From the Washington Blade

New Dems mixed on gay issues

Many oppose same-sex marriage, two back constitutional ban

by Joshua Lynsen

Friday, November 17, 2006

Last week's election results may be more of a mixed bag for gay rights supporters than many originally thought.

At least 13 of 50 newly elected House and Senate Democrats oppose same-sex marriage, with two of those backing constitutional amendments to ban such unions.

According to research conducted by the Washington Blade, 16 Democrats elected Nov. 7 prefer civil unions to full marriage rights.

Nine incoming Democrats of the 50 examined by the Blade were verified to support full marriage equality for gay couples. They are Sen. elect Sheldon Whitehouse (R.I.), and Reps. elect Ed Perlmutter (Colo.), Joe Courtney and Chris Murphy (Conn.), John Sarbanes (Md.), Keith Ellison (Minn.), Carol Shea-Porter (N.H.), Yvette Clarke (N.Y.) and Stephen Cohen (Tenn.).

Forty-two incoming Democrats oppose a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage.

Issue positions were culled from campaign statements, news reports, voter guides and interviews with gay activists across the nation. The Blade identified nine new senators and 41 representatives who won their races last week. A handful of races remained undecided at press time; the research focused exclusively on freshman Democrats.

Those nine Democrats who favor marriage equality will be at odds with Reps. elect Brad Ellsworth (Ind.) and Nicholas Lampson (Texas), who support a federal constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage.

Experts said the split illuminates political divisions among incoming Democrats.

"Many are moderate or conservative," said Clyde Wilcox, a Georgetown University government professor. "They're not all your traditional, liberal Democrat."

But many gay activists said the political and ideological disparities were inevitable among the large group.

"We have some very progressive new members," said Samantha Smoot, political director of the Human Rights Campaign. "We also have some very conservative new members."

Also in the mix are many new members who have taken no clear stance on key gay issues. Of the 50 new Democrats reviewed, the Blade could not determine where 25 members stand on civil unions. And 10 could not be verified to support any gay rights legislation, including the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which as been identified as a priority of gay activists.

Smoot said HRC and other gay organizations must work in the weeks and months ahead to read these political wild cards.

"There are a number of Democrats who are not necessarily with us on most issues at this time," she said, "so we have our work cut out for us, even though Congress is now in the hands of fair-minded leaders."

Dodging the issue?

Among those who could receive the greatest scrutiny are congressmen from Indiana, Montana and North Carolina.

The five men did not receive an HRC endorsement and largely avoided discussing gay issues during their campaigns.

Sen. elect Jon Tester (Mont.) and Rep. elect Heath Shuler (N.C.) courted voters with their anti-abortion and pro-gun stances.

Indiana's three new representatives, meanwhile, offered no clear stance on civil unions, and at least two campaigned against gay marriage. Their victories drew uneasy support from gay activists.

"We are happy with the election of these three people," said Indiana Equality Chair John Clower. "They helped remove the party in control that has not been supportive on issues of concern to GLBT people in our state."

But he noted the three were just "marginally better" than the GOP incumbents they will replace.

Ellsworth, who supports the marriage amendment, defeated Rep. John Hostettler, who backed a House bill to stop federal courts from ruling on marriage-related issues.

Joseph Donnelly and Baron Hill, the state's other new House members, are social conservatives who maintain ambiguous or hostile stances on gay rights issues.

Still, gay Democrats hope to reach these and other new congressmen.

"We do have more conservative Democrats who were elected," said John Marble, spokesperson for the gay partisan group National Stonewall Democrats. "But that doesn't mean they won't be supportive of LGBT issues."

Marble said gay-friendly congressional leaders, including soon-to-be House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, could unite liberal and conservative Democrats.

"Someone like Nancy Pelosi is a great leader, and can work with conservative Democrats in the House," he said. "All the incoming Democrats are more than willing to work with her."

Wilcox noted Pelosi's ability to unite Democrats is key to advancing any gay legislation.

"It looks like she's going to stress party loyalty," he said. "She'll meet with them and pressure them a bit to go along with the leadership."

But other new members of Congress won't need to be pressured into supporting gay legislation.

Beyond the nine Democrats who back marriage equality are many who support civil unions or expanding gay civil rights and protections.

Ellison, the nation's first Muslim elected to Congress, told the Blade he will work with others in Congress to enact new rights and protections for gays.

"If my gay neighbor suffers from discrimination, then I suffer as well, and so does the entire community," he said, "just as when my female neighbor is held down by a glass ceiling, or my new immigrant neighbor is treated in a way that makes him or her feel unwelcome in our country."

Markos "Kos" Moulitsas Zuniga, a liberal political commentator, backs such inclusive approaches.

Moulitsas, who writes the Daily Kos blog, said gay legislation is best advanced under the more widely accepted political banner of equal opportunity.

"As long as we talk about fairness and opportunity instead of what the gays are getting, what the blacks are getting, what the women are getting," he said in an interview, "if we can get away from that, and talk about a fair society, a just society, it gets much harder for the opposition."

Marble said such unifying Democratic ideals should help overcome any ideological differences among the new congressmen.

"I don't see ideology, whether it be liberal or conservative, being an obstacle to supportive legislation in the 110th Congress," he said. "Maybe there will be a few incoming freshmen Democrats who won't be supportive of everything, but I think we're very optimistic about the incoming Democrats."