g********d 发帖数: 4174 | 1 Posted on Advocate.com October 09, 2011 01:55:00 PM ET
San Diego’s Next Mayor Might Be Gay and Republican
By Diane Anderson-Minshall
BONNIE DUMANIS SAN DIEGO (DUMANIS) | ADVOCATE.COM
Two of the top Republican candidates for mayor of San Diego are openly gay
and voters have barely registered it. According to the Associated Press, the
issue just doesn’t come up at campaign appearances or in local news
coverage. That’s because lesbian district attorney Bonnie Dumanis and gay
city council member Carl DeMaio haven’t made their marks as LGBT activists,
which, say political watchers, may help explain why their sexual
orientation has been a non-issue even among social conservatives. Neither
makes a secret of being gay, but, as AP’s Elliot Spagat points out, they
don't draw attention to it, either.
San Diego, America's eighth-largest city, has had a Republican mayor for
almost two decades, which means both Dumanis and DeMaio are on the right
side of the political divide. That could make for an interesting LGBT
political victory, although there are only about 20 openly gay Republican
elected officials nationwide, according to the Victory Fund. If either of
these candidates win, San Diego would be the the nation's largest city to
ever choose an openly gay GOP leader, say Donald Haider-Markel, author of
Out and Running: Gay and Lesbian Candidates, Elections, and Policy
Representation. What remains to be seen, he says, is whether the Republican
party will endorse either candidate — financial backing and party support
have been difficult for gay Republican candidates in the past.
When San Diego mayor Jerry Sanders, a Republican, announced in 2007 that he
believed gays should have rights to marry, saying his lesbian daughter and
members of his staff deserved no less, he caused an uproar among Republicans
who threatened to take away his endorsement. About one-third of San Diego
County's Republican Party central committee voted to yank its backing of
Sanders, Chairman Tony Krvaric told AP, but Sanders kept the endorsement and
went on to win election. Now that Sanders is leaving office (forced out by
term limits, rather than lack of voter support), all eyes are on Dumanis,
the 59-year-old DA backed by Sanders and a bevy of cops in part because of
her law enforcement background, and DeMaio, a 36-year-old former businessman
who is a man of the people, almost solely focused on improving city
finances.
LGBT voters in San Diego are finding themselves with an odd mix of options
— a gay man, a lesbian, or Democrat Bob Filner, a straight congressman who
has made marks as an LGBT activist. Filner served on the LGBT Equality
Caucus in the 112th Congress and has supported marriage equality, fought
against Pro. 8, and called for an end to LGBT discrimination in schools and
the workplace. |
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