2012 Election Results: Historic Night for Gay Issues and Candidates Across the United States

Four years ago, Senator Barack Obama won the presidency, but gay folks across the country were outraged that California voters approved Proposition 8, the anti-gay marriage ban.

Last night, it was a completely different story -- and one of the most historic and significant nights for the LGBT community, the gay rights movement, and the advancement of overall equality in the United States.

Throughout the country on election night, gay issues and candidates won major races -- with gay rights activists working hard on the front lines and straight folks opening up their hearts and minds.

Human Rights Campaign president Chad Griffin noted in an email to supporters:

"Thanks to all the hard work in achieving tonight's victories. We're not going to slow down - we're doing to double down. We finally have momentum on our side and we will not rest until the promise of equal justice under the law is realized for every single person living in every single corner of this vast country."

Those victories include:

In Wisconsin, Tammy Baldwin became the first openly gay person to be elected to the U.S. Senate.

In Rhode Island, openly gay congressman David Cicilline was reelected.

In New York, Sean Patrick Maloney became that state's first openly gay person elected to Congress.

In Maine and Maryland, for the first time in the history of the United States the voters -- not judges or a legislature -- legalized gay marriage.

In Minnesota, voters defeated an anti-gay marriage measure -- an extremely rare victory up to now.

Truly historic. Interestingly, four years ago, Senator Barack Obama would not commit to a pro-gay marriage stance. In 2012, the president firmly came out in favor of legalized same-sex marriage -- and voters followed suit. An incredible turn around in four short years, with the most pro-gay president in the history of the United States at the helm.

Still, Adam Umhoefer, executive director of the American Foundation for Equal Rights (AFER), the sole sponsor of Perry v. Brown, the federal constitutional challenge to California's Proposition 8, said about yesterday's historic election in a press statement:

"While we celebrate these momentous achievements for equality, we know that our work is not yet done. Millions of gay and lesbian Americans continue to suffer under the injustice of discrimination every day just by living in states that do not recognize marriage equality."

He continued, "At AFER, we remain dedicated to protecting and advancing equal rights, including the freedom to marry, for all Americans. With our federal constitutional challenge to Proposition 8 currently being considered by the Supreme Court, we look forward to the day when every American will be able to equally enjoy the fundamental freedom to marry the person they love."

Contact Patrick Range McDonald at pmcdonald@laweekly.com.

Tags:

Barack Obama, election results, gay candidats, gay marriage, historic night, Maine, Maryland, Patrick Range McDonald, Tammy Baldwin

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noemail4you

Eqaulity is Equal? This has to be a democratic belief. We are not, nor will we ever be equal. We all have our own destiny, our own lives, our own ways of thinking. If you have a car, house, job, fabulous clothes and can afford to eat out 3 times a week. And, you talk about how everyone should be treated the same. I bet you would change your mind if someone said, you had to give up things that were'nt "eqaully divided" to everyone in your neighborhood. Eqaulity is a big pile of horse shit!

abramsrl

The end of DADT had to come first. All groups first must serve in the military before they may enjoy additional inalienable rights. Much of the Gay leadership, however, fought this simple fact for years and years and keep pushing losing battles on Gay Marriage and Equality.

We Gays were left vulnerable to right wing bigots who are free to reinstate DADT anytime they wish since Obama appealed the 9th Circuit decision which held that DADT was unconstitutional until Congress repealed the ban. Thus, we never received judicial recognition of our inalienable rights to Life, Liberty, and Pursuit of Happiness or that DADT deprived us of the Constitutional protection of Liberty.

Equality is not an inalienable right nor is it a constitutional right and it is myopic for us to balance of lives on a non-existent right. In Lawrence v Texas, 539 U.S. 558 (2003) Justice Kennedy firmly based "Gay Rights" on the inalienable right to Liberty:

"Liberty protects the person from unwarranted government intrusions into a dwelling or other private places. In our tradition the State is not omnipresent in the home. And there are other spheres of our lives and existence, outside the home, where the State should not be a dominant presence. Freedom extends beyond spatial bounds. Liberty presumes an autonomy of self that includes freedom of thought, belief, expression, and certain intimate conduct. The instant case involves liberty of the person both in its spatial and more transcendent dimensions." Opening paragraph of Lawrence v Texas

The word Equality does not appear in the entire opinion.

In America, groups that insist on their inherent rights of Liberty prevail, but those who lack of the courage to stand tall for their own Freedom but instead weakly ask to be equal to someone else are also asking to be equal in slavery. Read de Tocqueville. There is no honor and no valor, and hence, no respect in Equality.