I've been really angry at the lack of progress on LGBT issued since Democrats gained majority status in 2006. We have a single bill, the hate crimes bill, to show for the past four years. ENDA is languishing. DADT is still the law and will be for the foreseeable future. Most Democrats still say that marriage should be between a man and a woman. And I'm angry. I'm frustrated. I'n downright sad about the whole thing. Should my transgender friend Michael have to wait for ENDA's protections, so he can keep his job even if he outs himself as transgender? I don't think so. ENDA is supported by 89 per cent of Americans, DADT repeal is supported by 75 per cent of Americans. These are easy wins for equality. Yet, nothing has happened.
I'm not an enthusiastic voter this year but I am a voter. I was so mad, and had decided to stay home. I live in Alabama anyway so nothing really good could possibly come from this election. There wasn't a reason to vote, until there was: redistricting.
Democrats need to win as many statewide elections as possible so they can have tighter control over the redrawing of districts. Staying home would cede an untold amount of power to Republicans for god knows how long, and there won't be any chances for gay friendly districts. Remember Harvey Milk won his election when they created a district in the Castro. And more Republican districts mean more House Republicans winning election and turning all our progress around.
Gays are an increasing voter bloc. More of us vote every day. More of us come out every day. Imagine if gays vote for Democrats in their districts - we could have a shot at winning gay friendly seats, taking out anti-gay Republicans and keeping a House majority to work on our legislation. And to be honest, the House has been good over all. When something comes up for them to vote on, it passes. They've already passed the DADT amendment, for example. And this is before redistricting. We could gain more influence electorally once that's done - if we vote.
And that's not all. Statewide races can be extremely important for LGBT rights. Take New York for example, where the vote to allow gays and lesbians to marry failed last year. It will be coming up again, maybe as soon as the new year starts. I've read that all the candidates currently running for statewide office there are trying their best to "out-gay" the other candidates. They are shouting loudly from the rooftops their support of same-sex marriage. We need more of these people in office to make state ENDA laws and marriage equality a reality.
Then, look at Iowa. There's a concerted effort to purge their state supreme court of pro-gay members. Some religious people there are mad that marriage was legalized and they're going to try to take over the state supreme court, to do... something. They don't want any judges to rule in favor of gays. And their judges aren't elected but are subject to retention votes. In my opinion we need to fight like hell for victories like this. They will not stop until they find some way to overturn marriage equality and that's dangerous for us. If taking out judges doesn't work, Republicans in the state will try to amend the constitution, and if they gain momentum from the election, it could happen. So let's cut them off from that right away.
In Hawaii, Governor Lingle vetoed the civil unions bill. This was a truly sad loss and it really hurt the LGBT community in Hawaii and elsewhere. Governor Lingle is not running for re-election this year. Neil Abercrombie is, however, and he supports the civil unions bill and would not veto it. His Democratic opponent in the primary opposes civil unions for gays. Even better than that: a marriage bill is still possible in Hawaii. Their marriage amendment left the definition of marriage up to the legislature. What if we win seats and Abercrombie wins the governorship? We could potentially convince them to pass a marriage equality bill.
And there are other states. Rhode Island might become a battleground for our issues. Maybe Minnesota.
So what are we going to do?
I don't like it but I have to vote. And I hope others will join me. There's so much we can gain from winning elections this year. We could help make marriage equality the law of the land in several states. Not just marriage but ENDA as well. And if we win the redistricting fight it will lead us to even more victories and equality for all won't just be a dream.