11/05/2008
Barack Obama Wins Presidency as Gay Rights in Nation Backtrack
We were up late last night running a live blog to which over 8,000 of you tuned in. So thank you. It was incredible to hear voices from all over the country (and the world) chiming in. Thanks too to Corey Johnson, Matthew Rettenmund, Michelangelo Signorile, and my Towleroad partner Michael Goff, who were our panelists. If you'd like to review everything that went down, the post is here.
First things first. We have a new President, Barack Obama. Eight long years of the Bush administration will soon be over. Bush not only destroyed America and its standing in the world, it appears he pretty much destroyed his own party. I could not be more overjoyed that I am not waking up today, as in the past few elections, feeling as though we had the wool pulled over our electoral eyes by a bunch of crooks, some of whom should face the severest scrutiny for the acts they perpetrated on their own country. Anger or vengeance is not my overriding feeling right now, however. It is both exhaustion and joy.
McCain's gracious and emotional concession speech was amazing - amazing in that, given the past two years, this was a John McCain that I did not recognize. If John McCain had run as this person and not as the hateful petty candidate he was (I believe) forced to run as by his own party, he just may have won. Instead, he appealed to the basest instincts of his party and was repudiated by a populace that refused to accept the divisions he and his running mate, Governor Sarah Palin, placed at the center of an ugly, negative campaign. Let Joe the Plumber be sent back to the dustbin of obscurity, please.
In the Presidential race, Obama's electoral count is at 338, McCain's is at 161, with Indiana, Missouri, and North Carolina still up in the air. Florida and Ohio are now blue states, which is amazing. In the Senate, 5 seats have been gained by Democrats, 3 are still undecided. In the House, Democrats gained 18 seats, 10 are still undecided.
Proposition 8 is still in play but right now support for the measure is ahead, 52% to 48%, with 95% of precincts reporting.
It was a battle funded to the tune of $74 million, and we may have lost it. For some reason, California voters put Proposition 2, a measure "to prohibit the cruel confinement of farm animals in a manner that does not allow them to turn around freely, lie down, stand up, and fully extend their limbs," ahead of the marriage rights of gay people. The farm animal act passed, while gay and lesbian Americans appear to be sent back to the status of second-class citizens and discrimination appears ready to be written into the California constitution. Please do not take that statement as anger that Prop 2 passed. I'm happy it did. I'm just upset that Prop 8 looks likely to as well, and believe it will certainly play out to be a complex story.
People will be looking to place blame. The racial element in the voting will be eyed (exit polls showed 70% of blacks voting for the measure) but should not be the scapegoat. Older white voters also voted in large number for the measure. However, what should be looked at most critically is the millions and millions of dollars pumped in to pass this measure by donors associated with the Church of Latter Day Saints. The Mormons.
And because the measure would likely pass by such a narrow margin, one also has to consider those who could have gone out and voted but didn't, either because of laziness or because they took an Obama win in California for granted.
One thing is for sure, what's done is done. We must move forward. I do believe that our historic presidential win has positioned this country for great change and it is time to take advantage of that. I have spent many hours trying to get the word out about the importance of defeating Proposition 8. But I won't let its passage squelch the hope that fills me today.
We lost on other ballot initiatives as well. Arizona's ban on same-sex marriage passed. Florida's Amendment 2 banning same-sex marriagepassed. Arkansas' anti-gay foster parent and adoption measure passed. Yes, it's done. It's exhausting for me to dwell on the hours I spent reporting on these issues. But what can we do but move on and keep fighting?
Some other bad news:
Anti-gay Michelle Bachmann won in Minnesota. Disgusting.
The race between Norm Coleman and Al Franken in Minnesota looks headed for a recount.
Now for the good news:
Connecticut voters rejected a Constitutional Convention that could have taken away marriage equality there.
Democrat Kay Hagan ousted Elizabeth Dole from the North Carolina Senate.
Gay entrepreneur Jared Polis was elected in Colorado's second district, as was predicted a few months ago. He joins Tammy Baldwin and Barney Frank in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Anti-gay Congressman Marilyn Musgrave is gone from Colorado. Musgrave was the lead sponsor of the Federal Marriage Amendment.
Lupe Valdez won re-election as Dallas County Sheriff.
Kevin Beckner unseated Hillsborough County Commissioner Brian Blair in Florida. According to the Victory Fund, "Beckner is a 37-year-old financial planner. This was his first bid at public office. Blair caused a controversy earlier in the campaign by opposing a day of silence in memory of 15-year-old hate crime victim Lawrence King."
Kate Brown won the race for secretary of state in Oregon, making her the second-highest ranking official in the state.
More Victory Fund wins here and here.
No doubt there are other races I have missed or forgotten to highlight. If you feel particularly happy or angry about one, feel free to let loose in the comments, just try to be good to one another. Thanks too for participating on Towleroad during this election season.
Posted 11:36 AM EST by Andy Towle in Barack Obama, Election 2008, Gay Marriage, Gay Rights, Jared Polis, News | Permalink
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Commenting on the Obama win yesterday, Pelosi says "America is ready for a new direction."
Isn't this the same speech she gave in 2006? Now that we've defeated Grandpa, can we please send Grandma back to the retirement home?
Worse. Speaker. Ever.
Posted by: John in CA | Nov 5, 2008 12:41:01 PM
The passing of Prop 8 is disheartening. But we can take solace in:
MA and CT still offer marriage
NJ will most likely offer it.
NY's gov is pro-marriage and with a Democratic majority in the state senate, this looks promising here in the Empire State.
and
Obama is anti-DOMA
I just hope the gays in CA take to the streets ASAP.
Posted by: Alex | Nov 5, 2008 12:41:12 PM
LELAND's post is spot on perfect. The gay community is to blame most of all.
Posted by: javier | Nov 5, 2008 12:43:18 PM
LELAND's post is spot on perfect. The gay community is to blame most of all.
Posted by: javier | Nov 5, 2008 12:43:29 PM
It took me a while to discover it, but Towelroad is my favourite blog - as always, excellent reporting both in terms of quality and quantity.
The gay marriage votes are sad but should inspire us to do more, rather than give up. Only a few decades ago it would be unthinkable that there would be a debate on gay marriage. Since then there has been progress and there will be more. America will get gay marriage - it will just take longer than many of us here want it to take. Older people who voted against it will grow older and die. And I believe that the younger people in American are a more tolerant demographic in general.
So, we need to pass on the messages of tolerance and celebration of diversity. On an individual level that means being as open as we can about our sexual identities - the more people who know someone who is gay, the harder it is to harbour intolerant views. If you're in the closet - try and come out.
We also need to continue to challenge all forms of homophobia, with dignity and humour as well as firmness whenever we encounter it.
And most importantly, we need to stay united. We're all on the same side.
Posted by: Lubin Odana | Nov 5, 2008 12:45:20 PM
All I can say is Obama better fight for the repeal of the DOMA and DADT and quickly or I'm going to be incredibly disappointed in him and feel he is like all the other slimy politicians that he claims he isn't, pandering to us to get our vote and then ignoring us once he had it.
Posted by: John M | Nov 5, 2008 12:52:36 PM
Akaison, we tried to warn them but they wouldn't listen. Suddenly they hate those ads as much as we do.
Posted by: misquowoti | Nov 5, 2008 12:57:24 PM
It is important to also remember that Obama does not support marriage for gay men and lesbians, regardless of his support for civil unions. His words stating this were used as part of the Yes on 8 campaign. Reaching out is very important for the GLBTQ communities, but respect must come from the top. Including GLBTQ people in your list of groups is only words. Actions are required. I agree that DOMA must go and fast, but doubt that will happen. Obama must be held accountable for this defeat in CA as well as others. Some long soul searching is now required.
Posted by: chgohunt | Nov 5, 2008 1:02:51 PM
Leland,
I couldn't agree with you more. The gay rights groups failed us once again, and the public figures (including Barack Obama) that are in the best position to reach out to millions of people were silent and unwilling to reach into their own pocketbooks.
It's disheartening to see people like Ellen enjoy their marriages while doing so little to protect my right.
I'm a student without an income, and I donated so much of the money I have that I may not make next month's rent, and people like Van Sant worth millions gave token amounts.
Our gay organizations and leaders have failed us. And I don't have much faith in Obama to be the one to raise us up to equality.
Posted by: Eric | Nov 5, 2008 1:03:23 PM
Poorly funded? Hell, it was POORLY CONCIEVED!!! Why throw more money down a rat hole, Leland? This campaign was run by people hideously disfigured by Internalized Homophobia. Amd that's the bottom line.
Posted by: David Ehrenstein | Nov 5, 2008 1:08:04 PM
If ever we needed to end our denial of black homophobia, it's now staring us right in the face. The evidence was there for years, but it's time to acknowledge that our problems extend deeply within Democratic strongholds as well as within right-wing ones. This should be a wake up call, but I see people here willing to just roll-over and play dead (Leland would normally say something like "pull down their pants..." but he's too high on Obama fumes to get the point here.) Rhetoric and actual policy are two very different things. Looks like eight long years of lip-service to me.
Here are the three Bush legacy spending programs that resulted in such high deficits: The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Medicare proscription drug coverage and the blow-out farm bill. At best we will see savings on Iraq. His tax cuts will expire in 2010, but with a poor economy total receipts will go down anyway. Dwarfing the spending was the everyone-approved Wall St. bailout. This was a complete fraud on the taxpayer, but then, fools and their money are quickly parted. As far as our reputation is concerned, it was more from our conduct of the war than the war itself, and I'm not sure how we will persuade the 60% of Germans that think 9-11 was a Jewish-CIA conspiracy that they are wrong. The other major issue is global warming, but this is such a long-term problem that not a single country in the world has acted on policy sufficiently to please Al Gore--it's been mostly hot air (ha!). Let's just say that the US is the only country so far honest enough to admit we aren't going to do anything. We also start at a huge disadvantage because we have such a high per capita carbon footprint to begin with.
Posted by: anon | Nov 5, 2008 1:18:12 PM
How disappointing to find out that 70% of black Californians stabbed us in the back after we gave so much blood, sweat and tears to elect Obama.
Prop 8 won because church leaders used the pulpit for the past twelve Sundays to warn the lemmings that we would come after their children if they didn't vote for it. And the idiots bought it. Stupid can't be fixed.
Posted by: veronica | Nov 5, 2008 1:19:52 PM
I understand the need to foist blame on our own community, but after it all, let's try to remember a little bit that ours is the community that is being oppressed, not doing oppressing. If we want to blame anyone for allowing Prop 8 to pass, let's first blame the bigots who voted for it. To me the most repulsive thing is hearing news anchors declare things like, "America has finally lived up to its promise for equal rights for all people!" when clearly that isn't true. Unless equal rights end here, today, last night.
Posted by: Pornotension | Nov 5, 2008 1:30:25 PM
I, too, thought McCain's speech was humane and compassionate. Wow.
Posted by: Rhea | Nov 5, 2008 1:32:29 PM
Seems turnout was horrendously low out there. Less than 10MM voters. WTF? Prop 8 passed because of apathy.
Posted by: Brett | Nov 5, 2008 1:41:43 PM
Ugh. I just saw Tony Perkins on CNN. I want to do the most awful things to him.
Posted by: Kyle | Nov 5, 2008 1:44:34 PM
@Anon:
I don't think that the Afro-American vote was deciding in this case.
And in which source did you find that 60 % of the Germans believe that 9-11 was a Jewish-CIA conspiracy? That's ridiculous. In a quick search I find that 64 % of the German think it was Al Quaeda. (Yes, that's correct, not Saddam.)
And re Global warming:
As many US citizens' behavior is that bad in this matter it shouldn't be too difficult to reduce emissions without having to reduce living standard.
Posted by: Chris | Nov 5, 2008 1:44:59 PM
Grow up and stop looking for someone to blame. The fact is you all thought you were different -- that this couldn't happen in California. Welcome to the USA where most of us have had to deal with losing similar fights in recent years. I've lost track of the exact number, but a majority of states now limit marriage to opposite sex couples in their state constitutions
The battle for same sex marriage rights isn't going to be easy and it's not going to happen quickly. Don't let this defeat overshadow all of the great progress made in this election.
Posted by: ML | Nov 5, 2008 1:45:13 PM
totally agree with Leland Frances view.
Posted by: Dan H. | Nov 5, 2008 2:01:45 PM
First, many thanks to Andy (big up, MT!) and the towleroad community for providing this forum. I think now, at 12.30 in the afternoon, I'm finally done crying and can start to process my thoughts/feelings on the outcome of last night's election.
It was, as they say in rugby circles, a game of two halves. Of course, I was thrilled to see Obama take the presidency, but celebrations were cut short by the early numbers on LGBT issues across the nation (in addition to Prop 8 here, in CA, also those elsewhere in the US).
This morning on television, we're hearing a lot about what Obama's election says about the human rights movement in the US, but no mention of the fact that the same night we elected the first black man to the oval office, we also voted to eliminate the rights of gay citizens.
The fight for equality is far from over. There are a number of good insights and valid criticisms here about how the Prop 8 campaign was run. The fight continues...
Posted by: Macca | Nov 5, 2008 3:44:42 PM
I know that this is wrong and will (hopefully) pass, but for right now, for this one moment in time, when I see a black face on TV telling me what a "great" day this is for America and "equality", I feel nothing but HATE. When I read comment after comment on various sites from black people slamming us for having the audacity to compare our struggle to theirs just because we weren't brought over on slave ships, I feel nothing but HATE. When I think about what I and most other LGBT people have done to support the black community as I reach around to pull out the knife in my back, I feel nothing but HATE. Mostly, I HATE myself for feeling this way.
Posted by: Newly (Un)married? | Nov 5, 2008 4:31:18 PM
Newly:
I hear you. I had struggled all day to not let my frustration with the African Americans voting 70% against gay marriage (far more than what the ultimate difference in the passage of the ballot measure was) hurt how important yesterday was for ALL Americans.
I think if nothing else, we can get mad and confused and angry, but it shows us that we have some work to do with minorities. African Americans as a group are the most opposed to gay marriage (short of evangelical Christians of any color). We have work to do. And while we may not understand why that work is required at all, sitting idle and hoping people come around isn't going to get us there.
Posted by: Anon | Nov 5, 2008 5:02:11 PM
Sally Kern of Oklahoma won again. WTF Oklahoma?
Posted by: egoiste | Nov 5, 2008 7:12:08 PM
You non-black gays who insist on disproportionately blame black Californians and disproportionately weight their votes to the votes of your own racial/ethnic groups who voted against it are PATHETIC. I keep reading how thankful black people (gay, str8, otherwise) should be so grateful to gay people (in the context non-black gays are assumed) because there couldn't be a intersection of them both YOU FUCKING IDIOTS. That's one of the problems within the LGBT community to begin with; "gay" so often means just means gay white men. FUCK YOU short-sighted, egotistical fuckwads. Am I disappointed that a higher percentage of blacks voted yes on Prop 8 than any other racial/ethnic group - absolutely. Should there be outreach and education about tolerance on this issue - yes.
However, how about you intolerant, reactionary, privileged white gay whiners look at your own community and the shear numbers of you (despite the lower percentage of whites who voted for the measure you still make up 58.9% of the population as compared to blacks being 6.2%) who voted for it. Do the math assholes!!!
Posted by: mikey d | Nov 6, 2008 2:43:54 AM