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Northeastern States Elect Openly Gay/Lesbian Mayors Winners: Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota & Texas |
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Compiled By GayToday
"New York State will now see its first openly gay mayor because the fair-minded voters of a small upstate city sent a clear message that merit matters most to them, not sexual orientation," said Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund Executive Director Brian K. Bond. "A number of strong candidates secured encouraging victories for our community at the local level yesterday, despite an unsettling degree of gay-baiting in some races. "The Victory Fund has made a special commitment to supporting candidates in areas where gay and lesbian Americans are not yet openly represented, so we were heartened by some of yesterday's progress at the grass-roots level. Even the near-victories have challenged stereotypes, paved the way for equality and cleared a path for future candidates to be elected on their merits."
The following is a list of Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund-endorsed candidates who prevailed in the fall 1999 elections. (Fall 1999 elections were all held November 2, except for Louisiana's which was held October 23 and resulted in a run-off set for November 20.) Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund-Endorsed Candidates Who Prevailed in Fall 1999 Elections: Louisiana: Larry Bagneris (D) for Louisiana State House of Representatives (Bagneris is now in a run-off) Massachusetts: Katherine Triantafillou (D) for Cambridge City Council Michigan: Seth Chafetz (non-partisan race) for Birmingham City Commission Minnesota: Al Oertwig (non-partisan race) for St. Paul Board of Education New York: Jon Cooper (D) for Suffolk County Legislature Daniel Stewart (R) for mayor of Plattsburgh Texas: Annise Parker (non-partisan race) for Houston City Council Apparently even without Victory Fund support Northampton, Massachusetts City Council President Mary Clare Higgins, an open lesbian, was elected Mayor sweeping to victory in every precinct and ward, from Leeds to Bay State to Ryan Road, which many had expected would surely remain the inviolable turf of her male opponent. Voters supporting Ms. Higgins told reporters that one's capabilities have nothing to do with one's sexual orientation.
In addition to what the Victory Fund calls six outright victories on "November 2," two Victory Fund candidates made impressive showings and came within one percent of prevailing: Joe Steffan, a Democrat who ran for a seat on the West Hartford, Conn., Town Council, and Scott Robinson, who fell only six votes shy of winning his bid for Melvindale, Mich., City Council. Incidents of gay-baiting marred some races. In St. Paul, Minn., an anonymous anti-gay flyer was distributed attacking school board candidate Al Oertwig. Jon Cooper also faced significant anti-gay attacks, but they apparently backfired and helped propel him to a landslide victory in his bid for Suffolk County, N.Y., Legislature. An anti-gay mailing was sent to absentee voters in Robinson's closely fought race. And in Larry Bagneris Jr.'s campaign for Louisiana State House of Representatives, large numbers of voters received an anonymous mass mailing that stooped to both race-baiting and gay-baiting. "Sadly, we have not yet reached the day when sexual orientation is no longer a barrier to public service," said Bond. "But the more good openly gay and lesbian public servants we can elect throughout the country, the sooner that day will come. And, as we saw in Jon Cooper's race, sometimes the anti-gay attacks backfire on those who want to make a candidate's sexual orientation an issue." Thus far, the Victory Fund has endorsed 29 candidates in the 1999-2000 election cycle, and expects to back as many as 100 worthy openly gay and lesbian office seekers by this time next year. "Next year's elections will be critical to creating a better America for everyone, a country that has moved past all forms of discrimination," added Bond. "Our part of that job here at the Victory Fund is to build a team of great openly gay and lesbian public servants who can work side-by-side with their non-gay colleagues at all levels of government to make that vision a reality." Beyond publicizing its endorsements to inform the gay and lesbian community about worthy openly gay and lesbian candidates, the Victory Fund invites direct contributions from its members to the campaigns of their choice. The organization then bundles these contributions and sends 100 percent of this assistance to the campaigns in a strong demonstration of community support when the candidates need it most. In addition, the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund's political action committee (PAC) also makes its own direct candidate contributions. |
