December, 1990 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE

Referenda produce mixed bag, but most gay candidates win

by Lisa M. Keen and Robin Kane

November 6's gay-related ballot referenda produced good new for gay couples but bad news for singles.

In two West Coast ballot measures seeking approval for limited domestic partner recognition, voters in San Francisco and Seattle gave the thumbs up. But voters in Tacoma, Washington, soundly rejected an initiative mounted by gays to add sexual orientation to the city human rights law, and voters in Wooster, Ohio, easily repealed a city fair housing ordinance that protects gays from discrimination (see story on page 1).

shows 71 percent of the voters rejecting the idea of adding sexual orientation to the city's human rights law. The results were a much stronger rejection of gay rights protection that the city showed in last year's balloting. In 1989, Tacoma voters repealed the city council-approved gay rights protections by a vote of 52 percent to 48 percent.

Despite the dismal results on the individual gay rights protection, the over-all results on the four gay-related ballot measures turned out better than last year. In November 1989, voters rejected gay-related protections in five out of five ballot

measures.

San Francisco gays, who have been trying for eight years to get some form of Six newcomers win domestic partnership legislation, finally succeeded. Fifty-four percent of the voters agreed to Proposition K, which allows unmarried partners to register themselves as a couple.

In Seattle, voters refused to repeal the city's Family Leave Ordinance, which went into effect in August. That ordinance allows city employees with unmarried partners to take bereavement or sick leave as necessary to mourn or care for their domestic partner.

A group called the Committee to Repeal Domestic Partnership hired the man who organized the repeal of nearby Tacoma's gay rights law last November and got Referendum No. 35 on the ballot.

But gays launched a "No on 35" campaign, co-chaired by Seattle mayor Norm Rice and endorsed by every city council member and the Seattle Council of Churches.

When the vote was counted, 58 percent called for retaining the domestic partners law.

Voters in neighboring city of Tacoma were not so kind. Although final, officials results were not available, the current tally

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Democrat Deborah Glick became the first openly gay person to win a state-level office in New York with her election to the General Assembly. Glick won 78 percent of the vote, beating Republican challenger Elizabeth Greene in the race to represent the heavily Democratic Lower Manhattan district.

In Maine, lesbian activist Dale McCormick also won a state-level seat with her victory over Republican incumbent state senator Norman Weymouth. Marcia Westin, McCormick's campaign manager, said voters sometimes brought up the issues of McCormick's sexual orientation in letters to newspapers, but most letters were supportive of McCormick for her openness.

Lesbians won two of the five seats up for grabs on San Fransisco's Board of Supervisors, competing against 25 other candidates. Longtime Democratic Party activist Carole Migden came in third while Democrat Roberta Achtenberg, former executive director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, came in fourth. Migden and Achtenberg will now join Board Presi-

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Stand-up comedian and longtime activist Tom Ammiano was the highest votegetter in a race for three San Francisco school board seats, and Los Angeles Democrat Kenneth Hahn unseated the incumbent in his bid for the county asses-

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All gay incumbents win

All five openly gay elected officials who were seeking re-election this week won at ballot box. U.S. Rep. Gerry Studds, D-Mass., one of two openly-gay members of the U.S. House of Representatives, won re-election to his ninth term in office with 53 percent of the vote. His conservative and anti-gay challenger, Jon Bryan, had been trailing during most of the campaign but moved up in the polls in the final week. When Bryan challenged Studds two years ago, Bryan lost be a two to one margin, according to Bay Windows, a Bostonbased gay newspaper.

Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., the other openly gay member of the U.S. House, also won his re-election with 66 percent of the vote. It was Frank's first re-election campaign since the House Ethics Committee reprimanded him for allowing male prostitute Steve Gobie to benefit from congressional privileges. Frank's opponent, conservative Republican John Soto, did not receive the Republican party's endorsement until late in the campaign, when the

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endorsed candidate suddenly dropped out of the race.

In state-level races, one lesbian and two gay men won their re-election bids. Minnesota state Rep. Karen Clark, of the Democratic Farmer Labor Party, easily won reelection to her sixth term in the state House. Minnesota state Sen. Allen Spear, also of the D.F.L., won re-election to his sixth term in the state legislature. In Washington State, Democrat Cal Anderson won in his campaign for a second full term to the state House of Representatives.

Gelpi, two others lose

Columbus businessman Mike Gelpi lost his attempt to unseat conservative Republican John Kasich from the U.S. House of Representatives. Gelpi, who ran for the same seat two years ago but dropped out for health reasons, garnered 28 percent of the vote.

Mike Duffy, the only openly-gay Republican on November's ballot, lost his bid for the Massachusetts state House, receiving 46 percent of the vote in a heavily Democratic district.

Democrat Howard Russell just missed a chance to be Vermont's first openly-gay state senator. Russell came in seventh out of 14 in a race where the top six win senate seats.

Reprinted with permission from the Washington Blade.▼

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