Despite the Setbacks to Full Equality in California, Arizona, Florida and Arkansas, We Can Celebrate the Victories of Gay Candidates Elected Across US

from the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund:


Dozens of openly lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender candidates won election to public offices across the U.S. on Tuesday, according to the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund. The group, which endorsed a record-breaking 111 candidates in 2008, said more than 70 percent of its endorsed candidates had won their races by early Wednesday.

“This was a watershed election. Our government became more representative and our democracy became stronger. As we near the 30th anniversary of the death of Harvey Milk, it’s enormously gratifying to see his dream realized in so many brave men and women heeding the call to run for office, and doing so openly, honestly and unafraid,” said Chuck Wolfe, president and CEO of the Victory Fund.

Milk, a San Francisco Supervisor who was one of the first openly gay elected officials in the U.S., was shot to death in San Francisco City Hall in November 1978. Milk urged his contemporaries to embrace the power of electoral politics as a path to change.

Among the winners in 2008:

· Jared Polis of Colorado became the first openly gay man elected to the U.S. Congress as a non-incumbent. He joins Rep. Barney Frank and Rep. Tammy Baldwin, both reelected Tuesday night, as the only openly LGBT Members of Congress.

· Kate Brown became the first openly LGBT Secretary of State in the U.S., and the second-highest ranking elected official in the state of Oregon. Brown is openly bisexual.

· Sam Adams was elected mayor of Portland, Oregon earlier in the year. He will become the first openly gay mayor of one of the 30 largest U.S. cities when he’s sworn in next year.

· Jason Bartlett, who came out as gay in his current term, was reelected to the Connecticut State House. He is only the second openly gay African-American state legislator in the nation.

· Thomas Robichaux and Seth Bloom, both gay men, simultaneously became the first-ever openly LGBT elected officials in the state of Louisiana when they were elected to the Orleans Parish School Board in an October primary.

· John Perez became the first openly gay person of color elected to the California Assembly.

· Lupe Valdez was reelected to a second term as sheriff of Dallas County, Texas. First elected in 2004, Valdez was the first woman, the first Latina and the first out lesbian ever to win the post.

· Kevin Beckner won a seat on the Hillsborough County Commission in Florida, unseating an anti-gay incumbent and becoming the first openly LGBT candidate elected in the county.

· Rebecca Kaplan will be the first out lesbian to serve on the Oakland, Calif. City Council after winning her race Tuesday.

In the closing days of the election season Victory Fund candidates in Michigan, Oklahoma, South Carolina and elsewhere were subject to gay-baiting political attacks.

“This election was an affirmation of the African-American civil rights movement that is more than a century old. The LGBT movement is much younger, and it’s clear we still have much work to do to win true equality. The politics of fear and bigotry are not yet behind us, and we saw some heartbreaking examples of that in this election. On a day that demonstrated Americans’ commitment to inclusivity and equality, the sabotage of several openly LGBT candidates and the devastating outcomes of three statewide marriage bans were disappointingly inconsistent. I am confident that history will give us an opportunity to right those wrongs as we continue the journey toward full equality for all Americans,” Wolfe said.

· In Oklahoma, Corporation Commissioner Jim Roth was narrowly defeated in a statewide race after last-minute attack ads and mailers suggested he would push a “homosexual agenda” in his role as a regulator of the state’s energy industry.

· Garnet Lewis, who was seeking a seat in the Michigan State House, was subject to an onslaught of anti-gay attacks in print and radio media outlets during the final week of her campaign. She lost her race.

Full election results are available at www.victoryfund.org. Visit www.GayPolitics.com for information gathered from campaigns throughout the election season.

The Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund works to grow the number of openly lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender elected officials at all levels of government. At its founding in 1991, just 49 openly LGBT elected officials served in the U.S. Today, that number has grown more than 420.