Washington – The initial results of Election Day
indicate new challenges as well as some opportunities ahead for moving
forward on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality, said the
Human Rights Campaign – the nation’s largest LGBT civil rights
organization. The loss of the House of Representatives to an
anti-equality leadership, along with the loss of some fair-minded
Senators, will certainly impede federal legislative efforts.
Perhaps
most strikingly though, candidates who were the most vociferous
opponents of LGBT equality did not fare well against fair-minded
candidates.
“Social justice movements always experience steps
forward and steps back and this election turned out to be a mix of
both,” said HRC President Joe Solmonese. “Even though we will
face
greater challenges in moving federal legislation forward, nothing will
stop us from using every tool to advance LGBT equality at every
level.
Attempts to hold back the tide of the equality movement will surely put
anti-LGBT leaders on the wrong side of history.”
The loss of
the House to anti-equality leaders is a serious blow to the LGBT
community. The presumptive leadership team of Reps. Boehner,
Cantor
and Pence all score zeros on the HRC scorecard and many soon-to-be
committee chairs have long anti-LGBT records. The past four years
of
Democratic leadership stopped anti-equality lawmakers from being able
to move the most damaging legislation and amendments forward, however,
the 110th and 111th Congresses did not hold pro-equality majorities on
every issue. The 112th Congress will prove even more challenging
in
rounding up the votes needed to advance pro-LGBT legislation. A
particular disappointment is the loss of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal
champion Patrick Murphy in the U.S. House.
“We will be prepared
to fight attempts to turn back the clock on equality as well as
highlight how far this new leadership is outside the mainstream of
public opinion,” said Solmonese. “We need not look any further
than
their decade of House control that brought us attempts to pass a
federal marriage amendment, strip courts of jurisdiction to hear LGBT
rights claims, cut HIV/AIDS funding and vilify openly LGBT appointees.”
In
assessing the impact of LGBT issues on the election, most races were
primarily focused on economic woes creating a difficult environment for
incumbents. Polls show that LGBT issues were not decisive in
these
losses, and in fact, anti-LGBT candidates did not fare well –
particularly the efforts of the National Organization for Marriage that
poured millions of dollars into this election with only a mixed bag to
show for it. Their effort to unseat New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch
was
fruitless, as was their full throated support for Carly Fiorina and Meg
Whitman in California, as well as Carl Paladino in New York.
Additionally, a record number of openly LGBT candidates won elections
across the country including Rep.-elect David Cicilline as a new openly
gay member of Congress.
“No doubt anti-equality forces will try
to trumpet this election as a validation for their divisive politics,
but nothing could be further from the truth,” said Solmonese.
“The
victories of Mark Dayton over rabidly anti-gay Tom Emmer and Lincoln
Chafee over NOM-endorsed John Robitaille clearly demonstrate voters
choosing equality over extremism.”
The outlook in the states
remains more hopeful for moving LGBT issues forward. In New York
voters chose marriage equality supporter Andrew Cuomo along several new
state senators who support equal marriage. In Minnesota, voters
rejected Tom Emmer and instead chose Mark Dayton who has pledged to
sign a same-sex marriage bill into law. In other states like
Maryland,
Hawaii, Rhode Island and Colorado, the coming year may see additional
opportunities to advance relationship recognition laws.
HRC
committed significant resources to the 2010 elections including
contributing more than $850,000 through HRC’s federal PAC to
pro-equality Congressional candidates and political committees as well
as contributing nearly $400,000 to support pro-equality state and local
candidates. HRC deployed 39 staff to 17 states to work for
pro-equality candidates and mobilize HRC members. The
organization
sent more than 3.3 million election-related action alert e-mails to HRC
members and supporters, recruited more than 4,500 volunteers to support
pro-equality candidates and made more than 85,000 phone calls to HRC
members through staff in the field and weekly phone banks at HRC
headquarters.
HRC endorsed 202 candidates for the U.S House of
Representatives, 21 candidates for the U.S. Senate and 16 candidates
for Governor. Of the 164 races where a winner has been called,
80% of
HRC endorsed candidates have won.
The Human Rights Campaign
is America's largest civil rights organization working to achieve
lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality. By inspiring and
engaging all Americans, HRC strives to end discrimination against LGBT
citizens and realize a nation that achieves fundamental fairness and
equality for all.