State district candidate Ellen Cohen accepted the applause of supporters at her victory party Nov. 7. A large slate of GLBT-endorsed candidates were celebrating on November 7. Ellen Cohen with GLBT Caucus prez Jenifer Pool and HRC’s Mike Holloman. Cohen and City Council at-large member Sue Lovell. David Arpin of the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund (l) and Alex Martinez of the Human Rights Campaign. Trans candidate Kim Coco Iwamoto elected to Hawaii’s board of education.

THIS ISSUE > FEATURES

There has, of course, been good news on the local election front for both gay candidates (Annise Parker and Sue Lovell) and GLBT-positive office holders, including Garnet Coleman and Senfronia Thompson. But the losses have been hard: the overwhelming passage of Prop 2 (made worse by similarly lopsided votes for marriage amendments across the country); the two George W. Bush wins abetted by the vilification of gay people and their families; past victories by state legislator Martha Wong. So on November 7, community voters especially reveled in some positive news, made even sweeter by the tip in favor of the Democrats in the U.S. House and Senate and victories by gay, lesbian, and bisexual candidates across the nation.

Equality-minded Houston voters celebrated an Election Day victory as Ellen Cohen defeated incumbent Martha Wong in the District 134 race for the state legislature. In 2005, Wong, the former Houston City Council member, had angered the local GLBT community by abstaining from voting on Proposition 2, which amended Texas' state constitution to ban recognition of same-sex unions.

Hubert Vo, the incumbent candidate for state representative in District 149, defeated challenger Talmadge Heflin. Heflin, the long-time incumbent who lost to Vo in an extremely close 2004 race, had long opposed equal rights for same-sex partners and their families in Texas, which included support of banning gay and lesbians from fostering or adopting children.

The Houston GLBT Political Caucus and the Houston Equal Rights Alliance (HERA) saw a large slate of equality-minded candidates elected to office on November 7, all of whom were endorsed by Houston's GLBT Political Caucus political-action committee. In addition to Cohen and Vo, these include:

Sheila Jackson Lee, U.S. Rep. District 18

Alma Allen, Texas State Legislature District 131

Scott Hochberg, Texas State Legislature District 137

Kevin Bailey, Texas State Legislature District 140

Borris Miles, Texas State Legislature District 146

Garnet Coleman, Texas State Legislature District 147

Zinetta Burney, Justice of the Peace Precinct 7, Place 2

City propositions A-H, which the caucus PAC also endorsed, also were approved by voters.

The caucus and HERA worked actively for months on voter-identification and voter-turnout efforts. Activists devoted particular energy and resources to the Cohen/Wong race in District 134, which includes part of Montrose, and the Vo/Heflin race (Vo voted against the antigay marriage amendment in 2005, which political observers said made him a target for right-wing ire).

"The caucus is a leading local organization in terms of field work and get-out-the-vote efforts. We spent hours and hours on planning and execution," Jenifer Pool, caucus president, said after the election. "Our volunteers literally gave thousands and thousands of hours of their time this election season in an effort to elect pro-equality candidates. Once again we see the tremendous impact of the HGLBTPC PAC endorsement card. Voters value our endorsements, and candidates appreciate our support."

Read more about them

In the run-up to the election, we reported on two of the big winners: Houston GLBT Political Caucus past president Maria Gonzalez contributed a piece on Hubert Vo ("Call It Courage," October), and OutSmart contributor Josef Molnar profiled Ellen Cohen ("Going Cohen," November).

Dot Nelson-Turnier, the openly lesbian candidate for legislative District 150 in northern Harris County (interviewed by Brian Martinez in "Connecting Dot," October), did not win her race. Nelson-Turnier's opponent, the incumbent Debbie Riddle, was elected to a third term in her solidly Republican district.

Even before the election, Nelson-Turnier (who was endorsed by the Houston Chronicle ) made clear her plans to continue her involvement in politics. "I will be announcing the formation of a new PAC that will be for the sole purpose of seeking out and supporting GLBT candidates for political office," she reported in an e-mail to OutSmart. "It will be called the Ten Percent Initiative. We will be encouraging GLBT people to run for office and be providing support for them. We don't expect to be a big fundraising group like the Victory Fund but more of a mentoring group."

Hawaii elects first trans candidate to statewide office

On November 7, attorney Kim Coco Iwamoto (pictured) became the first openly transgender candidate elected to a state-level office in the United States with her victory in an at-large race for the Hawaii board of education. Iwamato, who was elected as the representative from Oahu, is a member of the board of advisors for the National Center for Transgender Equality, the Washington, D.C.-based social justice organization. The Hawaii native earned her law degree at the University of New Mexico School of Law and is a volunteer guardian ad litem for the First Circuit Family Court.

The Washington, D.C.-based Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund reported unprecedented success in helping to elect openly gay and lesbian candidates this year. Sixty-seven of 88 candidates endorsed and supported by the national equality organization were elected to federal, state, and local offices, some winning historic races that make them the first openly gay or lesbian candidates ever elected in their states or legislative bodies.

In Texas, Victory Fund candidate Gary Fitzsimmons was elected to Dallas district clerk, and Susan Steeg was elected justice of the peace in Travis County.

"This is the tipping-point election for openly gay candidates," Chuck Wolfe, Victory Fund president and CEO, said in a November 8 statement. "We're proving that qualified, well-prepared candidates matched with committed donors means gays and lesbians can move from having a stake in policy to actually making policy. There's no reason to sit on the sidelines with our fingers crossed anymore."

Openly gay candidates in Alabama, Arkansas, and Indiana were elected to a variety of offices, the first to be elected to any office in their states.

On November 7, eight states sought to join Texas banning same-sex marriage with amendments to their constitutions. In that contest, Arizona emerged the sole U.S. state ever to defeat the ban by popular vote.

Amendments seeking to ban same-sex marriage won voter approval in Colorado, Idaho, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia, and Wisconsin.

Key victories

The Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund identified these 10 wins by GLBT candidates across the nation as especially significant:
Patricia Todd will represent District 54 in the Alabama state house. Todd is the first openly gay person ever elected to any office in the state.
Kathy Webb will represent District 37 in the Arkansas state house. Webb is the first openly gay person ever elected to any office in the state.
Henry Fernandez won a seat on the Lawrence Township School Board, making him the first openly gay person ever elected to any office in Indiana.
Al McAffrey will represent District 88 in the Oklahoma state house. McAffrey is the first openly gay person ever elected to the Oklahoma state legislature.
Jolie Justus will represent District 10 in the Missouri state senate. Justus is the first openly gay state senator in Missouri history.
Ed Murray will represent District 43 in the Washington state senate. Murray, a former state representative, is the first openly gay state senator in Washington history.
Matt McCoy becomes the first openly gay candidate ever elected to the Iowa legislature. McCoy, a sitting state senator, came out during his last term.
Ken Keechl won a seat on the Broward County Commission in Florida, beating an appointee of Governor Jeb Bush.
Jamie Pedersen becomes the third consecutive openly gay person to be elected to represent District 43 in the Washington State House.
Virginia Linder will join Rives Kistler on the Oregon Supreme Court, making Oregon the first state to elect two openly gay Supreme Court justices.

The Segregated Seven

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