LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth |
Capital Letters |
by Hastings Wyman |
Queer Politics is Local Politics Lest we forget that not all governmental decision-making affecting the gay community occurs in Washington, D.C., here's a rundown of a few of the many state legislative races involving openly gay candidates this year: California: Move Over, Jesse Ventura It's not clear whether state Assembly candidate Liz Michael is shocking straight voters because she's a transsexual lesbian, or shocking the gay community because she's a Republican. In any case, Michael, a former professional wrestler and Wharton School of Business graduate, is making her fourth try for public office. She's conservative on economics but a liberal on social issues. Among her beliefs: "the right to define one's gender rests with the individual." Michael is an underdog, but "she's an extremely aggressive campaigner," especially on the Internet, says a gay GOP insider. Her 43rd District includes the gay-heavy Silver Lake, Hollywood, and other LA areas. Minnesota: Fruit Basket Turnover State Senate President Allen Spear, one of the nation's first openly gay state legislators, has announced that he'll retire when his term expires this year, setting off a series of contests for open seats that could put at least one other gay person in the legislature. Terrill Brown, president of the state's Log Cabin Republicans, is running for Spear's Senate seat. Though he'll have a tough time in the heavily Democratic district, he gets high marks from GOPers, straight and gay, and, says one Log Cabiner, "may make some waves." One of the other contenders for Spear's seat, however, is straight Democratic state Rep. Myron Orfield, whose Senate candidacy will leave a vacancy in his House district. In that race, Minneapolis City Council aide Scott Dibble, who is also openly gay, has an excellent shot at victory. In another Senate contest for an open seat, lesbian Lisa Vecoli, also a Minneapolis City Council aide, is a strong contender. New Hampshire: Post Coming Out Last year, when the New Hampshire legislature considered a bill to repeal the state's ban on adoptions and foster parenting by same-sex couples, Democratic state Sen. Rick Trombly announced he was gay in the midst of the Senate floor debate. The bill passed both houses of the legislature and was signed into law by Gov. Jeanne Shaheen. Trombly, the state's only openly gay legislator, has a stellar resumehe served in the state House of Representatives for 16 years and is now the Democratic whip in the even-divided upper chamber. This year, Trombly will face voters for the first time as an openly gay candidate; his opponent is the anti-gay ex-senator he beat in 1998. Trombly has been endorsed by the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund. Let's hope his constituents do likewise. New Mexico: Lesbian to the Senate? When Liz Stefanics ran for the New Mexico Public Regulatory Commission in 1998, the vote was so close it took a recount to confirm that she lost. Now she's running to reclaim her old Santa Fe-based seat in the state Senate, which she lost by 54 votes in 1996 in a Democratic primary in which her sexual orientation became an issue (she's a lesbian). She faces that same opponent June 6. Stefanics has served as executive director of a nonprofit agency that helps disabled, low-income and elderly people and New Mexico AIDS Services. If Stefanics, who has been endorsed by the Victory Fund, is elected, she would be the Land of Enchantment's only openly gay legislator. Queer and There The Republican operatives who are running Sen. John McCain's campaign in South Carolina point out that "a lot of anonymous faxes" went to Republican activists in the state reporting that the presidential candidate had met with the gay Log Cabin Republicans. McCain insiders, however, don't think the anti-gay ploy "got much traction," for two reasons. First, McCain has some highly placed Christian conservatives on his side. Second, "There's a real danger in doing that" for the Bush campaign, a Palmetto State McCain operative told me. "It's one thing to espouse traditional family issues; it's another to engage in demagoguery." Stay tuned. Guess the name of a gay World War II machine-gunner who was wounded in combat, returned to U.S. shores in a body cast, and later won the Bronze Star and Purple Heart. According to Robert Scheer in the Los Angeles Times, it was the late Malcolm Forbes, father of Republican presidential candidate Steve Forbes. But Forbes the younger, who's trying to garner support from the religious right, supports the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy that has increased the expulsion of gay service members from the U.S. Military. They don't make 'em like they used to. What Joe and Jane Six-Pack Are Thinking Primaries and caucuses aside, the bigger picture illustrates that gays are gaining in public acceptance with U.S. voters. Public Perspective, the magazine of the Roper Center of Public Opinion and Polling, devoted its first cover story of the new millennium to public attitudes toward gay people and gay issues. In "From Outlaws to In-Laws," Kenneth Sherrill and Alan Yang observe, "While Americans are not prepared to show moral approval to homosexuality, they areby increasingly sizable majorities prepared to extend equal rights." Thus, in 1977, 56 percent believed gay people should have equal job opportunities; by 1999, the number had grown to a whopping 83 percent. And the number of those who disapprove of homosexuality, while still high, is decreasing. From 1986 to 1998, those who believe living in a same-sex relationship is "not acceptable" declined from 71 percent to 53 percent. Polling data also confirms what we always thoughtthat once straight people get to know us, they are less inclined to tolerate anti-gay bias. Adults who don't have a friend, co-worker or relative who they know to be gay or lesbian are less inclined to support gay rights than those who know someone gay. For example, only 40 percent of those who don't know any gay people support gays in the military, while 76 percent of those who do know some of us support our right to serve. On the negative side, straight people don't really want to hear about us. Nearly half of adults believe popular entertainment has "too many gay themes and characters" and that "too much attention" is being paid to "homosexual rights." And a survey, conducted in January 2000 for Newsweek, found that on a list of 13 issues respondents consider very important, "gay rights" ranked last. Of interest: 75 percent of gay and lesbian adults believe homosexuality is "something a person is born with," compared to 8 percent who believe it is determined by upbringing and 11 percent who say it is a result of both. Hastings Wyman publishes Southern Political Report, a nonpartisan biweekly political newsletter. He can be reached care of Letters from CAMP Rehoboth or at HWymanSPR@aol.com. |
LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth, Vol. 10, No. 1, Feb. 4, 2000. |