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Elections
Continued from page 1
In Latah County, a rural area centered
around Moscow, the Lesbian Avengers Civil
Rights Organizing Project spurred a campaign
that produced 61% of the votes against the
Idaho Citizens Alliance-sponsored Proposition
1. In Lewiston, a logging community in cen
tral Idaho, voters were 54% against the mea
sure. Lesbians and gay men in both Moscow
and Lewiston celebrated with spontaneous
demonstrations, including a 130-foot pink tri
angle on Lewiston Hill above the town.
The measure went down to defeat by 3,000
votes in both Latah County and the more popu
lous Ada County, ensuring the 4,000 vote de
feat of the measure. But the close vote means
that the ICA will be back.
But in Florida, lesbians and gay men did
not fare so well. Alachua County (Gainesville)
voters repealed a county non-discrimination
ordinance that included sexual orientation
(57%) and banned any future such laws (59%).
The defeat was devastating for the county’s
No on 1 Coalition.
“We did our best to educate people that
this was the only protection that we would
have based on sexual orientation,” said Georg
Ketelhohn. “It is a lack of awareness that fed
eral and state laws do not include sexual ori
entation.”
David Caton, who led the campaign to re
peal the ordinance, said his organization, the
American Family Association of Florida, af
filiated with Mississippi anti-gay activist Rev.
Donald Wildmon, will now target gay rights
laws across the state, with one rather interest
ing exception.
“Our goal is to repeal every gay rights law
in Florida,” said Caton, “with the possible ex
ception of Key West”
But the battle over Alachua County’s anti
gay vote is not over. A legal challenge to the
initiative is already under way.
Gay and lesbian candidates
Where they ran across the country, openly
gay candidates were largely successful. Even
the losers in two high-profile races—Karen
Burstein for New York state Attorney General
and Tony Miller for California Secretary of
State—ran very close to victory, and their
losses may be largely attributed to the anti
Democrat sentiment that pervaded the coun
try.
Elsewhere, success was evident. Carole
Migden, Susan Leal and Tom Ammiano com
pleted a “lavender sweep” of the San Fran
cisco Board of Supervisors, and two openly
gay candidates were elected to the San Fran
cisco Community College Board. California
also elected two openly lesbian judges—
Bonnie Dumanis to the San Diego City Court
and Teri Schwartz to the Los Angeles Supe
rior Court.
And California also gained its first openly
Washington State’s Cal Anderson was
re-elected.
gay state legislator. Sheila James Kuehl, for
merly best known as brainy Zelda on “The
Many Loves of Dobie Gillis” from 1959 to
1963, was handily elected to the state assem
bly.
“I don’t believe it,” Kuehl said. “There
was an awful lot of anti-Clinton voting, which
is very difficult to understand because that’s
where I’ve made my stand. I think I’ve got my
work cut out for me.”
Other lesbians and gay election victors have
their work cut out for them as well. Washing
ton State Senator Cal Anderson, perennial
sponsor of that state’s gay rights law, was re
elected. Ken Cheuvront won election to the
Arizona House of Representatives, Tim Van
Zandt will be his counterpart in Missouri, and
Will Fitzpatrick will serve in the Rhode Island
State Senate. Oregon will have three openly
gay state representatives: George Eighmey,
Cynthia Wooten, and Gail Shibley. Wisconsin
state Assemblymember Tammy Baldwin was
re-elected, as was state Rep. Glen Maxey in
Texas, state Sen. Dale McCormick in Maine,
and state Rep. Karen Clark in Minnesota.
On the U.S. Congressional level, Massa
chusetts Reps. Barney Frank and Gerry Studds
were both re-elected.
“Each of our candidates won two races
[Tuesday] night,” said Kathleen DeBold,
deputy director of the Gay and Lesbian Vic
tory Fund, an organization that provides fi
nancial support for openly gay candidates.
“One against their opponents, the other against
the Radical Right’s distorted image of gay
men and lesbians.”
Now what?
Despite all those victories, gay men and
lesbians are faced with the most conservative
government they’ve seen since the emergence
of the gay movement. On the national level,
the forces arrayed against gay-positive legis-
, CONTINUED ON PAGE 22
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