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Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton this week lost the North Carolina primary by 14 points and only narrowly edged Sen. Barack Obama in Indiana. (Photo by Elise Amendola/AP)
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HOME > NEWS > NATIONAL NEWS
By: JOSHUA LYNSEN COMMENTS
 
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Kentucky or West Virginia primaries because “neither candidate has any interest in raising them at this point.”
“It doesn’t gain them anything at this point, neither candidate,” he said. “You know, gay issues mean a great deal to gay people, and have some support among the liberal voters, generally. But they’re touchy when you talk about the electorate at large. And I think the candidates would just rather not talk about them. That doesn’t mean they’re not committed, but I think the test of that commitment will be after their election, not the way they campaign.”
Gay issues also could be downplayed in primary discussions in Montana and South Dakota, the final states to vote in the primary process on June 3.
Linda Gryczan, director of Montana Human Rights Network’s equality project, said both campaigns could make the calculated decision that gay issues “aren’t the issues that are going to move the majority.”
And they’d be correct, she said, because more people care about gas prices.
“Where they are on the gas tax is more important to me,” said Gryczan, a lesbian. “Because transportation is a very important issue to me, and the price of gasoline is a very important issue to me.”
Todd Epp, chair of Equality South Dakota’s political action committee, agreed that voters generally are prioritizing other issues.
“GLBT issues have not been in the forefront of the South Dakota presidential primary,” said Epp, who is straight. “Agriculture, education, the economy, water projects, the war in Iraq and health care are the biggest issues in the state.”
Consequently, Epp and Gryczan said their organizations are focused more on swaying local races than on the presidential campaign.
“Locally,” Gryczan said, “it’s far more important that we maintain a Democratic Senate and that our local representatives and senators will be pro-equality voters.”
Although gay issues aren’t prominent in the remaining primary states, they did make headlines this week in Alabama.
State lawmakers approved Tuesday a bill to add crimes against people because of their sexual orientation to Alabama’s hate crime law.
“It is a very happy day to be gay in Alabama,” Danny Upton, executive director of Equality Alabama. “I’m just almost speechless. This is something that people told us could never happen.”
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