This Way Out; 2004-11-08

One of the things that I do think is important is that we all recognize in the middle of what feels like a very dark moment in our fight for equality is that, you know, after we nurse our wounds, we step back and we put things in perspective. Welcome to this way out the International lesbian and gay radio magazine. I'm Greg Gordon. U .S. elections have blue activists seeing red and state ballot boxes slam the lid on marriage equality, but queer candidates survive the Republican rampage. Those stories and more this week, now that you've discovered this way out. I'm Cindy Friedman and I'm John culprit. With News Wrap, a summary of some of the news in or affecting the lesbian and gay community for the week ending November 6, 2004. U .S. elections dominated the news

this week and the national outcomes bowed ill for advances towards equality for sexual minorities. President George W. Bush won about 51 % of the vote and another four years in office while his Republican party increased their majorities in both the House and the Senate. With as many as four Supreme Court openings likely to be filled during his term, the impact of these victories can be expected to extend for many more years. Voters in 11 states approved amending their state constitutions to deny legal marriage to same -gender couples and did so by substantial margins in all but one. Numerous pundits are declaring the marriage issued key to the Republican success and a number of Democrats believe their party must reconsider its positioning on the interests of its small but intensely committed lesbian gay constituency. According to exit polls, self -identified lesbian gay voters themselves supported Bush to essentially the same extent they did in 2000 with three -fourths preferring his Democratic opponent,

Senator John Kerry. Yet openly gay and lesbian candidates won in at least 18 states, although two bids to become the nation's first openly transsexual elected official failed. And one uniquely anti -gay city charter provision was repealed. The widespread attribution of Republican gains to anti -gay sentiment began even before the Bush victory had become apparent in the returns and national lesbian gay organizations are generally contesting it. It's based primarily on an exit poll in which more than one -fifth voters picked moral values as their leading consideration in the presidential election, ahead of the economy, terrorism, the war in Iraq and education. Among those moral values voters, four -fifth supported Bush, the activist groups say the category is too vague to be equated directly with Les Bygay rights. It's even more doubtful it equates directly with marriage for gay and lesbian couples since exit polling also found 25 % support for marriage equality and 35 % support for civil unions versus only

37 % opposition to any legal recognition for same gender couples. Also, in the states with constitutional amendments against marriage on the ballot, quite a few Bush voters were among those who skipped the marriage question entirely. Plus, of course, the only meaningful difference between the presidential candidate stated position on the marriage issue was with respect to amending the national constitution to exclude same gender couples, which carry opposed and Bush vocally supported. Last week, Bush even said he believed states should be able to establish non -marital legal status for same gender couples disputing the Republican Party platform that opposes any form of legal recognition for them. Yet, it's generally agreed that in a close election with a high turnout, the marriage issue served its purpose of actually getting the religious right to the polls, particularly from rural regions. In fact, it may have made more of a difference in some races further down the ticket than it did in the Bush victory, just as it did in giving Republicans control of the national legislature in the 1990s elections that gave Democrat

Bill Clinton the presidency. The new Republican U .S. Senators all apparently benefited from anti -gay campaigning, although actual anti -marriage amendments were on the ballot in only two other states. In a rare outcome, the Democrat Senate Minority Leader Tom Dashel was dumped by a South Dakota constituency in favor of Republican John Thune and Evangelical Christian who warned that schools would be teaching that same gender marriages were the moral equivalent of heterosexual ones. South Carolina's Senator -Elect Jim DeMint declared in one of his campaign ads that government cannot approve and promote homosexuality, and added in debating his opponent that he believed gay should be banned from teaching in public schools. Florida's Senator -Elect Bill Martinez called his Democratic opponent the new darling of the homosexual extremists, apparently your reference to Congressmember Bill McCullum signing on as the sponsor of a federal hate crimes bill. In the amendment state of Oklahoma, Senator -Elect Tom Coburn not only

labeled what he called the gay agenda as the greatest threat to our freedom we face today, but said in the speech that rampant lesbianism had forced some Oklahoma schools to allow only one girl at a time to use the bathroom. The Kentucky Marriage Amendment is credited with helping Jim Bunning squeak out a narrow victory for the U .S. Senate on behalf of the former baseball pro Republican State Senate President David Williams underscored the Democratic candidate's bachelor status and described him as limp -rested. There was little doubt of the success of the anti -marriage amendments to 11 state constitutions, les by gay groups concentrated their money and resources on opposing the one in Oregon, where anti -gay ballot initiatives have been defeated several times in the past. The debate there had been advanced by licensing of hundreds of same gender couples in Multnomah County earlier this year, and by attendant lawsuits that seem to have a good chance of winning marriage equality.

The activists' work may well have significantly diminished the vote spread, but the Oregon amendment still won 57 % support. That was the smallest margin of victory for any of the amendments followed by Michigan at 59 % and Ohio at 62%. Montana and Utah voters approved their amendments by two to one margins, while Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, North Dakota, and Oklahoma affirmed theirs by three to one. The most enthusiastic marriage manners were in Mississippi, where more than 85 % of voters agreed. Voters had approved anti -marriage amendments earlier this year in Louisiana and Missouri, while they were already in place in Alaska, Hawaii, Nebraska, and Nevada. Of the current crop, only the Mississippi, Montana, and Oregon amendments are restricted solely to marriage. The rest equally prohibit civil unions, while Ohio's denies any legal status whatever to all unmarried couples. The Ohio measure explicitly denies joint adoptions to unmarried couples, and some believe it could even bar private employers from extending benefits

to their workers domestic partners. Only a series of legal cases were revealed the real impact of these measures beyond keeping legal marriage hetero -exclusive. Law suits challenging the Georgia and Oklahoma amendments are already underway, and challenges to others are being contemplated. Most of the amendments had already been the subject of extensive litigation as civil rights groups attempted to keep them off the ballot, but courts can be expected to be more willing to act against them now that voters have had the chance to express their opinions. If there's a ray of hope, it's that the broadest amendments may be the most vulnerable legally, since state constitutions generally require their amendments to have just one subject. At least in one Louisiana trial court denying more than just marriage was found to violate that rule. Courts failed to strike down a measure since an adio -hio voters adopted by a landslide in 1993, an amendment to the city charter that prohibited enactment of

civil rights protections for gays and lesbians. In fact, that notorious issue three went before the US Supreme Court, along with the similar Colorado State amendment two. The nation's highest court struck down amendment two with a ringing endorsement of equal treatment for all, and that discouraged and reversed similar measures in other cities. But perhaps disturbed by the Cincinnati measures muddy wording, the high court sent issue three back down to the federal appeals court that had already okayed it. Although the Supreme Court had asked the appellate court to reconsider issue three in light of the amendment two decision, the lower court responded with a near carbon copy of its own first approval. Only this week did a repeal measure go before the Cincinnati voters who approved issue three to begin with, and they responded with a 54 % majority to strike it down. More than a score of openly gay and lesbian candidates won elections this week, some in states with anti -marriage amendments on the same ballots. Most benefited from the support of the gay and lesbian victory fund. All three openly gay and lesbian US

Congress members were returned to office. Democrats Barney Frank of Massachusetts and Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin and Republican Jim Colby of Arizona. The California State Legislatures, lesbian and gay caucus, all won. Sheila Cue will be joined in the state Senate by Christine Kiho, previously the state assembly. Returning to the assembly are John Laird and Mark Leno, they're all Democrats, the political group Equality California, believes the overall results there both well for enactment of marriage equality legislation in the coming year. The lone legal marriage state, Massachusetts, returned every single one of its gay supportive state lawmakers, while diminishing these supporters of a state constitutional amendment to replace marriage with civil unions. The state legislature will include returning gay Senator Jarrett Barrios and lesbian representative Liz Malia, both of whom were unopposed, with the addition of new gay representative Carl Scortino. They're all Democrats. New York returned Democrat Tom Dwayne to the state Senate with nearly 85 % support and Democrat Daniel Donald

to the state assembly with 92%. Could O'Donnell's sister Rosie's name recognition have something to do with it? Also, in New York, openly gay Republican Daniel Stewart was reelected mayor of Placberg by almost three to one. Colorado Democrat Jennifer Vega was unopposed to return to her state Senate seat. Connecticut Democrat Art Feltman was returned to the state assembly. Democrat Carla Drenner was returned to the state house in Georgia and amendment state. Idaho has its first ever openly lesbian or gay elected official as Democrat Nicola favor won a state house seat by a two to one landslide. Democrat Lawrence Bliss won his seat in the main house by a two to one margin. Democrat Chris Cole was returned to the state house with whopping four to one support in Michigan and amendment state. Democrat Karen Clark was returned to the Minnesota house with more than 85 % of the vote. Democrat Jeanette Mod Oxford took almost 90 % of the vote for her Missouri house seat. Democrat David Parkster has returned to the Nevada state assembly in a near landslide. In a close North Carolina state Senate race still being counted, Democrat Julia Bozeman

appears to have become the state's first openly lesbian or gay legislator. Democrat Jackie Biskowski was returned with almost 84 % of the vote to the state house in Utah and amendment state. Democrat Ed Flanagan, the first open gay in the U .S. ever to win a state wide elected office in 1992 as Vermont state auditor, now joins the state Senate. Democrat Jason Lorber won a seat in the Vermont House in his first ever campaign. Oregon and amendment state made Reeves Kisler a Supreme Court Justice and the first open gay or lesbian ever to win a statewide election there. There's been special interest in Latino -Lusbian Lupi Valdez election as Sheriff of Dallas County, Texas. The Democrat is the first woman the county's ever elected to that post and she ousted an incumbent to do it. Don't doubt her abilities. She was a federal agent for 28 years. The close gubernatorial race in the state of Washington is going down to the counting of the last absentee ballot and that could be thanks in part two and openly lesbian third party candidate who never had a chance of winning. Libertarian Roof Bennett. And finally,

while millions of U .S. voters were rejecting marriage equality, their neighbors to the North continued in the opposite direction. A court ruling this week made Saskatchewan the seventh Canadian province or territory to open marriage to same gender couples. Justice Donna Wilson followed previous legal decisions in finding that it violates the Canadian chart of rights and freedoms to deny marriage to gay and lesbian couples. She ruled that the common law definition of marriage for civil purposes is declared to be the lawful union of two persons to the exclusion of all others. Neither the federal nor the provincial government contested the lawsuit brought by five gay and lesbian couples but Wilson ordered both governments to pay the plaintiff's legal fees. Two lesbian couples filed a similar lawsuit this week in Newfoundland which could well become the next of the remaining four provinces and two territories to open marriage to same gender couples. Gay and lesbian families in the U .S. are very aware of the contrast and a number of them are seriously considering immigration.

They've sent a growing number of heart -rending emails about it to the Canadian activist group SameSex Marriage. And they're certainly among the records smashing 179 ,000 visitors to Canada's immigration website on the day of Bush's acceptance speech. On hearing of this phenomenon, Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin responded, Riley, the fact is we are a country of immigrants and we're prepared to receive immigrants from anywhere. But I doubt very much if refugee status is the way I would characterize it. That's NewsRap for the Weekending November 6th, 2004 written by Cindy Friedman and recorded at the studios of KPFK Los Angeles. Follow the news in your area and informed community is a strong community. For this way out, I'm Cindy Friedman and I'm John Bokray. U .S. queer and progressive activists walk up to a difficult post -election day on November

3rd to hear Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry concede the election to George W. Bush to discover that Republicans had strengthened their majorities in the U .S. House and Senate and that same gender marriage had been constitutionally banned in all 11 states that had the issue on the ballot. Cheryl Jake's president of the Human Rights Campaign, the largest queer advocacy group in the U .S. searched for some silver linings. One of the things that I do think is important that we all recognize in the middle of what feels like a very dark moment in our fight for equality is that after we nurse our wounds, we step back and we put things in perspective. This battle for equality is not a question of if it's a question of when and yesterday was not our day to accelerate the pace of when. But there was good news among the bad. Everything from winning some very important United States Senate races like Barack Obama, Kenneth Salazar, these were key races and races that were being

defined on the issue of gay bashing and gay marriage and our lives. There were key congressional races, Melissa Bean and Illinois, defeated an individual who had an incumbent who ran an anti -gay campaign, Dennis Warren, Kansas, voted against the federal marriage amendment and against the Marriage Protection Act, and knew that he would get hammered for doing so and said, you know, if it cost me my seat, so be it. Were his words to us. And a man with moral conviction returns to the United States Congress to continue serving and fighting for equality. Republican fair -minded leaders like Congressman Chase and Congressman Simmons out of Connecticut return to the Congress after bruising fights. We saw the exit poll telling us that among the tough defeats on these ballot initiatives and tough defeats of fair -minded leaders, over 61 % of American support legal recognition of same -sex couples. That tells all of us that the

hard work, the education, the debate, the discussion that we engage in every day is moving the hearts and minds of Americans forward. That we are winning in the court that matters most, the court of public opinion. But frankly, the question was called too early. These Americans and many of these battleground states were asked to decide on questions they don't even understand. The same people who were, you know, purportedly voting for a ballot initiative banning same -sex marriage didn't understand they were also voting to ban civil unions, which they themselves support. So there's a lot more education, there's a lot more discussion. I think the moral is that, you know, we can't win at the ballot box until we win at the water cooler. When people see what they're voting on and the impact on real neighbors and friends and colleagues, they think differently. In Oregon, although the ballot initiative was lost and that is painful, we should take note of the ballot initiative states. Oregon was the only state that has gay marriage where people actually saw neighbors and friends that were married in the implications on their lives. And it was

the closest defeat. Again, telling us that this is about education and enlightenment and helping people understand what's its state care. The rights, responsibilities, and protections that we're talking about when we talk about equality for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered Americans. Other good news, we know that while the wedge and the politics of division and distraction did save our president Bush, his effort to drive a wedge into the African -American community. A very strong effort to pit African -American voters against GLBT Americans, that failed. 89 % voted for Kerry. We did a lot of inoculation work in the African -American community getting ready for that wedge. And, you know, we're pleased to see that the African -American community didn't take the bait. So, all in all, it's a rough day, it's a setback in our fight for equality. But, you know, again, it's not a question of this, it's a question of when. Reverend Jerry Fallwell, a leading spokesperson for the

religious right, laid out their political agenda for the next four years during an appearance on CNN's Anderson Cooper 360 degrees. I think there are two major burning issues that were, they're not the only ones, but clearly the sanctity of unborn life. We believe Christians believe evangelicals, conservative Catholics and Orthodox Jews, that life begins a conception and therefore that abortion is wrong. And, second, we believe the family consists exclusively of a unit that begins with a man and a woman legally married, period. And, that means diverse family forms, polygamy, same -sex marriage, et cetera, are all unacceptable. And, the president introduced a federal marriage amendment to hopefully, and we hope they can bring it back up again in January, to define family. Senior Bush political adviser Carl Rove confirmed on Fox News Sunday that the president will indeed renew his push for a constitutional amendment to ban seem gender marriage as essential

to a hopeful, and decent society. While the so -called federal marriage amendment didn't come close to getting the required two -thirds majorities in the last Congress, Human Rights Campaign, Political Director Winnie Stockoverg says the increased Republican majorities in both the House and Senate is definitely worrisome. I think that the increased margin in the Republican control of the Senate is something that we have to be very mindful of. The margin goes from 51 Republicans to 55, so it's now a 55 to 45 majority for the Republicans. In addition to just the sheer number, I think the Republicans in the Senate are emboldened by the defeat of the Democratic leader Tom Daschle, and I think that absolutely sends a signal to Republicans, especially in the Senate, that anti -gay messaging, anti -gay tactics, anti

-gay politics work. It takes 40 votes to block, to filibuster, it takes 60 votes to invoke closure, so we've got to ensure that the 40 group of senators, Republicans and Democrats that we can put together holds firm on GLBT issues. The other thing I think that's important is that we are clearly facing a very hostile environment in the United States Senate, whether it's from judicial nominations to anti -gay legislation, but we also have to approach Congress every day with the strategy that we can potentially get modest gains through. Whether that's tax and benefit issues that we're going to be pushing, I mean, we are not certainly saying when these are going to pass, but we've got to get up every single day and proactively push members of Congress, Republicans and Democrats in the House in the Senate to support these kinds of measures. Some commentators

and even some Democratic elected officials are pointing to the extensive media coverage of thousands of gay and lesbian couples getting married in San Francisco earlier this year as having stampeded conservative Christians to the polls in greater numbers than in 2000. Mayor Gavin Newsom has taken considerable heat for authorizing those marriages. You need a fall person, don't you? You've got to make an excuse. I hardly think I was. The point being gay marriage is not something I conceived of. It's something we advance, but you know what? I find it pretty repugnant in a day and age where we are all students of history that people would question based upon strong beliefs, someone or somebody that at least stands up. Disagree agree to say you want to write it wrong. You want to stop injustice because it took from 1948 in this country till 1967, 19 years for this country to come to grips with interracial marriage. It should not take that long to come to grips with same sex marriage. So you

got to stand up on principle. But remember, Massachusetts and those activist judges may have had a little bit to do with all those initiatives and maybe a little less to deal with us here in San Francisco. I'm trying to come to grips with the election. I can't come to grips with it. But come on. You know, there was a lot of other issues. But if everyone wants to blame me, I'll accept the blame because maybe I'll blame myself and then I'll have some closure as well. Thank you. Yeah, he's going to get me out of here after that. The media has been baili -hooing one exit poll that indicates so -called moral issues were the top concern of a majority of US voters and that same gender marriage was among those issues. Human rights campaign president Cheryl Jakes isn't so sure. There is an oxymoron when you see the pundit saying that this was decided on moral issues. And then you see 61 % of the voters saying they support legal recognition of same sex couples. I think at the end of the day nobody quite knows what that phrase means. Different people are defining it differently.

There'll be plenty of money in court of act time. I'm not one to say that there's ever a wrong time to push for equality. And as Martin Luther King wrote in his letters from a Birmingham jail, you know, there is no convenient time to ask those who oppose equality. You know, to think more kindly about it. I think the marriage discussion has driven this issue. I think Carl Roaster an opportunity to use it as a wedge issue and help the White House use it in a detrimental way. But meanwhile, although politically it was a short term gain, you know, polls are showing that more and more Americans are understanding who gay families are. And I think the marriage discussion has driven that education and that enlightenment. Remember, four years ago we didn't have civil unions. This country was in an uproar over that. You know, today the fights over marriage and over more than half of the country supports civil unions. You know, that progress doesn't happen in a nice, neat, clean way. That happens in a big,

heavy, you know, house debate like we saw in this election cycle. Jake says she's cautiously optimistic that there are still enough votes to block passage of the federal marriage amendment in the new Congress. And that queer advocates will continue to pursue a legislative agenda that includes federal employment discrimination and hate crimes protections. Not a whole lot has changed from the day before yesterday. The same forces that oppose allowing the employment non -discrimination act to move forward remain in power. And clearly their positions haven't changed. You know, we will continue to work on the pieces of the fight for equality as well as the big picture fight for equality with or without a friendly Congress. Because, you know, again, it's the court of public opinion that matters in the end and they will follow public opinion when public opinion gets to the point where they can no longer ignore it. So the conversation is worth having because education occurs every time we have it. And, you know, we have to keep things in perspective. And what is arguably one of the most hostile

of Congresses in a hostile White House, we defeated the federal marriage amendment. We moved the hate crimes law through the United States Senate with its largest bipartisan victory ever. You know, there was a motion to instruct in the House with a large and clear margin of instruction to the Comprehrease to pass the hate crimes law. But, you know, one or two leaders were able to bottle that up. So we're going to hit those exact same obstacles, but we're also going to have those openings to run with the football of equality and, you know, keep trying to challenge this Congress to pass their minded legislation. That was Human Rights Campaign President Cheryl Jakes, and I'm Greg Gordon for This Way Out. Thanks for tuning in to This Way Out, the International Gay and Busbeing Radio Magazine. This week, Cindy Friedman -John Bolprey, Graham Underhill, Rex Walkner, and Brian Gogbo contributed program material, and Kim Wilson composed and performed our theme music. Remember, you can listen to this wearing out anytime online, exclusively on Planet Out. There's a link at our website, www

.diswayout .org. Some this way out operating expenses are funded through tax -deductible charitable donations from our listeners, and we thank you. Only our listeners can help keep this program on the air, and get some queer history, music, and culture on specially produced CDs. For all the details, please do log on to This Way Out .org, or write to us at Post Office Box 38327, Los Angeles, California 93038 USA. For Associate Producer, Lucia Chipotle, and all of us at This Way Out, I'm Greg Gordon. Thanks for listening on WFCS New Britain Connecticut, PiVuV, Adelaide South Australia, KEOS College Station, Texas, and more than 150 other stations around the world, including this community radio station. Vigilantly, stay tuned.