The Bilerico Project

Will DC's Old Boy Network Block First Openly Gay US Senator?

Chuck Wolfe — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 14:00:00 -0500

Early money is often a strong predictor of success in electoral politics. That's why the impressive second quarter fundraising numbers just released by Rep. Tammy Baldwin give many people hope that she will become America's first openly LGBT senator next year. With more than $500,000 raised in Q2 - most of it in June alone - and an impressive $1.14 million in the bank, Baldwin has proven she can raise the money necessary to win the open Wisconsin Senate seat long held by her friend, Sen. Herb Kohl, who announced his retirement last May.

The LGBT community, women's groups and progressive allies across Wisconsin and America will have Baldwin's back in this fight, but some political elites in Washington are casting about for an alternative, unconvinced an out lesbian can win. They're wrong to wonder, and it's time we called out that kind of political homophobia.

Baldwin made history in 1998 as the first openly LGBT candidate to win election to Congress as a non-incumbent, and that honesty has been the hallmark of her career in the House. She's earned her reputation as a fighter for Wisconsin's working families, for expanded access to health care and fairness for America's farmers, but she has also never failed to speak up and speak out for women and LGBT Americans - not only as an ally, but as an authentic voice for whom the dream of full equality is personal.

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Who was the first openly LGBT candidate elected in the U.S.?

Chuck Wolfe — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 09:30:00 -0500

This week we asked Gay Politics Report readers who they thought was the first openly LGBT candidate ever elected to public office in the U.S. (Poll results here.)

The five choices included the first five openly gay and lesbian candidates to win office anywhere in the country. Readers were asked to pick who they thought was first from among Harvey Milk, Elaine Noble, Kathy Kozachenko, Allan Spear and Jim Yeadon. Almost 1,200 readers responded.

Here's the answer to the question:

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Who's afraid of equality?

Chuck Wolfe — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 10:00:00 -0500

If you follow LGBT politics closely, you know the polling numbers by heart. Two thirds of Americans believe same-sex couples deserve legal protections in the form of civil unions or marriage. About 75 percent believe gays and lesbians should be able to serve openly in the military. Even more say employers shouldn't be able to fire people based on their sexual orientation or gender identity.

In the last decade these numbers have moved in only one direction--toward fairness and inclusion. And yet, Congress still hasn't enacted significant protections for LGBT Americans. Why?

Fear, mostly. Fear that despite their distinct minority status, anti-LGBT extremists wield inordinate power when directly challenged. Swat that nest, the thinking goes, and the hornets will swarm. Incumbents, especially this year, aren't eager to add perceived obstacles to reelection.

LGBT activists often debate whether this fear is rational. On one side are Beltway types who see it up close every day. It's the elephant in the room at every conversation with a moderate Democratic senator from the Midwest, a gay Republican staffer for a House member, and even White House strategists.

Whether one believes it's rational or not, this fear exists, and it's part of working in LGBT politics in Washington. It must be understood, or the conversation stops.

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Our missing voice in the Senate

Chuck Wolfe — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 11:30:00 -0500

John McCain has become a leading Senate opponent of repealing the military's ban on openly gay servicemembers, even as top Pentagon officials say they want Congress to repeal the law that makes them enforce the policy. Many believe a repeal effort will pass in the House of Representatives, but right now it appears most Senate Republicans, led by McCain, and a handful of fearful Democrats might come together to block repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

Why?

The House and Senate are very different institutions with different rules and different politics at play, but something else separates the two legislative bodies: there has never been an openly gay or lesbian U.S. Senator, whereas six openly gay and lesbian U.S. Representatives have served in the House. Sometimes called members of "the world's most exclusive club," no U.S. Senator has ever had to interact with an openly gay colleague with the same vote, the same voice and the same power as him or her. That's a problem our community should work to fix.

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Would Harvey Milk be proud of us?

Chuck Wolfe — Fri, 22 May 2009 09:30:00 -0500

Shortly before he died in 1978, openly gay San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk made some extraordinarily prescient audio recordings. On one recording, he famously said, "If a bullet should enter my brain, let it destroy every closet door."

Today would have been Harvey's 79th birthday but for Dan White's bullet.

May 22nd, Harvey Milk Day, is a good time to reflect on whether we have heeded his call to live openly and fight hard for true equality. Would Harvey be proud of where we are in 2009? The truth is I think he'd be celebrating on Castro Street some days and marching up the National Mall on others:

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Where we stand on the next Supreme Court justice

Chuck Wolfe — Thu, 14 May 2009 16:30:00 -0500

The Washington press corps was briefly fascinated last week by the idea of an openly gay or lesbian Supreme Court nominee. The spark that lit the media forest fire was an innocent-enough post on the Victory Fund's blog, GayPolitics.com, pointing out that at least one possible nominee on media shortlists was an open lesbian.

The resulting mainstream media coverage made it seem like we had launched a campaign to pressure President Obama to pick an openly gay person for the job. We did not.

What we did do was respond to multiple media inquiries to emphasize that qualified individuals who happen to be openly gay deserve consideration, and that their sexual orientation should not bar them from public service. We believe this not just about judicial appointments, but also about the thousands of Executive Branch appointments President Obama will make throughout his presidency.

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I Address the Obama-Biden Transition Team

Chuck Wolfe — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 10:00:00 -0500

Editor's note: The Obama-Biden Transition Team invited dozens of LGBT movement leaders to their offices to discuss the role the incoming administration can play in securing equality for all Americans. Chuck Wolfe, president and CEO of the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund and Leadership Institute, talked about the community's expectations surrounding the thousands of presidential appointments Barack Obama will make throughout his term. These are the comments he delivered to transition leaders:

I would like to acknowledge the historic nature of this meeting.

Thank you for having us here today. When President Carter had the first LGBT meeting at the White House there was considerable hope in the LGBT movement that we could have a role in our government. Since then there has been significant progress, and many of the trailblazers are here, but our hopes have not yet been realized.

So in the spirit of honest communication, if America's promise is going to apply to all Americans it is time that LGBT people be appointed to the Cabinet and to the highest ranks of government service. In fact, the time for closeted service in the military and government is over.

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Help Barack Obama lead the nation

Chuck Wolfe — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 16:00:00 -0500

For almost a year the Presidential Appointments Project has been asking LGBT Americans to consider serving the next president of the United States. Starting right now, President-Elect Obama will appoint thousands of people to help him lead and change the country. The point of this important project, a community-wide effort, is simple. We will ensure the next president has a qualified, vetted pool of LGBT candidates for presidential appointments, and we will make sure he has every opportunity to include LGBT voices on the team that will implement his agenda.

If you haven't already, I urge you to consider public service during what promises to be an exciting and challenging four years. The two-step process to apply through the Project begins at www.glli.org/presidential.

Garnet Lewis is the real deal

Chuck Wolfe — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 11:00:00 -0500

At the Victory Fund, we don't endorse "sayers." We endorse "doers" - people who aren't content to sit back and complain while other people get their hands dirty. In that spirit, I'd like to introduce you to one of our candidates - Garnet Lewis, who is running for the Michigan House of Representatives.

Garnet is the real deal. She decided to run for office after the 2004 election, announced her candidacy in 2007 and has been knocking on doors in her district since last December. I'd like to let her do the talking and explain what it means to be a candidate for public office.

The night I decided to run for office I was sitting on the couch watching the presidential election returns in 2004.

I had become more involved that year, though mostly online. 2004 was the year Michigan's marriage amendment was on the ballot and I worked to spread the word on that.

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Remembering Allan Spear

Chuck Wolfe — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 11:00:00 -0500

Imagine the courage it must have taken for an elected state senator to come out of the closet in 1974. Just five years after New York City police raided the Stonewall Inn on that historic night in June, Allan Spear told his local paper that he was gay, becoming the first gay man to serve in any state legislature.

Even more remarkable, Allan's declaration did not end his career. In fact, he went on to become the Senate President, and served until 2000. Today, he is revered as a leader who helped shape Minnesota, and he's among the trailblazers in gay politics who inspire the work of the Victory Fund. We learned this weekend that Allan Spear died at the age of 71 from complications after heart surgery.

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My comments at the LGBT Delegates' Lunch

Chuck Wolfe — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 18:30:00 -0500

First, I want to say thank you to Chairman Barney Frank (how sweet it is to say that) and to Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin.

Last year Barney celebrated his 20th anniversary as an out official and in a few months Tammy will mark her 10 year anniversary in the House. No two people demonstrate more the power of LGBT leadership... what I call Gay Politics... than Barney and Tammy. As our heroes and role models it is fitting that they have brought us together to honor and celebrate the contributions of LGBT leaders - both to our party and our nation.

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Will gay Republicans tolerate the Barnes Option?

Chuck Wolfe — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 14:30:00 -0500

The LGBT community has grown accustomed to the tired tradition of anti-gay politicos scaring the bejesus out of straight America in order to turn out voters. But the conventional wisdom, before this past week anyway, was that the tactic had played itself out in presidential politics.

Now, longtime Washington pundit Fred Barnes has openly suggested that Sen. John McCain's best shot at winning the White House may be to ramp up fear of gay people to excite the Republican base. What's more is that McCain himself is said to have promised social conservative leaders that he'll ratchet up his rhetoric on issues important to them. He also recently promised his support of the California ballot initiative to roll back marriage rights for same sex couples.

So, here we go again?

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Historic night for the south

Chuck Wolfe — Wed, 07 May 2008 11:00:00 -0500

While the presidential primary race is drawing this morning's big headlines, last night was also remarkable for two other exciting political achievements. Falls Church, Virginia voters elected Lawrence Webb to their city council, making him the state's first openly gay African-American elected official. Lawrence ran a fantastic campaign, our donors stepped up, and Victory Fund staff were on the ground before the sun rose yesterday morning to help turn out voters. In the end, Lawrence won by just 39 votes.

In Alabama yesterday, the House of Representatives passed a bill adding sexual orientation to the state's hate crime laws. That's pretty astonishing, but even more important is the reason for the one-vote margin of victory: a Republican member who has become friends with Rep. Patricia Todd, the legislature's sole openly gay member, crossed party lines to vote with the Democrats. The bill may not get through the Senate this year, but the progress is undeniable, and having an openly LGBT legislator made a huge difference.

An open letter to Sally Kern

Chuck Wolfe — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 16:00:00 -0500

Dear Sally,

I saw the statement you released yesterday in which you said your "hate speech" is merely "free speech." That's kind of gross, but it's also beside the point.

The point is this: your words have consequences. Ask Judy Shepherd -- her son, Matthew, was viciously murdered ten years ago by people who think like you. Ask the parents of Lawrence King, an openly gay eighth-grader who was gunned down in school last month by a classmate whose fear was stoked by words like yours. Just this past fall, Steven Domer, a 62-year-old gay man was brutally murdered right in your home state of Oklahoma.

What you said is not okay, but that's not because most sensible people disagree with it. It's because your words give aid and comfort to those who would hurt, maim and even kill people who are different from you. Comparing gays and lesbians to cancer and terrorism and saying they are the "biggest threat to America," gives license to others to treat us that way, especially given the leadership position you hold in your community.

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Out black candidates can bridge a divide

Chuck Wolfe — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 17:49:55 -0500

Enemies of the LGBT community have long sought to divide Americans for political gain. In recent years, they’ve worked hard to break up a progressive coalition that has included gay people and the African-American civil rights community. African-American gays and lesbians understandably are sometimes caught in the middle, and that has to be a painful place to be. So what’s to be done?

Our friends and partners at the National Black Justice Coalition are hard at work on this. Their annual Black Church Summit and the upcoming Power of Us conference in Baltimore help people face down the ugly tactics of the hard right. In fact, they’re sponsoring a special Candidate & Campaign Training for people of color by the Gay & Lesbian Leadership Institute (GLLI) in conjunction with the Power of Us conference. Together, we’ll work to train out candidates and campaign workers who can bring change to their own communities.

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