Oct 27, 2006  |  By: JOSHUA LYNSEN  | COMMENTS     

With the mid-term elections less than two weeks away, some of the most stridently anti-gay members of Congress are struggling to retain their House and Senate seats.

Several outspoken supporters of a federal constitutional ban on gay marriage, including Sens. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) and George Allen (R-Va.) and Rep. Marilyn Musgrave (R-Colo.) are locked in tough campaigns against their Democratic opponents.

Pennsylvania State Treasurer Bob Casey Jr. (D) leads Santorum 51-39 percent, according to a Mason-Dixon poll released this week.

In Virginia, Allen holds a narrow lead over former Navy Secretary Jim Webb (D). Mason-Dixon last week found Allen had 47 percent to Webb’s 43 percent, a difference within the poll’s 4 percent margin of error.

Musgrave, meanwhile, leads her challenger, Colorado state Rep. Angie Paccione, 46 percent to 36 percent in a Mason-Dixon poll released Oct. 10. But political analysts still consider the race competitive.

Leading gay activists said some incumbents are struggling to win voters in part because they attacked gays at a time when they should have been addressing a myriad of more pressing issues.

“They all went out there and said, ‘My God, the world is coming to an end. And so the most important thing that we could do is amend the constitution to take away gay peoples’ rights,’” said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese in an interview with the Blade this week.

He and Matt Foreman, executive director of the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force, said many voters consequently are abandoning Santorum, Allen and Musgrave.

“I think those are three people who can always be relied on to use our community as a wedge issue,” Solmonese said. “And I think this year, if there is one thing that contributes to their demise, it would be that the American people weren’t having any part of it.”

Foreman said that shift could fundamentally alter the congressional dialogue about gay issues.

“Every time an extremist on any position loses re-election,” he said, “number one, it tempers the debates, and number two, it communicates pretty effectively to other members that there’s not a lot to be gained and there is a lot to lose by taking extreme positions, including those on LGBT equality.”

Santorum most vulnerable

Santorum, described by gay activists as the Senate’s most homophobic member, also is the chamber’s most endangered member.

“He is the most vulnerable senator in the country right now,” said Nathan Gonzales, political editor of the non-partisan Rothenberg Political Report. “He’s been the most vulnerable for over a year now.”

Santorum trails Casey in dozens of polls dating back to February 2005. Although the margins have varied, the most recent polls show Casey maintaining a commanding lead.

Activists said Santorum’s anti-gay ravings — in which he famously equated homosexuality with incest, polygamy and adultery — conveyed an extremist image.

“I think that certainly in Santorum’s case,” Foreman said, “his homophobia, which has been so blatant and gratuitous, has helped reinforce his image as an extremist that’s really out of touch with moderate Pennsylvanians.”

John Marble, spokesperson for the gay partisan group National Stonewall Democrats, agreed.

“I think that he has consistently demonstrated his allegiance to a narrow agenda shared by the special interests that fund his campaign,” Marble said. “And he has done that at the expense of paying attention to the issues that people in Pennsylvania care about.”

HRC is supporting Casey in his efforts to defeat Santorum, a man Solmonese called dangerous, hateful and bigoted.

“I think it’s safe to say that Rick Santorum gets out of bed every morning and thinks, ‘What can I do to be destructive to gay people today?’” he said.

Solmonese said Santorum’s defeat could mark a turning point in the Senate, and help enable discussion of pro-gay bills.

“I think things would change drastically because it is so much more than switching a seat,” he said. “It is that the energy and the obstruction that Rick Santorum puts up around these things will also be gone, and I think that the air in the Senate will be completely different when Rick Santorum’s gone.”

Webb a mixed bag

Although not as outspoken as Santorum on gay issues, Allen also has a record opposing gay rights initiatives.

Just this week, he drew criticism for a new radio ad that suggests his Democratic challenger, an opponent of gay marriage, would “weaken marriage” and violate the “sacred bond” that exists exclusively for “one man and one woman.”

Crafted to motivate conservative voters, the ad brought new attention to Webb’s positions on gay issues.

Webb, who opposes equal marriage rights yet favors civil unions, supports “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” the military’s ban on ...