Candidates Gone Mild

[May 26th, 2004] The Hilton Hotel on election night last week looked like "queer-friendly candidates central," and there was plenty to celebrate. But by the time the results started coming in at 8 pm, the general vibe was weirdly anti-climactic.

Which got me wondering: What did we actually win?

No doubt, May 18 was a lavender-letter day--at least for gay voters in Multnomah County. Former police chief Tom Potter, a true-blue champion for queer rights, just might become our next mayor. Who would have believed that two weeks ago? Another coup: The queer-ific Sam Adams has forced the homo-hugging Nick Fish into a runoff for a City Council position. The Honorable Rives Kistler, the only openly gay Supreme Court judge in this state, or any other, clobbered his opponent, lawyer James Leuenberger, who once represented Oregon Citizens Alliance grand wizard Lon Mabon. And Maria Rojo de Steffey, one of the infamous architects of Oregon's push to recognize same-sex marriages, easily defeated her right-wing opponents and held on to her county commish seat.

Did queers play a part in the success of these candidates? You bet. One of the reasons I think Jim Francesconi came in second is the fact that he is unable to speak clearly--especially when it's come to the subject of gay marriage. Potter has made it loud and clear to everyone, including the governor, that his dyke daughter deserves the same rights as everyone else in this state. He stands for something--and he was recognized for that.

It's great to have queer and queer-friendly candidates in office. And in Oregon, being on the side of the GLBTQ crowd sure seems to be more of an asset than a liability.

But I guess what freaks me out so much about last week's election is how little we actually gained, and how it all could be taken away from us come fall--especially if a constitutional ban on gay marriage makes it onto the ballot.

We could fill the statehouse with homos, and it still wouldn't matter. The constitution trumps other laws.

And fighting the effort to put discrimination into the constitution won't be fun.

Unlike candidate campaigns, where there's someone to vote for, ballot-measure battles are depressing. The proponents of the initiative will have lots of money, and they'll use it to put a friendly face on homophobia. They'll trot out the Trojan horse of "civil commitments" as a faux alternative for moderate voters, while dragging up the Leviticus quotes for the OCA mob.

So go ahead and celebrate Tuesday's results. But don't get comfortable. The effort to ban gay marriage is bigger than all of last week's individual victories combined. It will determine whether we continue to be treated as second-class citizens in this state or, once and for all, put an end to the myth of "separate but equal."