Living In Linn-bo

[May 3rd, 2006] Stop me before I vote again.

I can't help myself. I'm going to vote for the worst candidate, the person who least deserves to be re-elected, the poster child of bad governance.

I am going to vote Diane Linn for county chair.

I know. How could I be so stupid as to put my support behind someone who has shown herself to be an atrocious leader, who has a problem working with others, and who (though it has yet to be proved) might even be—gulp—guilty of a "crime."

The reason is that Linn has been an avid supporter of gays and has led the political pack when it comes to championing the rights of queer folk to get married in the state of Oregon.

So what does that say about me? And all those elite leaders in the queer community—like Basic Rights Oregon's Roey Thorpe, Human Rights Campaign's co-founder Terry Bean, and Just Out magazine's publisher Marty Davis—who believe it's imperative to return Linn to office?

As far as I can tell, from conversations with people like Bean, getting Linn re-elected is seen as an important national step in the queer-rights movement—almost as huge as the whole gay marriage thing itself.

Thorpe, whose organization makes endorsements solely on gay rights, says she personally would still vote for Linn regardless of the gay issue.

"I believe that every elected representative makes mistakes," says Thorpe, "and, frankly, I think Diane's have been overblown. I see a woman working hard for her community."

Davis, in her April 21 Just Out editorial, refused to support Linn's challenger, Ted Wheeler, because he has no track record with gay causes (and supposedly has never given a dime to them, either). "This is not the time to turn our backs on incumbents...with worn and torn records," she wrote. "In all attempts to affect change, there will be successes and there will be failures."

Linn's failures have been huge (see WW's endorsement of Wheeler on page 19), which puts people like me—gay, slightly political and easily swayed—in a bit of pickle.

In the last election, following the queer ticket was a no-brainer. That's because Sam Adams was gay (not to mention hot). This time around it's not so easy. I appreciate Linn's sense of style. She's a snappy dresser, although she keeps a trashy house. Furthermore, her performance at Monday's Candidates Gone Wild event of the adult contemporary dance hit "Unwritten," complete with backup vocals, was a surprising success. On the other hand, those are qualities I look for in a fag hag, not someone who's in charge of a billion-dollar budget.

Those of us who vote for Linn purely because she's a supporter of "our" issues are in effect pushing ourselves to the periphery. But many times the cause is more important than the particulars. She was there for me. Now it's my turn to be there for her—even though it's a bit like the blind following the blonde.