An Interesting Contradiction On Gay Rights
The New York Times recently published an article which discusses an interesting apparent contradiction in recent American politics. It notes that the LGBTI community has lost a long string of elections in which the voters repeatedly refused to allow same sex couples to marry. By most reports the community has lost on that issue over 30 times. Yet, at the same time, LGBTI candidates have been increasingly successful in getting people to vote them in to elective office.
Even in conservative Texas, a lesbian was elected Mayor of Houston this fall while a lesbian won re-election for the second time as Sheriff in Dallas County and another lesbian was elected district attorney in Travis County Texas. Several LGBTI candidates won political office in other parts of the country as well.
There are currently 445 openly gay and lesbian people holding elected office nationwide at this time compared to only 257 eight years ago.
Some in the LGBTI community dismiss those who vote against gay marriage as bigots who hate all LGBT people. But the fact is that some of those voting against same sex marriage must also be voting for the lesbian and gay candidates who are running for office. So it may not just be that those who vote against marriage hate gays.
It may be just that they are not yet comfortable with the narrow concept of two people of the same sex getting married. I think wisdom suggests we need to look more deeply into this issue and find just what messages will be truly effective in helping them to outgrow this discomfort.
You can read the entire New York Times Article by directing your browser to the following link.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/28/us/28candidates.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=Openly%20Gay%20politicians%20win%20Elections&st=cse
Boyce Hinman