AGLBICAL

MESSAGE FROM HRC PRESIDENT

That's from an Oklahoma lawmaker's speech about gay people. You heard right. A secret recording has just emerged of State Rep. Sally Kern speaking to a Republican group in January, where she equates both sexual orientation and religion with terrorism.

Tell Oklahoma's governor and top legislators to publicly denounce Kern's remarks. This recording, first released in a video by the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund, is all the more troubling given the recent spate of hate violence against gay and transgender youth.

What are the official positions of the candidates currently seeking office? More specifically, what are their attitudes regarding GLBT issues?

“Unless Moses comes down with two stone tablets from Brokeback Mountain to tell us something different, we need to keep that understanding of marriage.”
-Mike Huckabee

“It’s the acts, it’s the various acts that people perform that are sinful”
-Rudolph Giuliani (on homosexuality)

“I don't want civil unions or gay marriage.”
-Mitt Romney

Click here for HRC BackStory on Giuliani Comment
Click here for TPM Election Central Report on Huckabee Comment
Click here for Boston Globe Report on Huckabee Comment

On July 18, Patricia Todd won the Democratic primary election runoff, beating out Gaynell Hendricks to replace retiring Rep. George Perdue for House District 54. Since there is no Republican challenger for the seat, Todd is the apparent winner.

Patricia Todd will be the first openly gay state legislator in Alabama in obtaining a state House seat representing parts of Birmingham. The district includes part of downtown Birmingham and all or part of the city's East Thomas, Fountain Heights, Druid Hills, Forest Park and Crestwood neighborhoods. It also includes part of Irondale.

In the June 6 primary election, Alabama voters overwhelmingly approved a state constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. Ironically, on the same day Patricia Todd came one step closer to becoming the first openly gay member of the Alabama Legislature.

The massive vote for the anti-gay marriage amendment did not make her victory bittersweet, she said. "We knew the marriage amendment was going to pass overwhelmingly. It was not surprising. It was just a matter of how big the margin was going to be," Todd said.

Todd was upbeat on her chances for victory in the runoff, noting that she has been endorsed by two of her primary competitors. She also theorized that some gay voters in her Birmingham-based district crossed over to vote in the Republican primary to help defeat Roy Moore's bid for the GOP gubernatorial nomination.

Moore, an outspoken gay rights opponent ousted as Alabama's chief justice for refusing to remove a monument of the Ten Commandments, was easily defeated by incumbent Gov. Bob Riley, receiving only 33 percent of the vote.

Todd was endorsed by the national Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund, likely the most significant involvement from national gay rights groups in the Alabama election.

Including Alabama, 17 states now ban gay marriage in their constitutions. Passage of Alabama's amendment will "enshrine a firewall of protection of the definition of marriage" in Alabama's constitution, said John Giles, president of the Christian Coalition of Alabama. Giles' group spent $15,000 to print and distribute literature supporting the ban on gay marriage. One brochure claimed that allowing gay couples to marry would cause "the health care system to stagger and collapse," and called for Alabama voters to set an example for voters elsewhere because "other states and nations are watching our march toward homosexual marriage and will follow our lead."

LESBIAN WINS HISTORIC RACE IN ALABAMA
Patricia Todd Becomes First Openly Gay Official in State's History

by Denis Dison / July 18, 2006

Patricia Todd made history when voters in Alabama’s 54th legislative district voted to send the Democrat to the State House, marking the first time ever that legislature will include an openly gay Representative. The Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund, the nation’s largest gay and lesbian political action committee, endorsed Todd and helped raise tens of thousands of dollars from its national network of donors to help fund her campaign. Todd has no Republican opponent in the general election in November.

“The road to equality in Alabama is a mile shorter today,” said Chuck Wolfe, president and CEO of the Victory Fund. “Gays and lesbians in Alabama will now have what all Americans deserve--a voice and a vote. Alabama knows well what a single voice can accomplish. We applaud Patricia’s courage in stepping up to be heard,” Wolfe said.

In other elections, Victory-endorsed candidate Rep. Karla Drenner won her Democratic primary to advance to the general election in November. Drenner is Georgia’s only openly gay state legislator. Allen Thornell, a Victory endorsee who is seeking election to the Georgia state House, advanced to a runoff in his Democratic primary election.

“Karla‘s voice in the Georgia legislature is vitally important. We’re working hard both to make sure she stays there and to help elect Allen Thornell to join her,” Wolfe said. Thornell would be the first openly gay man in the Georgia legislature.

The Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund provides strategic, technical and financial support to openly LGBT candidates and officials. It’s the only national organization solely committed to increasing the number of openly LGBT public officials at federal, state and local levels of government. Victory is the nation’s largest LGBT political action committee and one of the nation’s largest non-connected PACs. In 14 years, Victory has helped the number of openly LGBT officials grow from 49 to more than 350.

GLBT POLITICIANS
Openly Gay in the Political Spotlight

Consider the gay and lesbian politicians and public servants who are currently in office...

US Representative Barney Frank
From Massachusetts / First US Congressman to come out freely and win reelection

Sheriff Lupe Valdez
From Dallas TX / First Latina lesbian sheriff in US

Mayor Ron Oden
From Palm Springs CA / First openly gay African-American Mayor popularly elected in US

City Commissioner Sam Adams
From Portland OR / First openly gay Commissioner in Portland

US Representative Tammy Baldwin
From Wisconsin/ First lesbian elected to Congress

State Representative Nicole LeFavour
From Idaho / First openly gay official in Idaho

Councilmember David Catania
From Washington DC / First openly gay Republican Councilman in nation's capitol