flection 2004: Julia Boseman Elected as North Carolina’s First Lesbian Legislator, M
November 5, 2004_ Serving the Carolinas Since 1979 Volume 25, Number 23
It’s “Mourning” in Gay America
Gays, Democrats Lose Big
on Election Day; Bush
Wins Popular Vote; Kerry
Concedes Defeat in Ohio
By Bob Roehr
Contributing Writer
The political organizations of the gay
community, and much of the rank and
file, bet heavily on the Democratic Party
in this election and lost big time.
It will be days, or perhaps weeks
before all of the votes are officially tal
lied and certified but the outline is clear
- Senator John F. Kerry has conceded,
President George W. Bush has won
reelection.
Republicans padded their majorities
in both the House and Senate.
Bush lost the popular vote in 2000 by
about a half million votes. This year,
with turn out at an all time high, he
reversed that and appears to have piled
up a popular vote margin of about three
and a half million, more than 51 percent
of those cast. That is a higher percent
age than Bill Clinton managed in either
election.
And Bush padded the electoral vote
total as well. Still, the country remains
virtually evenly divided in its political
choices.
Kerry was able to mount a competi
tive campaign in states roughly within
the triangle stretching from Boston, to
Minneapolis, to Washington, DC, as
well as the Pacific coast. The rest of the
country' went strongly for Bush.
"I would not give up if there was a
chance that we would prevail," Kerry
said in his concession speech on
Wednesday afternoon.
He spoke of his conversation earlier
that morning with President Bush. "We
talked about the division in our
nation...Today I hope that we can begin
the healing."
"I plan to do my part to try to bridge
the partisan divide." He asked his sup
porters to do the same and closed with
the prayer, "God bless America."
A short time later, at a rally in the
Ronald Reagan Building, Vice President
Dick Cheney recounted "a record
turnout and a broad nationwide victo
ry." Mary Cheney and her partner
Heather Poe were among family mem
bers on the stage, behind the dais.
President Bush acknowledged, "With
that trust comes a responsibility to
serve all Americans, and I will do my
Four percent of voters in CNN’s exit polls indentified as gay or lesbian. Of
those, 23% say they voted for Bush, 77% for Kerry. The Bush figure is down
from 25% in 2000, but still indicates that over a million gays and lesbians voted
for the Republican candidate. The gay vote in some states was greater than
the margin of victory. AP Photo of John Kerry
best to fulfill that duty every day as
your president." Speaking directly to
those who voted for Kerry he said, "To
make this nation stronger and better, I
will need your support and I will work
to earn it...Working together there is no
limit to the greatness of America."
Ralph Nader was not a factor, collect
ing less than 1 percent of the national
vote total, compared with 3 percent in
2000.
"This is a really tough defeat," said
Cheryl Jacques, president of the
Human Rights Campaign. She urged
the community to keep things in per
spective, "We are reminded that this
battle for equality is not a question of if,
but of when."
With regard to the rout on marriage
amendments she said, "The moral is
that we can't win at the ballot box until
we win at the water cooler."
Matt Daniels, president of the
Alliance for Marriage, attributed Bush's
increased support to social issues such
as the Federal Marriage Amendment
(FMA).
He noted that in Ohio, Bush's sup
port went from 9 to 16 percent among
African Americans, while his support
among Catholic women increased by 5
percent.
GLBT voters cast 23 percent of their
ballots for Bush in 2000 and most com
munity leaders felt that number would
continued on page 12
Marriage
Amendments
Pass in 11
States
“Mean-Spirited, Ugly
Measures Will Hurt
Thousands of Gay and
Straight Families” says
NGLTF Director
NEW YORK — State constitution
al amendments seeking to ban
same-sex marriage passed in all
eleven states where the question
was on the ballot.
In eight of the 11 contests, the
measures also seek to ban other,
more limited forms of partner
recognition, including civil unions
and domestic partnerships.
The margins of defeat, ranged
from 86% to 14% in Mississippi to
54% to 46% in Oregon, based on
early results figures.
"The results underscore whv we
have a Bill of Rights— because it is
always wrong to put basic rights
up to a popular vote. In fact, even
, today, 213 years after the Bill of
Rights was ratified, it is doubtful
Americans could win our free
doms of speech, press and religion
at the ballot box,” said Matt
Foreman, Executive Director of the
National Cay and Lesbian Task
Force (the "Task Force"). "In the
end, we know the Bill of Rights
will guarantee every American the
freedom to marry. For now, we ll
dig in and fight harder - we've
been fighting the forces of intoler
ance for decades and have made
enormous progress against enor
mous odds.
"Tonight, marriage equality took
a right hook to the chin and tens of
thousands of families will be hurt,
but it's certainly not a knockout -
continued on page 13
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