LGBT Politicians
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A Potential Lesbian Mayor in Houston has the Right-Wing Up in Arms
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Sarah Palin and Barney Frank Walk Into a Dinner Gala
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A $467,000 Price Tag for Being Gay
Replacing Gavin Newsom with Someone Even Gayer
Published September 24, 2009 @ 06:56AM PT
It's a pretty tall order to find someone more LGBT-friendly than Gavin Newsom, the term-limited San Francisco Mayor who is running for the Democratic nomination for Governor of California. But Bevan Dufty, an openly gay San Francisco Supervisor, has thrown his hat into the mayor's race -- a whole three years in advance -- and he's bringing some proven campaign strategists along with him. Most notably, Steve Hildebrand, the guy who engineered Obama's victory in the Iowa caucus.
Dufty told the SF Chronicle that he wants to be the city's grassroots candidate. And building the kind of grassroots support needed -- Dufty won't be accepting donations greater than $200 -- means starting early.
"I'm going to be a grassroots candidate and it's going to take a lot of time and a lot of shoe leather to reach out across the city," Dufty told the paper. If elected, Dufty would be San Francisco's first openly gay mayor, according to the BAR.
Dufty becomes the first candidate to announce, although several other city officials are expected to decide in the coming months (and years!).
Newsom, meanwhile, has picked up the endorsement of President Bill Clinton in his quest to become California's next governor, and became a father to a new baby girl last week. Talk about adding energy to a campaign!
A Gay Mayor in Toronto?
Published September 09, 2009 @ 12:22PM PT
There's a certain Deputy Premier of Ontario who happens to be testing the waters for a run as Toronto's mayor next year. His name is George Smitherman, and he's got a lot of titles. Member of Parliament. Ontario's Minister of Energy and Infrastructure. And he also wears the badge as the first openly gay Cabinet Minister.
Come next year, if he follows through with his political teasing, he might just be elected Mayor of Toronto. That would make Toronto North America's largest city with an openly LGBT mayor. And that would be a pretty darn cool achievement.
Sure, Smitherman has a resume far beyond just his sexual orientation. Here's the Globe and Mail's rather vivid take on him:
In a field where name recognition is critical, he is a headline-grabbing, oxygen-sucking Big Dog, the noisiest mutt in the pound. Ambition radiates off him like heat from a wood stove.
He has been a prominent MPP since 1999, when he became Ontario's first openly gay legislator and first openly gay cabinet minister. He has headed the high-profile, big-money Health ministry and, since last year, the powerful ministry of Energy and Infrastructure.
He has roots in the city, representing the diverse downtown riding of Toronto Centre. He has a history in city politics as campaign manager and chief of staff to former mayor Barbara Hall.
In short, he is just the sort of candidate who could the rip the chain of office from around Mr. Miller's neck like a run-by thief when Toronto votes in November 2010.
The Miller referenced above is David Miller, the current Mayor of Toronto with approval ratings rapidly approaching Dick Cheney levels. That could be in part because of a massive strike in Toronto this summer which froze many city services, including trash collection. Or it could just be that folks want a change.
Either way, Smitherman seems like he's ready to pounce. And that could make Toronto the largest city in North America with a gay mayor.
Barney Frank: The First Openly Gay Cabinet Secretary?
Published September 08, 2009 @ 09:09AM PT
Barney Frank is a lot of things to a lot of people. He's a Congressman from Massachusetts. The Chair of the House Financial Services Committee. The foil of Bill O'Reilly. And if Frank gets his own way, he might just end up being the country's first openly gay Cabinet Secretary.
Er, make that, the country's first openly gay, Jewish, left-handed Cabinet Secretary.
A new biography on Barney is hitting bookshelves this September, "Barney Frank, The Story of America’s Only Left-handed, Gay, Jewish Congressman," and in it, Frank says that he'd like to end his career by becoming a Cabinet Secretary in the Obama administration. Specifically, Frank wants to become Secretary for Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Why? Because he wants to get the federal government back into the housing business, and back into the game of helping to end U.S. poverty.
Of course, current HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan might not be too pleased with that idea (at least the part about him being replaced). Still, it is easy to picture Barney Frank in this role. So long as he promises, of course, to still give Bill O'Reilly hell.
A Transgender Political First
Published September 08, 2009 @ 04:21AM PT
A transgender political glass ceiling is about to be busted wide open this week, with the official appointment of Babs Casbar Siperstein to as a member of the Democratic National Committee (DNC). Gov. Tim Kaine, the chair of the DNC, appointed Siperstein to fill one of the 75 at-large seats available on the DNC, making her the first openly transgender person ever to serve on a major national political committee.
Siperstein currently serves as President of the New Jersey chapter of Stonewall Democrats, and as a Vice-Chair with the New Jersey Democratic Party. Or, in other words, she's darn qualified to be nominated to this position.
Gov. Kaine made the announcement this past weekend, and in addition to Siperstein, he also nominated five other LGBT people for at-large seats on the DNC. Joining Siperstein will be Evan Low, a city councilmember from Campbell, California; Lupe Valdez, the sheriff of Dallas County, Texas; Earl Fowlkes, the President of the International Federation of Black Prides; Terry Bean, a real estate broker from Oregon and a former member of Barack Obama's National Finance Committee during the campaign; and Randi Weingarten, the President of the American Federation of Teachers.
Damn. Talk about an all-star line-up of LGBT politicos. And what a great way to start the Fall, by smashing political glass ceilings and seeing that LGBT people will have more seats than they've ever had before on the DNC.
Five Reasons Why Schwarzenegger Should Sign Harvey Milk Day Into Law
Published September 04, 2009 @ 05:46AM PT
For the second straight year, a bill in the California legislature has passed both the State Senate and the State Assembly, pushing forward the creation of May 22 as an annual day to celebrate the life and leadership of Harvey Milk. Milk, of course, is one of the most prominent LGBT politicians in U.S. history, a former San Francisco City Supervisor assassinated in 1978 as his political career was climbing.
Last year, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed the bill naming May 22 as Harvey Milk Day because he didn't think Milk was well known enough outside of San Francisco. That excuse has since flown out the window. But it's not stopping rabidly conservative groups from trying to lobby Gov. Schwarzenegger to veto the bill, and send Harvey Milk back into the closet. It's time to let Schwarzenegger know what we think.
Below are our five reasons why the Governor should sign into law Harvey Milk Day. Meanwhile, please feel free to send a message to the Governor via Twitter - twitter.com/Schwarzenegger - letting him know that signing into law Harvey Milk Day will send a message that people who champion equal rights deserve to be held up as heroes; and not the nutty folks on the right-wing fringes of society who seek to criminalize people like Milk. A few Re-Tweet suggestions:
- @Schwarzenegger: please sign into law the Harvey Milk Day bill and celebrate one of the nation's foremost LGBT heroes;
- @Schwarzenegger: Sign Harvey Milk Day! Stand up for equal rights for all!
- @Schwarzenegger: Please sign into law the bill recognizing Harvey Milk Day. Harvey's a national hero; he deserves to be remembered.
- @Schwarzenegger: It's not a tumor!
OK, forget that last one...but some movie lines beg to be re-tweeted. Here are our five reasons for Gov. Schwarzenegger to sign into law Harvey Milk Day.
1.) If he's good enough for the White House, shouldn't he be good enough for California? Earlier this summer, Harvey Milk was given a posthumous Presidential Medal of Freedom by the White House, celebrating his convictions and his work for equal rights for all.
2.) Because Cesar Chavez needs company. California already has a day remembering the life and work of Cesar Chavez, one of the leading activists of the past century for labor rights and equal rights. Having a Harvey Milk Day certainly seems compatible with days - like Cesar Chavez Day - already set aside by the state.
3.) Is that your profile rising, or is it just me? Gov. Schwarzenegger's excuse last year in vetoing the bill was that Harvey Milk's profile wasn't well-known enough outside of San Francisco. This year? Not so much. That's what a major blockbuster film that won several Oscars will do for one's profile. Harvey is now seen by a wide majority of the country as an LGBT icon, and certainly a pioneer in the struggle for LGBT rights.
4.) It's All About the Benjamin's, Baby. Harvey Milk is a man that brings in the money. Look at the success of his movie earlier this year, as well as the success of books about him, like The Mayor of Castro Street. This is yet another way for California to both celebrate a messenger of equal rights, and practice good business sense. After all, as California State Sen. Mark Leno put it, "If there's one thing Arnold Schwarzenegger understands, it's box office." Harvey certainly delivered on that front.
5.) Because it's the right thing to do. LGBT icons shouldn't be collecting dust in the closet. Their lives should be celebrated, and their victories remembered. There's no better time to enact Harvey Milk Day. So please do it, Governor. Don't let the crazies on the right - who are trying to twist Harvey's political image for their own warped agenda - win on this one.
Iceland's Lesbian Prime Minister Makes Forbes' List of Most Powerful Women
Published August 25, 2009 @ 05:02PM PT
Forbes is out with their annual list of the most powerful women in the world. There's Angela Merkel. Oprah Winfrey. Michelle Batchelet. Hillary Clinton. Nancy Pelosi. Oh, and there's also Iceland's openly lesbian Prime Minister, Johanna Sigurdardottir.
Why did Johanna Sigurdardottir make the list? Well, sure, she's the first openly LGBT head of state in the modern political era. But that's hardly the reason why. Turns out it's because she's helping steer Iceland out of a near total financial collapse. And if consumer confidence among Iceland citizens is any indication, then perhaps Sigurdardottir's work is bearing fruit. (Or, more geographically appropriate, yielding Skyr. Mmm!)
According to Forbes, she's on the list because she's been working vigorously to fix Iceland's broken banking system, and because she promoted early entry into the European Union as a means of ending the economic headlock that her country found itself in. Oh, and there's also the fact that she oversees the world's oldest parliament.
But we like her so much because she broke through the global glass ceiling that used to say an LGBT person couldn't become President or Prime Minister of a country. Forbes ranks her #75 among the world's most powerful women. We'd place her much higher.
The Fourth Largest U.S. City Might Just Elect a Lesbian Mayor
Published August 22, 2009 @ 08:59AM PT
The vote on same-sex marriage in Maine won't necessarily be the only election that LGBT folks will be watching this coming November. The fourth largest city in the U.S. - Houston, Texas - will be holding its mayoral election, and on the ballot is a 20-year public servant in the city who has been elected citywide six times with broad-level support. Oh, and did we mention that she's openly lesbian?
Annise Parker, currently the Houston City Controller, is running against three other candidates for the city's top spot. Parker, a candidate supported by the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund, is the most experienced candidate in the race, and the candidate who has been endorsed by SEIU, UNITE HERE, as well as 56 precinct chairs from the city of Houston. In other words, she's got a great network of support for what may just be a history making election in Texas.
Parker was profiled by the Washington Blade this week, and in the article Parker says that her activism within LGBT rights circles feeds directly to the type of activism she wants to do as Mayor to make Houston a better place.
“I … spent 10 years as the most visible lesbian activist in Houston — in Texas — and I spent 10 years very active in civic clubs and on quality-of-life issues in Houston,” Parker said. “At some point, I realized that I would get more accomplished from the inside than the outside.”
And talk about being on the inside. If she's elected Mayor this November, she'll be the highest-ranking LGBT politician on a citywide level anywhere in the country, joining openly-gay Mayors in Portland, Oregon and Providence, Rhode Island.
Parker's Facebook page is here. She's also an avid Tweeter (or Twitterer, depending on how you like your vocabulary).
Protecting marriage equality in Maine. Electing an openly lesbian Mayor in Houston. Oh yeah, and let's not forget about New Jersey, where the Governor's race is also partly a referendum on the future of marriage equality in the state.
Election Day 2009 is shaping up to be just as important - at least from an LGBT perspective - as Election Day 2008.
