The HRC has been relentless in their attempts to get the gay/lesbian vote out. The other day I received a discreet and pleasant call from them urging us to please go out and vote. Of course, our three-member household had already voted, for Kerry. Then today I kept getting calls from 111-111-1111 which I didn't answer. Finally, at 9:45 PM, a call from the same number came in and I decided to go ahead and answer. It was a recording by tennis great Martina Navratilova, again urging us to vote. I have been a Martina fan since the early 80s so it was nice to hear her voice, even if just a recording.
Throughout the past year, I have seen how Republicans have exploited our simple requests for equality to shore up their party's vote. Our liberal straight friends, Kos, Atrios, Jesse, Matt, Kevin, and many others, have valiantly defended us, knowing full well that gay-rights issues are fraught with political peril. Those of us who have learned to fight our battles alone suddenly found ourselves surrounded by principled allies who were willing to risk everything to defend us. The walls we had built around ourselves, to protect us against our straight enemies, were no longer necessary. We could finally put our defensive heterophobia aside.
Despite all the much appreciated support, the focus has remained, and rightfully so, on how to battle homophobia among the straight majority. But somehow, perhaps because we are a very small minority, the gay/lesbian vote itself seems to have been taken for granted. That 25% of the gay/lesbian vote that Bush garnered in 2000 didn't seem that important, even though it may well have been decisive to Bush's 'victory'. So even though our wonderful straight allies have extended their hand in friendship, it is still up to us to get off our butts and make sure that everyone understands that our votes do matter and may be decisive, especially in Florida. The only way to do that is to vote, massively.
During the Republican primary, Senate candidate Mel Martinez mounted a ferocious attack against his opponent, Bill McCollum, accusing him of being gay-friendly and supporting the 'gay-agenda.' McCollum is hardly gay-friendly. He is only slightly more tolerant than the typical wingnut Republican. My Republican friend (yes, I only have one) voted for McCollum but Martinez prevailed. At that point I thought Betty Castor would have an easy advantage over Martinez within the gay community, getting her much needed votes in South and Central Florida, plus the Tampa/St. Pete area, where the biggest concentration of gay voters live. And anybody who votes for Betty Castor will most probably vote for John Kerry as well, like my Republican friend did.
Without the support of our straight allies we wouldn't even be talking about gay marriage or civil-unions. On the other hand, we can't just rest on our laurels and allow them to fight our battles for us. We need to go out, and vote, and make sure that people like Mel Martinez will not get away with their shameful tactics.