Is the Tide Turning in the US?

[rareboy]

So a number of openly gay people won their elections throughout the country:

http://www.gaypolitics.com/2011/11/08/more-lgbt-wins-tonight-across-america/

LaWana Mayfield won her race for Charlotte, N.C., City Council, becoming that city’s first openly LGBT elected official. She was heavily favored after ousting the incumbent Democrat in the primary earlier this year.

More at:

http://joemygod.blogspot.com/2011/11/gay-candidate-elected-across-nation.html

Does this portend a swing away from the X-tofascist Talibangelical control of the 2012 election agenda? These folks are the trial blazers for those at the State and Federal level to come out of their closets.

 

[evanrick]

how will being gay a better politician make?

 

[rareboy]

That isn't the point here, although I think that being openly gay makes for a better politician because it indicates more openness and honesty.

The real subject here is whether this signifies a shift away from the politics of division and fear and exploitation of homophobia in the US.

 

[Telstra]

I hope 20% of the politicians are gay.

 

[csb999]

I do wonder that we aren't seeing effectively the neutralization of gayness , its complete absorption by the right . Read fairly recently here a comment by an English JUB member , that gayness in the UK is not particularly a right-left issue as it has traditionally been in the US . The borderline loudmouth lunatics that we regard as significantly right are not mainstream : mainstream might be someone like Condaleeza Rice , black and female . And most American members here might vote democrat but the comments generally do not evince great liberality that I have noticed . Some , I suppose the older members have a rather vestigial connection to the progressive left - but like the black vote the younger generation is not bound to it as the older generation was . George Bush was president for a few terms and did not a thing with gays in the military : racism is no longer a right-left issue .

 

[evanrick]

I hope 20% of the politicians are gay.

if you ever wonder why aids gets so much attention is because it affected gay men, and a lot of those men happened to be white. that means something to politicians, especially if they are gay themselves.

believe me, homosexuals are already the most powerful 'minority' in the usa if not the world.

dont be shocked if we get what we asked for, and that is the chance for diluted clout now that this 'hidden' political force will start advertising who is in that closet.

the same thing goes for gay marriage, we are only subscribing to American heterosexual traditions and not making our own to simply prove a point.

there are upsides yes i would go over but im too tired right now....

 

[Seasoned]

Closet cases have been in every occupation since the beginning of time. Closeted people in power can be dangerous to the rest of us if they feel threatened. Being out won't necessarily make a person better at what they do, but it just might make them a better human being.

 

[palemale]

Let's face it. Gay are wealthy, well-educated. In the final analysis, giving gays full equal rights does nothing to challenge the economic status quo. In New York State, significant pressure for gay marriage, and significant money, came from corporate execs who normally raise huge amounts of money for Republicans. They also have gay children, gay nieces and nephews, gay siblings, and want to be able to attract talented, gay employees. Gay marriage doesn't threaten their economic interests one iota. Gay marriage is here, and they are still free to fuck over the general public with their greed and right wing agenda.

 

[HornyHenry]

Hopefully it will improve in the long run with no regression. With all the damage heterosexism has caused and is still causing, things would be better with proudly out gays who dont toady to the "right" wing.

 

[BostonPirate]

its a win for the progressives and a win for the conservatives

Gay people can fall in love, have partners, and win an election.

Republicans can finger pop blonde chicks against their will who work for them and their fellow "conservatives" are OK with that, so long as he can beat Obama.

Now lets see what the american electorate considers more support worthy in the coming months.

 

[maxpowr9]

I think were seeing a big push in terms of gay rights. If Australia get's their shit together and allows gays to get married, it puts a fair amount of pressure on the US to step up.

 

[Kulindahr]

The first one on the list is amazing: openly gay, black Republican.

Ten years ago that would have been unimaginable.

 

[scream4ever]

The tide is turning all the time. I was talking to my dad the other day, and he thinks the repeal of DADT has really sealed the deal on this issue. The military is likely the most respectable institution in the country, and now that gays are serving openly, it will change minds and open hearts (I hope the people making campaign ads know this going into the elections next year!). He also pointed out that gays and lesbians can literally be anything that they want to be now.

 

[hotatlboi]

how will being gay a better politician make?

It won't. The point is that before simply being openly gay disqualified you in the minds of many voters so it was nearly impossible to get elected if that was the case.

 

[scream4ever]

I live in a fairly progressive city in Minnesota (though it's not Minneapolis trust me). We had an out lesbian win the city council seat. Prior to that we had an openly gay man in her seat. Being gay has been a complete non-issue for them both. It's a really beautiful thing.

 

[rareboy]

The tide is turning all the time. I was talking to my dad the other day, and he thinks the repeal of DADT has really sealed the deal on this issue. The military is likely the most respectable institution in the country, and now that gays are serving openly, it will change minds and open hearts (I hope the people making campaign ads know this going into the elections next year!). He also pointed out that gays and lesbians can literally be anything that they want to be now.

And be all they can be.

I'm with your Dad. It was my belief that the repeal of DADT would be the turning point for the Us. That once the systemic, institutionalized discrimination was no longer the law of the land that the people would accept that being a homo would lose a lot of the stigma.

I think though, that the real test at the national level will be having more republicans run for office as out and proud homos.

 

[bendted]

Tide? A mayor, four council members and a school board member does not a tide make.

Small potatoes.

 

[Zeno Lorea]

how will being gay a better politician make?

Wrong question. When will some idiots stop believing gays can't be good politicians?

 

[Zeno Lorea]

believe me, homosexuals are already the most powerful 'minority' in the usa if not the world.

dont be shocked if we get what we asked for, and that is the chance for diluted clout now that this 'hidden' political force will start advertising who is in that closet.

On the contrary, dude. Closet cases tend to be the most rabid homophobes, thus proving their heterosexuality to the other homophobes.

Blatant is better than latent.

 

[Zeno Lorea]

Tide? A mayor, four council members and a school board member does not a tide make.

Small potatoes.

If a black [Text: Removed by Moderator] can be elected to a city council in a fiscally conservative part of the Carolinas and a black gay republican can become mayor in a New Jersey exurb halfway in the tenth-richest county of the US, anything seems possible to me.

Good going, America!