I did a lot of writing on it before the election, but haven't done very much post-game on the District of Columbia municipal elections. Suffice to say my gut feeling is that ultimately voters thought Fenty was too much of a jerk (and he is a jerk) and Gray would get just as much done, but make people feel better about it. Oh, and that many voters feel he paid too much attention to upper and middle-class wards. For my part, for the first time in my life, I was an undecided voter until less than a week before Election Day, when I walked in and pulled the lever jabbed at the touch-screen for Fenty. But the good part is, I only feel about 7% less utility with Gray set to be the next Mayor. That's the nice part about having two fairly good candidates from which to choose, I guess.
What I have been far more interested in talking about is the effect of DC's marriage equality legislation on our municipal elections. And the effect was... minimal. Sorry to disappoint.
After doing some math yesterday, I found that there were seven different candidates who (a) voted for marriage equality twice as DC Councilmembers less than a year ago (Gray, K. Brown, Mendelson, Wells, Thomas Jr., Cheh, Graham) and (b) were on the ballot this cycle.
Every single one of them were re-elected. In two cases- Gray being elected Mayor and Kwame Brown, an At-Large member, being kicked upstairs to be Chairman of the Council- marriage supporters were elected to an even higher office.
This is no small deal. Many of you may think is this a cosmopolitan LGBT paradise, but it's not (I mean that- aside from many parts of this city not being safe to walk down the streets hand in hand with your SO, there have been numerous anti-LGBT hate crimes over the past few years even in the most pro-LGBT parts of the city). Like I wrote in criticizing the "Democrats from NYC" moniker, there are no "Democrats from DC" in terms of automatically being pro-LGBT. The case in point I want to point to is Harry Thomas, Jr., who voted for equality, and who represents Ward 5, which at the 2000 was 88% African-American. In Thomas Jr.'s own words while speaking to Metro Weekly journalist Chris Geidner, Ward 5 has
a large African-American population, a large Catholic community, a large Baptist and religious community.
In other words, what conventional wisdom would tell us spells sure defeat for a candidate who supports same-sex marriage. In fact, National Organization for Marriage and their ally, local homophobe majordomo Bishop Harry Jackson, thought so.
Here's Jackson as quoted in The American Prospect, following the DC Council votes:
"In future races, religious people are going to start going after people's political careers," Jackson, the head of Stand4MarriageDC, told U.S. News and World Report. "You're going to see a bloodletting that is going to mark a new style of engagement for people who are against same-sex marriage."
NOM and Jackson found a candidate in Delano Hunter, a local activist, to take up their banner of "preserving traditional marriage". NOM dropped $140,000 worth of contributions, direct mail, and automated calls- no small amount- towards getting Hunter elected.
Here's an example:
He attended their final rally at the Capitol on their epic failure of a bus tour, which I covered at NOMTourTracker.com. He even conned the Washington Post editorial board into muddling his homophobia while endorsing him, which I documented here. NOM's president, Brian Brown, said:
"If we defeat Harry Thomas," Brown said, "the lie that you can vote for same-sex marriage and there won't be consequences will be done away with."
Hunter was their guy and they went all in for him in a district that many considered to be tailor-made for such a stand. They made it a front-line issue.
Hunter got just 19.33% of the vote. Harry Thomas, Jr. was re-elected with 61.61% of the vote.
I've seen candidates with no website who didn't knock on a single door get a higher percentage. It's what you get for breathing. Actually, it's what you get for not breathing too, since there are dead candidates who do better.
And it's not just DC. In Maine legislative elections, we nearly all of our supporters who voted for the marriage bill and were on the ballot. The same is Massachusetts among those who refused to support putting the issue to the ballot. And equally important is that people just don't care all that much. In Iowa, a majority of the public surveyed said they were more focused on the economy and jobs. As Adam notes in this piece, black voters may be more likely to oppose marriage. But in some of the wards in this city, particularly on the east side of the Anacostia with double-digit unemployment, devastatingly high HIV infection rates, and crumbling, failing schools- they also just don't care that much. NOM sure sent a message- just the wrong kind.
The solid record of marriage supporters being re-elected continues. I hope elected officials and candidates other places like New York State take note, and have the conviction to do the right thing.
I haven't been around as much the last few weeks because I've been guest-blogging at NOM Tour Tracker, a project of Courage Campaign Institute's Prop 8 Trial Tracker. NOM Tour Tracker was founded to cover anti-equality National Organization for Marriage and their "Summer for low turnout in empty parking lots with crazy Christian right supporters Marriage" tour across 17 states and DC from mid-July through mid-August. The tour was meant to scare elected officials into anti-equality positions, and convince voters that those who don't support the freedom to marry for same-sex couples were on the attack from vicious, God-hating homosexuals.
They put out this promo video today, which is so bad both in terms of rhetoric and production quality that it makes my head hurt (and, as Rick says, a perfect opportunity for a spoof):
What NOM didn't tell is a couple of things:
1. Their tour turned out to be a failure of epic proportions in terms of turnout. I published a summary of the statistics here, but to recap: they were outnumbered by pro-equality supporters, both LGBT and straight allies, at nearly every single stop- sometimes by factors of 3-1 (Indianapolis, IN) or 8-1 (Madison, WI). They held three separate sparsely-attended "rallies" in parking lots- you read that right, parking lots. The overall counts were 3,419 equality supporters to 1,275 NOM supporters.
2. The crazies became the ugly face of NOM, such as Larry Adams with his "The solution to gay marriage=[noose]" sign:
or the one from the American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property arguing that a family without a mother and a father is no family at all:
or this man in Harrisburg obsessed with female/female sex and closing down porn shops:
or the woman in Raleigh who spouted incredibly offensive stereotypes about black communities, and that children of same-sex parents were unhappy children:
They came along with the speakers NOM had at it rallies, like Mary Forrester, who spouted debunked "research" like the life span of an average "homosexual" is some 40 years younger than a straight male (research so debunked that the Christian Action League actually pulled it from their website):
3. The nation actually moved towards supporting equality, as the now-famous CNN poll demonstrated that a majority believes same-sex marriage should be a Constitutional right.
And no amount of bad video teleprompter reading by Brian or ugly rhetoric and production quality can spin what their tour amounted to: an epic #FAIL.
Equality supporters on the steps of the Rhode Island State Capitol
Providence was one of the more controversial stops on the NOM's "Summer for Marriage" tour, the scene of some tense confrontations: equality supporters shouting at Brown, two men praying in tongues, Brown spinning wildly regarding attendance, etc.
However, a new poll out this morning shows the issue being debated- marriage equality- isn't too controversial at all. The Rhode Island Marriage Coalition released a new poll conducted by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner showing that 59% of Rhode Island voters support the freedom to marry for same-sex couples- a 10% increase from the last poll conducted in 2008. When individuals are told it would not impinge on a church's right to marry who they chose- which is part of the recently enacted law here in DC- support increases to a remarkable 66%.
Some of the poll's major findings:
The new pro-equality majority is demographically diverse. It includes Catholics (57 percent), women over 50 (56 percent), independent voters (58 percent) and parents (64 percent).
Support increases further with First Amendment reassurance. When told that marriage equality would not infringe on a church's right to marry whom they choose, support increases to 66 percent overall and 63 percent among Catholics.
Politically, this is a net positive vote for state lawmakers. Asked about the impact of a vote for equality on their support for, 27 percent say they would be more inclined to support a candidate, 24 percent are less inclined, and nearly half (46 percent) say it would make no difference. Just 13 percent are much less likely to support a pro-equality candidate.
In Rhode Island, the LGBT community is the mainstream. Overall, 79 percent of voters here know a gay or lesbian person and 45 percent describe their feeling toward gay and lesbian people as favorable, while just 18 percent are critical. Seventy-five percent believe "homosexuality is a way of life that should be accepted by society."
It's a big step forward.
On the politics of it, Gov. Carcieri, a horrible anti-LGBT elected official who even vetoed a bill to extend the right to make burial decisions of a loved one to same-sex couples, along with a bill to expand the definition of hate crimes to include gender identity/expression, is thankfully term-limited. Both leading contenders to replace him- State Treasurer Frank Caprio, a Democrat, and former Sen. Lincoln Chafee, an Independent- have said they would sign a bill legalizing the freedom to marry for same-sex couples. The Rhode Island State House Speaker, Gordon Fox, is openly gay, and it's expected equality supporters are very likely to have the votes in the State Legislature.
That brings me to another issue, which is the importance of gubernatorial races this year. A lot of anger poured out after Hawaii Gov. Lingle's veto of a civil unions bill recently, including calls for a boycott. She is also leaving office, and now-former Rep. and Democratic candidate Neil Abercrombie is the only candidate who has said he will sign the bill and does not want to put the issue to the ballot. In Minnesota, where NOM just launched new radio ads attacking the Democratic and Independent candidates for governor over their support for the freedom to marry and lack of support for a constitutional amendment, we have another pivotal race, as the person who sits in the governor's chair could be the one to sign or veto a bill legalizing same-sex marriage. The same could be true in Rhode Island.
The point is that while it is (thankfully) a year free of anti-equality ballot initiatives like Maine's Proposition 1 or California's Proposition 8, this is not a "bye week" for our movement out in the states. There are still key gubernatorial elections that could decide the fate of marriage equality and civil unions in states, and it's critical to keep an eye on them.
If you didn't see Freedom to Marry's introductory post this morning on their summer tour, you can read it here.-Adam
Earlier this week, Freedom to Marry teamed up with local and state equality groups to launch Summer for Marriage, a cross-country series of events about the importance of marriage to gay and lesbian couples. The tour also counters the anti-gay bus tour being sponsored by the National Organization for Marriage (NOM). NOM is headed by Brian Brown who recently called for an amendment to the U.S. Constitution banning same-sex couples from marrying.
The first stop on the equality tour was in Augusta, Maine. Marriage supporters were joined by Gov. John Baldacci who called the marriage movement "It was one of the most passionate, committed causes that I've been a part of, and proud to be a part of." Gov. Baldacci signed the marriage bill into law in 2009 that was overturned by votes in a ballot fight partially financed by NOM. Adam provided great on-the-ground coverage of the Maine ballot campaign here.
A coalition of groups led by Equality Maine is working together to win back marriage for gay and lesbian couples. The coalition held a press conference on Wednesday attended by rough 100 marriage supporters and featuring same-sex couples and elected officials who support marriage equality.
The FOX TV series Glee broke new ground this week, and it's not because they had a Lady Gaga episode. As any viewer who watches the show would know, that idea was just painfully predictable. No, the highlight of the episode (which can be viewed here) was when Kurt's father - played by Mike O'Malley - stood up to Finn for using the word "faggy." Watched by over 11 million viewers, you can't help choking up at the scene - and wish that every gay teen had a Dad like Burt Hummell. But for a show about a high school choir that is popular in the LGBT community, there is much more Glee can do to move hearts and minds. Kurt has a tough time growing up in Lima, Ohio - beaten up at school by the jocks, while coping with his own identity. It raises the question: why do we never meet Rachel's "two gay Dads," and wouldn't they be terrific role models for Kurt?
Michael Jones at Change.org raises the question of whether the Catholic Archdiocese will follow through on its threat to end its social services now that the marriage equality bill has passed the DC Council. In response to today's vote, the Archdiocese released a statement that, to me, didn't firmly state a decision one way or another. I actually think that if I were the Archbishop, I would rather avoid this choice altogether and wait until the last possible minute- e.g., when the bill finally becomes law. That won't happen until it passes the Congressional review process, and even then there are some landmines around the appropriations process and a potential lawsuit. So I don't expect to see much soon, but HRC has a petition out to the Archbishop anyway. Once again, I was heartened by how many members of the DC Council- Democrats and Independents- told the Archdiocese to get lost and passed the bill with no changes. Not something you'd see many places.
Also, National Organization for Marriage blasted its list today, urging people to tell their member of Congress to stop the marriage bill during the 30-day review period. As an organizing strategy, that is almost certainly not going to happen in the next 30 legislative days, as bills to overturn the law must be passed in both houses and signed by the President. I imagine it is more geared towards screwing with the legislation through the appropriations process down the line, and making their donors happy.
Also, please take a second to thank your DC Councilmember if you live here. A few Councilmembers stuck their necks out. Here's a list, and here's some help if you're not sure which Ward you're in. Remember the at-large members, too.
Got off a call on the Maine campaign to protect marriage equality, with a few updates:
I wrote last week that the campaign had a $10,000 matching grant from a donor in Maine. The donor then increased the match to $20,000, and we hit that by this past Friday. Thanks to all who gave, that is huge.
The co-chair of the anti-marriage equality group in Maine, Stand For Marriage Maine Coalition, compared LGBT couples to trees, saying:
A barren field full of stumps has had all its trees treated equally, to be sure. But that makes as much sense as looking at the extreme changes to Maine's marriage law approved recently by Gov. Baldacci and calling it marriage equality.
AUGUSTA, MAINE -- Fred Karger, founder of Californians Against Hate, an LGBT watchdog group, sent a letter detailing alleged election law violations by Stand for Marriage Maine to the Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices. The request for an immediate investigation was sent yesterday to the Jonathan Wayne, the Commission's Executive Director and a copy to attorney General Janet Mills.
The nine page complaint (below) and fourteen attachments spell out how the National Organization for Marriage (NOM), the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland, Knights of Columbus of Washington, DC and James Dobson's Focus on the Family had contributors give the money to their organizations, and then they in turn gave the money to the Stand for Marriage Maine in order to hide the identity of the donors.
[...]
"The Church of Jesus Christ of Later-day Saints (Mormon Church) created the National Organization for Marriage specifically to qualify and pass Prop 8 in California. Now they have NOM doing their bidding in Maine, Iowa and all over the Northeast," concluded Karger.
The campaign has set up a "Volunteer Vacation", a great idea, to help folks who want to help with the campaign go to Maine for a week. Immersing onesself in a campaign is really a great, and useful, experience. I did so in 2006 in NY-29 (Massa) managing field and not only was it really a get-away, I learned a lot.
I want to reiterate that this is literally a 10-week campaign until Election Day. It's going to go by fast. The campaign has set up four weeks in October to work, and will provide you with housing. We're also working with TravelForChange.org, which received donations of 11 million airline miles to help Obama volunteers travel last cycle, to help folks financially get to Maine. More on this soon. If you're all set to go with booking your own plane ticket now, sign up here. I'm looking at going up in late October. As Joe Sudbay (who's from Maine) wrote, the folks on the ground are the best, most experienced pros in the state, so you'll be in good hands.
If you haven't already, sign up for the No On 1 campaign's e-mail list. And ask a few friends to as well.
When I was at Netroots Nation last week, I sat in on a meeting organized to work on the No On 1/Protect Maine Equality campaign to protect the recently-passed marriage equality legislation in Maine from repeal. Aside from being a gay man and caring about this very much, I was impressed by one big thing: that in what is an election less than ten weeks out, the No On 1 campaign sent four staff members, including their campaign manager and finance director. I'm not much the cynical "oh, they've just after the netroots ATM" type. Rather, I've talked to my friend Joe Sudbay over at AMERICABlog about them, who is from Maine, and knows many of the staff personally. These folks respect the netroots, respect our ideas and suggestions on the campaign (including lessons learned from folks who worked on Prop 8 in California), and are asking in good faith for our help.
Exhibit A is their first TV spot now up, which gets everything right about how to get at the "ick" factor of LGBT couples in an ad that the Prop 8 committee got wrong.
It shows straight individuals and straight families allied with LGBT couples (did you catch the word "together" repeated three times?). It shows LGBT couples in loving relationships. The Maine residents featured talk about progressive values of respect, fairness, and how LGBT families can make loving and committed families too. I watched it several times.
Losing Prop 8 hurt, and the one other thing I sensed at the meeting was that there are a ton of folks itching to get it right- uphold marriage in a statewide vote, and send a message to the rest of the nation. And right the mistakes we made in California. I want to do that as much as I am concerned that if we lose a second vote, it will not only depress activism and enthusiasm on our side, but will embolden the hate groups and individuals to keep on giving when one of them points to two major successful campaigns in the last two years to say, look, we know how to win these things. Give to us and we'll make sure we get it done in other states. And folks who are undecided around the country will take note of the results.
One of the worst results is that it will make the Obama Administration, which is already cautious and timid on LGBT issues, even more cautious.
We can't let that happen. The right-wingers- National Organization for Marriage, Focus on the Family, Knights of Columbus, the Catholic Diocese have already pumped hundreds of thousands in. The Mormons have done it through more covert means. The same consulting firm that ran the Yes on 8 campaign in California- Schubert Flint- is consulting for them. We have to match it. And I just learned that if we raise $10,000 by Friday, a Maine resident will double it. Let's get it started.
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