Jan 11, 2008  JOE SOLMONESE | COMMENTS     

THE WHOLE WORLD — or at least the political world — has been focused on two states for the past few weeks: Iowa and New Hampshire. Every four years, these states find themselves at the epicenter of our democratic process. At the Human Rights Campaign, we knew this day was going to come and we’ve been preparing for it.

Why is it important for the GLBT community, and more specifically the Human Rights Campaign, to be playing such an active role in these states — especially when we haven’t endorsed any of the presidential contenders? The answer is quite simple. The best way to keep issues of significance to the GLBT community on the front burner, discussed in a positive and constructive way, is to actively engage and motivate our community to participate. If you don’t define who you are and what you’re about, then surely your opponents will do it for you. 

Our struggle for equal rights is at a critical point and we couldn’t afford to allow the religious right to move in, like 2004, and once again demagogue GLBT issues. So, we struck early and aggressively. We all know that the importance of Iowa and New Hampshire is greatly magnified by the election process. This time around, we used that magnification to our advantage.

There is no greater example of this than the discussions that happened in the presidential debates around the issue of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” While Wolf Blitzer posed questions to Democratic and Republican candidates in one of the first CNN/New Hampshire debates about the discriminatory policy, we were touring the country (including Iowa and New Hampshire) presenting the real life stories of patriotic gay and lesbian veterans who have served our country honorably. 

“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” is being defined during this election by the stories and faces of people like Eric Alva, the first service member wounded in Iraq — not by right-wing rhetoric that, in past elections, has too often defined our issues.

IN IOWA AND New Hampshire, beginning in early 2006, we started organizing and building support. The Human Rights Campaign had taken an active role in both states’ legislative races in 2006. The resulting electoral successes led to legislative victories during the 2007 session. In Iowa, working with One Iowa, election successes resulted in a new employment non-discrimination law and an anti-bullying measure. In New Hampshire, the House and Senate both switched from leadership hell-bent on passing an anti-marriage amendment to pro-GLBT majorities, leading to the passage of a civil unions bill that took effect on Jan. 1, 2008 — one week before the primary.

This work hasn’t only helped to change the national conversation on GLBT issues, but has also helped change laws in both of these states.  What’s that old saying? Oh yeah, killing two birds with one stone. 

Iowa and New Hampshire provided an opportunity for citizens to meet the presidential candidates face-to-face. Throughout, candidates on both sides repeatedly witnessed GLBT activists at their events, asking questions. Our goal has been to have a major presence in those states throughout the nomination process. We wanted candidates across the spectrum to know about our issues and know that we were watching and participating.

Minor events on the campaign trail, like candidates seeing Equality ’08 T-shirts or being asked a question by a hand-holding lesbian couple, have been often repeated in these states this year. They may be small moments, but they signify major accomplishments of our movement and are no doubt influencing the future leader of our country.

EARLY ANALYSIS SHOWS that our work to help frame GLBT issues in a positive way and the building of organizational structures in these two pivotal states to motivate and engage our community had a positive impact. 

We’ve seen candidates publicly vocalizing support for our issues. Taking pro-GLBT positions is now viewed as an asset for the Democratic candidates.

Both states saw huge turnouts. One of the most important factors was the increased turnout of young people, who, as we know from public opinion polling, are strong supporters of equality — and they voted for candidates who support our positions. And keep in mind that New Hampshire and Iowa will also be swing states in the fall. 

Our community has already had success in 2008. But this is only the beginning. As our nation continues to hold elections to determine who the party’s nominees will be, HRC will continue making sure our community, and our issues, are actively discussed and debated.