Congratulations! You, as a community, have come through. We’ve proven to be a mature, pragmatic and professional part of the coalition of the Democratic Party. And ours is one of the strongest in the nation. We proved it this year with the upcoming primary by our range of support of various candidates, and a willingness within the community to agree to disagree without rancor. No matter what candidate wins, the community wins. And that is much more important than a personal win for any one of us. Point is, we know that we’ll all be working together in the fall as a united community, which makes us even stronger to take on those who deny our equal rights. We are a value to the Democratic Party.
But our maturity should not be such a surprise, as the local LGBT community has long had a relationship with the political leaders. It goes back to the 1970s and has been nurtured by numerous organizations and activists. And it has brought major results.
Few LGBT communities in the nation can boast of the support elected officials give this community, from appointments, involvement and even funding. Not many can claim that three out members of the LGBT community have been elected — not from a gay district, but citywide. We can. Can you name any area of city involvement that the LGBT community is not a partner in? I don’t think so.
Much of that success comes from our city leaders knowing the strength and commitment of our community. We show that by getting involved with campaigns and actually getting out the vote on Election Day. We at PGN put our ballot of endorsed candidates on the cover of our election issue each primary and general election (note the one on the front page of this issue). Likewise, Liberty City Democratic Club distributes its ballots at a number of locations. There are differences in the two ballot endorsements, and using either to help you vote with your community in mind is a good choice. Both have their own process, but you’ll note that the overwhelming majority of endorsed candidates is similar. We differ on a few, and in those races we agree to disagree. Regardless of who wins in those races, we will still have communication with that candidate. The community wins.
There are also a few members of the community who have worked in political campaigns directly, some of which were endorsed by a community organization and some not. We salute your involvement in the political process, since it is that process that helps us gain momentum toward equal rights.
The winner in this primary? The LGBT community.
Mark Segal is PGN publisher. He can be reached at [email protected].