Your vote and financial support of a political candidate is the most personal of choices. It says that I believe this candidate best represents my values and will support policies that will help me have a better life.
I get asked, “Why doesn’t San Diego LGBT Weekly endorse candidates?” First, an endorsement would reflect what I think and believe, not what you think. Most of our readers are engaged in the political process. LGBT Weekly’s job is to provide and amplify information about candidates that will assist our readers in making an informed decision.
“Shouldn’t we support all LGBT candidates because that will help move our equality forward?” The simple answer to that question is no. For example, take Dwayne Crenshaw, who is a candidate for City Council in the 4th District. As a former executive director of Pride, Crenshaw shares the values of many in the LGBT community. Which means Crenshaw will get the votes and financial support of most LGBT people in his district.
Many LGBT people outside of District 4 will also financially support Crenshaw because of the historic nature of having the first openly gay African American San Diego City Councilmember. However, there are also members of the LGBT community who support other candidates in the district; that is their right.
Our national non-partisan LGBT political action groups, like the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) and the Victory Fund, have policies that imbue their support of candidates. Many LGBT voters look to these organizations to help them make a more informed voting decision. But you should understand their criteria for making an endorsement before you just assume that the endorsed candidate is the person for whom you should cast your vote.
For example, viability: it is one of the criteria of both HRC and the Victory Fund. In essence, is the LGBT candidate electable? This can be a subjective judgment based upon LGBT leaders in the candidate’s district or a requirement for the candidate to provide polling that illustrates they have achieved support from 20 percent of the electorate.
If you take a closer look at the published criteria to endorse a candidate from these organizations, once again you should decide whether their criteria match yours. For example, Crenshaw has the endorsement of the Victory Fund; mayoral candidate Carl DeMaio never received their endorsement. If the endorsing organization’s criteria do not match yours, then you need to do the research yourself. Or even better, go out and meet the candidate at an event; maybe even ask a question.
The sophistication of the LGBT electorate has increased dramatically during the last decade. It is not enough to just be LGBT to get our vote. The candidate must be open about their sexuality, support LGBT equality, have shown a history of support of our issues, as well as not cavort with those who do not support LGBT civil rights. Whether that is a candidate for city council, mayor, Congress, the Senate or the presidency. We have come a long way baby.
STAMPP CORBIN
PUBLISHER
San Diego LGBT Weekly
