Gay voters are sick and tired of being taken for granted:
If Democratic candidates are counting on long-standing support from gay voters to help stave off big losses on Nov. 2, they could be in for a surprise. Across the country, activists say gay voters are angry—at the lack of progress on issues from eliminating employment discrimination to uncertainty over serving in the military to the economy—and some are choosing to sit out this election or look for other candidates.
President Barack Obama’s hometown of Chicago, with its large, politically and socially active gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community, offers a snapshot of what some are calling the “enthusiasm gap” between voters who came out strong for Obama and other Democrats in 2008 and re-energized Republican base voters, including tea party enthusiasts who say they are primed to storm the polls. It didn’t help that the controversy over the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy for gays erupted less than two weeks before the election, when a judge overturned it, then Obama’s justice department decided to fight the judge’s decision…. “It’s all talk and nothing’s happening, and I’m just over it,” said Coatar, 62, a church business manager who said she’s as concerned about health care and homelessness as about gay issues. “I don’t know who to vote for and the election is a week away.”
Wyatt, 35, a maintenance worker at the Center on Halsted, a community center serving Chicago’s GLBT community, said politicians only court gay voters at election time. “Once they’re elected, they’re not fighting for things like civil unions or same-sex marriage or ending ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ because they’re hot-button issues,” said Wyatt, who usually supports Democrats. “We’re just used as a piggyback for them to get into office. It’s absurd.”
Whether or not that’s the case, Wyatt isn’t the only one who feels that way. And in places like Cook County, Ill., where the gay population represents about 7 percent of voters, that could mean the difference between victory and defeat in some races, said Rick Garcia, director of public policy for Equality Illinois. One of those races is a much-watched and close battle for Obama’s old Senate seat between Democrat Alexi Giannoulias and Republican Mark Kirk. “If (candidates) can mobilize the gay community and get them out to vote, it could make all the difference in the world in some of these key races,” said Garcia.
the Republican party has a long tradition of embracing the members of the GLBT community.
How nice it must be to only have one issue.If you just focus on DADT or abortion(or whatever cause it is that effects only you and people like you), you don’t have to think about things like health care, the environment, the economy, war, immigration, or anybody else really. It must be so liberating.
Wow montagua, you are seriously a naive asshole. It must be so liberating.
BruceWang, I don’t see the GLBT rights as a petty issue. In fact, I think DADT is total bullshit. I just think this sort of myopia is going to serve one purpose: getting us all fucked to death!
Also, name-calling on the interweb is dumb. You shouldn’t do it.
Effecting any positive change for the LGBT community will have to come from the community exercising its power as a group. Withholding votes from Dems, who have been unwilling to fight our battles, sends a fairly clear message of what we stand for as a community.
Montagua, your comment comes across that we should vote for Dems because it serves “the greater good,” which I don’t agree with.
This is another one where you more or less can’t win. The Democrats make a lot of pretty talk, but don’t follow through. The Republicans will use hatred of you to win further votes. The solution? I don’t have one.
Read David Mixner’s “Friends In High Places” some time. It’s about how some heavy-hitting gay politicos helped get Clinton into office, and what happened after that…
Sorry if name calling on the internet is dumb, but picking on a struggling minority and saying we only care for one issue is bullshit. Would you say the same if African Americans were talking about wanting to know their candidates thoughts on racial issues? It doesn’t matter what your answer is. Yeah, it’s my minority that you were picking on and yeah, I felt that defensive ‘no you are!’ that I felt in high school when being bullied.
I had doubts about Obama back in 2008, but Dan accused me of heresy. It’s hard for me to take him seriously on these issues now.
BruceWang, I’m sorry you felt bullied, and it wasn’t my intention to pick on anybody. I’m just a little frustrated that people who have neither of our best interests in mind seem to be doing an effective job of “divide and conquer”.
I agree with Montagua. This country has bigger fish to fry right now. All of humanities rights are being infringed on by banksters, and warmongers. Or, perhaps gays and lesbians can enthusiastically serve in the military police state being built around us by both parties in the near future.
It’s a sad reality of many single-issue voters or even those with a simple passion for something. It’s certainly not isolated to the LGBT community. Cannabis legalization voters, environmental voters, pro-choice/pro-life voters, all sorts of folks on both sides of the political aisle.
How many times has a candidate told a small group of pro-legalization voters s/he will support legalization only to then do nothing? How many members of Congress were elected promising to fight to stop climate change and then didn’t do a damn thing to pass a climate bill?
It’s a huge indictment of our political process and the impact that money has on turning it into a favor-trading, gladhanding, go-along-to-get-along clusterf*&% of intransigence.
This is a little ridiculous.
It would be a true waste to hand the election over to someone who is ultra religious or conservative. We are going to need ALL the support we can get on November 2nd… LGBT or otherwise. I hope that LGBT and other “minority” groups, like Latinos, make the same assessment.
Wading in to the battle between Bruce and Monty here, Monty cites a bunch of other issues that he says gay-supporters should also be concerned about, but Democrats have been equally disappointing and even counterproductive on those issues as they have been about gay rights.
Democrats have done nothing with their majority and blamed the GOP minority. When they have passed something it’s always been a step backward for progressive causes, such as the horrible health care bill that forces us all into the insurance industry’s arms with no public option, and with additional restrictions on abortion to boot. Democrats take our votes for granted.
Ultimately, voting for Democrats is only a defensive game, choosing a lesser evil. They will push our causes back only slightly more slowly than the Republicans will. If we want to go on the offensive and advance our causes rather than play defensive all the time, we need to exercise our power. That means punishing bad Democrats, such as my representative, Earl Blumenauer, who violated a pledge to oppose any health care bill that didn’t include a public option, and didn’t return donations that were in support of that pledge. But what we need to do even more is find and vigorously support progressive primary challengers, candidates who promise to do what we expect of them and have the reputations to make them credible.
Democrats don’t really win elections anymore, Republicans only lose them. Democrats don’t go on the offensive. They’re in power and they’re still on the defensive. Only we can turn this around.
In short, I flip my hair at the dems.
Guspasho: agreed. There’s nothing wrong with acting like a majority, and somehow lately, the Dems never do. They should always act like their majority won’t last, because it probably won’t.
Oh: and quit embarrassing yourself trying to suck up to evangelicals. They’ve already got a party, and they’ll never trust you, no matter what you do.
The system is working for rich people. Don’t worry–it gets better.