as gay-friendly. GLBT voters seemed to split like much of the rest of the city, deciding along issues of leadership and style. The republican won.
All three elections marked another step in the evolution of the gay community and its issues into the political mainstream.
Gays Win 4 of 5 Ballot Measures
The GLBT community could read the election returns of anti- and pro-gay ballot measures on Nov. 6 with relief and even a smile as most ended on a positive note. The results may mark the beginning of the end of an assault of antigay ballot initiatives, and a further ratcheting down of using gays as a wedge issue in political campaigns.
Michigan provided a trio of victories as antigay ballot initiatives all went down to defeat. In Kalamazoo, an attempt to amend the city charter to prohibit giving "protected" status to gays failed by a 54-46 percent margin. Terry Kuseske, president of the Gay and Lesbian Resource Center, attributed it to more openness by the gay community. "We're putting a face on the LGBT community. We're not this fictional character that can be villainized anymore."
Traverse City faced a similar measure, which was defeated 58-42 in record heavy voter turnout for an off-year election. "I was overwhelmed by the support we got, the volunteers we got, the financial support, and by the turnout of voters," said Paul Heaton, cochair of the Traverse City Campaign Against Discrimination. "It sends a strong message to leave gay people alone."
In the Detroit suburb of Huntington Woods, the initiative challenged an anti-discrimination law passed earlier in the year by the city commission that added gays as a protected category. The right-wing organizers were swamped by a margin of more than two-to-one, 69-31 percent of the vote.
"Michigan voters have soundly defeated these antigay ballot measures, this is a clean sweep," said Sean Kosofsky, director of the Triangle Foundation. "The American Family Association's message of discrimination will not fly in Michigan. We strongly encourage them to heed the message from voter sand stop their antigay crusade."
Gays lost in Houston where an initiative to prohibit the city government from offering benefits such as health coverage to domestic partners passed by the whisker-thin margin of 51.5 percent. Both sides claimed that the confusing wording of the measure negatively affected the outcome.
Grant Martin, campaign manager for People for a Fair Houston, was disappointed but still counted the effort as historic because of the broad coalitions that were built. Terrorism events beginning in September severely limited their fundraising and the television advertising that was planned as the foundation of the campaign.
The silver lining in Houston was that Councilwoman Annise Parker, the only openly gay elected official in the city, passed the 50 percent threshold in a three-person race and avoided a runoff election. One of her opponents had made Parker's leadership on the domestic partners benefits issue the center of his campaign.
In Miami Beach, the city commission added domestic-partner health and survivor benefits for city employees who register those partnerships with the city. They also decided to put the measures to the voters. The citizens responded with a two-to-one endorsement of the commission's pro-gay actions.
ELECTION VICTORIES
Meanwhile, the Gay and Lesbian Victory fund reported that 15 gay and lesbian campaigns emerged victorious in the November elections, and three candidates ( all in Atlanta ) are headed for Nov. 27 run-offs.
The Victory Fund endorsed 38 gay or lesbian individuals across the U.S. this year. Following are the 22 candidates VF endorsed who had races Nov. 6:
Scott Benson, Minneapolis City Council, won; Louis Escobar, Toledo City Council, won; Anne Fauver, Atlanta City Council, run-off; Jay Fisette, Arlington, Va., County Board, won; Malcolm Gideons, Atlanta City Council, run-off; Gail Hoover, Allentown, Pa., City Council, won; Dean Kallenbach, Minneapolis City Council, lost; Kip Koontz, Frederick, Md., Alderman, lost; Doug Kress, Minneapolis City Council, lost; Rod Kreuger, Minneapolis Library Board, won; Robert Lilligren, Minneapolis City Council, won; Margarita Lopez, New York City Council, won; Annise Parker, Houston City Council, won; Curt Pavola, Olympia, Wash., City Council, won; Patrick Peterson, Minneapolis School Board, lost; Christine Quinn, New York City Council, won; Philip Reed, NY City Council, won; Gary Schiff, Minneapolis City Council, won; Bill Schmidt, Peekskill, NY, City Council, won; Dan Stewart, Plattsburgh, NY, City Council, won; Wallace Swan, Minneapolis Estimate and Taxation, won; Cathy Woolard, Atlanta City Council President, run-off.
The National Stonewall Democrats reported that Democrats supportive of LGBT equality were victorious in the only two gubernatorial elections this year. As Stonewall affiliates, Virginia Partisans and New Jersey Stonewall campaigned to elect Mark Warner and Jim McGreevey as governors of their states.
The Log Cabin Republicans also noted the victories of the pro-gay Dems against Republicans who were painted as extremists, while a Republican made history in New York City. Republican Mike Bloomberg became the first Republican to succeed a GOP mayor in New York, winning just over 50% of the vote against Mark Green. Election returns and exit polling showed that Bloomberg captured one-third of the gay vote, 25% of the African American vote and almost half of the Latino vote
