Opinion

As the primary and general elections approach, voters face important choices up and down the ballot. Sometimes they’re unable to invest the time to investigate each candidate. One alternative is to look at who endorsed the candidates and who didn’t. In the LGBT community voters can look to endorsements by the Wisconsin Gazette, Equality Wisconsin, Fair Wisconsin and others. Another way to gauge where a candidate stands is to look at the endorsements and scorecards of those that stand against equality.

Perhaps the most prominent anti-gay group is  Wisconsin Family Council. It’s the same group that brought us the 2006 constitutional amendment, fought bullying legislation in 2009 and is fighting the state domestic partner registry. Obviously if WFC endorses a candidate, we can be reasonably certain he or she is not a friend of equality.

There are many important races in Wisconsin this election year.  All of them are deserving of our time and attention. While most of the focus is understandably on the high-profile statewide races, we should also remember to carefully consider the races that are not garnering as much attention, especially the many races for the Legislature. These races could have a tremendous effect on the state and specifically on the LGBT community.

Control of the Legislature hangs in the balance. Along with control comes an agenda that could be either good or bad for both the LGBT Community and for Wisconsin as a whole. When Republicans last controlled the Legislature, they clearly demonstrated where they stood on equality. Rather than model themselves after former Republican Gov. Lee Dreyfus, who signed the nation’s first statewide gay rights law in 1982, they made the decision to adopt the agenda of the most extreme elements of their party.  These are elements that thrive on mean-spirited division.

I first opened my Myspace account back in 2004 just so that I could look at someone else’s profile (you had to be a member to do that back then – they had rules). At that time Myspace was all the rage with the cool kids, so I decided to keep it.

I was 16 and my social networking skills were at an all-time low. But it turned out that my profile customizing skills were top notch. I had the page with all the cool graphics and music playlists. I had a place to display my pictures so that the entire world could see how cool I had become.

A recurring topic in my columns is the importance of advocates and role models in today’s media for young gay people. As the oldest of 12 siblings, I understand that one does not always choose to be a role model. Sometimes people just look up to you, whether you like it or not.

People in the media should understand that by choosing to be on television, they’re positioning themselves as role models, whether they like it or not. I don’t think a lot of them realize this.

Big movements in history are like large boulders moving down a gentle slope. It takes tremendous effort and a long time to get them going, but once they start down the hill they pick up steam and become impossible to stop.

That’s the case when it comes to same sex marriage. As reported in Sunday’s New York Times, for the first time ever polls taken this month show a majority of Americans supporting it. This is either lightening quick or way past time depending on how you want to look at it. As recently as three years ago that figure was only 36%, and in 1994 it was 25%. So, it took 13 years to move the dial 11 clicks and only three years to move it 14 more.

I wrote for the Wisconsin Light from 1988 to 1995. The Light covered many important LGBT stories but was infamous for its typographical errors. I used to get angry by the lack of quality control. Now it’s good for a few laughs.

One of my favorite typos was the headline to a story about a gay editor fired by his newspaper for “outing” a closeted politician. The headline read: “Editor Fried for Outing.”

WiG reported on June 17 that Republican candidate for governor Scott Walker would oppose the state’s domestic partner registry as well as benefits for same-sex partners of state workers. In fact, last year Walker vetoed an effort to extend benefits to Milwaukee County employees and their domestic partners. This follows Walker’s pattern of pandering to some of the most extreme elements of the right wing in the run up to an election. Unfortunately, LGBT employees and their families have paid the price for Walker’s grandstanding.

The LGBT community is certainly diverse, including in the areas of political and ideological beliefs. There are some in the community who favor what may be called a fiscally conservative approach to public policy, while at the same time remaining socially progressive. The Log Cabin Republicans are an example of this. But even if groups like LCR choose to ignore Walker’s anti-LGBT record, what redeeming value would they find in his fiscal record?

Republican state Rep. Leah Vukmir, D-Wauwatosa, is currently running for the 5th District state senate seat against incumbent Democrat Sen. Jim Sullivan.  All indications point to this being the highest profile race for the state legislature this year.

Republicans have invested large amounts of support in Vukmir because they view this race as their key to taking back control of the Senate. But did they invest in a candidate who is too extreme for this moderate/conservative-leaning district?

I finally saw “The Kids are All Right” and have mixed feelings about it.

The movie, which has gotten great critical reviews, revolves around a lesbian couple (played by Annette Bening and Julianne Moore) and their teenage kids who are thrown into turmoil after seeking out the sperm donor (Mark Ruffalo) who made them possible.

Ron Johnson, the Republican who hopes to take Russ Feingold’s U.S. Senate seat, is willing to spend a good portion of his personal fortune on political ads. But he does not appear to be very concerned about the details of actual public policy.

It seems that everything Johnson says is a political slogan.  We heard a good example of this very early in his campaign when he was interviewed on a conservative talk radio show. “The theme of my campaign will be freedom,” he declared.  The right-wing group FreedomWorks calls Johnson a “champion of freedom.”

Writing for Wisconsin Gazette has made me think about the news I’ve covered and the many changes I’ve witnessed since I first had stories published in the GPU News and Amazon, Milwaukee-based publications, in 1977.

The year I began writing for gay and lesbian presses, Anita Bryant was leading her crusade against a civil rights law covering sexual orientation in Florida. It was also the year that Harvey Milk emerged as a major figure in San Francisco politics. Hundreds of thousands of women marched on Washington in support of the Equal Rights Amendment.

One of the lessons of the movie classic “It’s a Wonderful Life” is how one person’s life touches so many others. This has never been truer than for Carol Stevens, a Milwaukeean who passed away in June at age 86.

I first met Carol in 1976-1977 when I became immersed in the crazy, exhilarating politics of Milwaukee’s lesbian feminist community. It was most likely at one of Carol’s renowned lesbian potlucks.