Sugar's Election Roundup

The biggest disappointment of election night was in Maine, where voters took away marriage rights that had been granted to same-sex couples by the state legislature.  The real villains in the piece are not the good citizens of Maine but anti-equality forces like NOM, SFMM, Liberty Council, the Mormons, and the Roman Catholic Church that funneled huge amounts of cash and LIES into the Pine Tree State.  This was organized religion at its most despicable.  And after killing marriage equality, the homobigots gloated.  Matt Barber, Director of Cultural Affairs at Liberty Counsel, couldn't simply accept the fact that his side won, he felt compelled to trash gays in a "victory speech" : "This isn't about 'marriage.' It's about hurting and broken people desperately seeking affirmation of an objectively deviant lifestyle...  Indeed everyone who fought hard to defend marriage in Maine is to be congratulated, but if it weren't for a brave group of truth tellers - Paul Madore, Peter LaBarbera and Brian Camenker - who came to Maine in the final hour to hold a press conference and address homosexual deviancy ..."  

Anti-gay Republicans won two governorships, in New Jersey and Virginia.  Bob McDonnell (VA) and Chris Christie (NJ) beat out Creigh Deeds and incumbent Jon Corzine, respectively.  Although President Obama had personally campaigned for Deeds and Corzine, the right-wing candidates managed to convince voters that they would be better off living in the Dark Ages.  (The odious Ken Cuccinelli, who calls gay love "intrinsically wrong," won the VA Attorney General's race.)

Now for some Good News ...  Democrat Bill Owens trounced Don Jesus-Is-Lord Hoffman for the 23rd congressional seat in New York.  (I guess the savvy citizens in that district didn't appreciate out-of-state culture warriors like Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck telling them how to cast their votes.)

Residents of Kalamazoo, Michigan approved Ordinance 1856 that protects gay, lesbian, and transgendered citizens from discrimination in housing, employment and public accommodations.

There may soon be an out lesbian serving as mayor in the nation's fourth largest city.  Annise Parker was the top vote-getter in Houston's crowded mayoral race, garnering 31% of votes to Gene Locke's 26%.  There will be a runoff election on December 12th.

Chapel Hill, North Carolina elected an openly gay mayor, Mark Kleinschmidt

And finally, Washington State voters are poised to extend domestic partner benefits after a contentious battle over Referendum 71.  At this writing, the ballot measure is expected to pass.  "Yes" votes are at 51 percent.

Comments

[madfloridian]

Max, I realized today that the DNC and OFA (the former Obama for America) did not even acknowledge there was an anti-gay resolution on the ballot in Maine. They simply ignored it and distanced themselves from it.

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/5166

It saddens me to think that our party is so fearful of the religious right that they wouldn't even organize against them when a group is being stripped of its rights. It angers me. As I said in the post, I am too old to need an abortion, and I am not gay. But how in the world can our party sit back and ignore these rights being stripped away??

[Max P.]

Great article, MadFlo - I just read it! Thanks for supplying the link.