Election Day brings more pro-equality lawmakers to Beacon Hill

After Bay State lawmakers defeated a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage last year proponents of the amendment vowed to punish pols who voted down the amendment by running candidates against them on Election Day. But despite pouring money into a handful of state races, the election results only strengthened the power of marriage equality supporters on Beacon Hill.

Matt O'Malley, political director for MassEquality, said as a result of wins in races for open seats the number of pro-equality votes in the legislature grew from 151 last June to 158. O'Malley said the election results show the strong support for marriage equality among the state's voters. He was heartened by similar results in Connecticut, where voters defeated a ballot question that would have called on the state to hold a constitutional convention and opened the door to undoing that state's high court decision in favor of marriage equality.

"It just shows that Massachusetts and Connecticut now ... we just can't be used as a wedge issue. It's not us versus them, its something we can all get behind," said O'Malley. Same-sex couples will be eligible to obtain marriage licenses in Connecticut beginning on Nov. 12.

Early in this election cycle, LGBT advocates in Massachusetts had reason to sweat about the outcome on Election Day. O'Malley said opponents of marriage equality put much of their efforts toward supporting candidates trying to unseat two lawmakers who originally supported the marriage amendment but who changed their minds during the last round of voting in June 2007 to help defeat it, state Reps. Paul Kujawski (D-Webster) and Geraldo Alicea (D-Charlton). The Massachusetts Independent PAC for Working Families (MIPAC/WF), the leading anti-LGBT PAC, donated to the two men's Republican opponents, Kevin Kuros and Ronald Chernisky respectively, as did leading anti-gay activists including Chanel Prunier, campaign director for the Coalition for Marriage and Family; Kris Mineau, president of the Massachusetts Family Institute (MFI); and Coalition board members Thomas Shields, Walter Weld and Tom Breuer,

O'Malley said early polling in in Kujawski's district painted a bleak picture; he had a narrow lead, but when asked whether Kujawski deserved reelection only about a third of voters responded affirmatively. O'Malley said re-electing Kujawski was MassEquality's top priority.

"We got out there and said what Kujo's done for his district in terms of fighting for everybody, and that message carried the day," said O'Malley.

When the results were tallied Kujawski bested Kuros by about 1200 votes; Alicea trounced Chernisky by a 60 to 40 percent margin.

Pro-equality advocates also picked up several open seats. Among those that swung into the pro-equality column were the Attleboro House seat held by retiring Rep. John Lepper, a longtime opponent of marriage equality, which went to pro-equality challenger Bill Bowles, and the Longmeadow House seat of anti-equality Rep. Mary Rogeness, which went to pro-equality candidate Brian Ashe.

Bay Staters also elected a new openly gay representative on Election Day, Stow Democrat Kate Hogan, who will succeed retiring Rep. Pat Walrath, a Democrat also from Stow. Hogan's Republican opponent, Sonny Parente, received support from MIPAC/WF, but Hogan said LGBT issues played little role in the campaign.

"It just never really played much of a role in terms of how I presented to the voters of the district. We were about so many different issues, and the campaign resonated with people," said Hogan.

Hogan joins fellow openly gay lawmakers Reps. Liz Malia (D-Jamaica Plain), Carl Sciortino (D-Somerville), Sarah Peake (D-Provincetown), and Cheryl Coakley-Rivera (D-Springfield), the latter two who handily defeated challengers on Election Day. Another openly gay candidate, Needham state Senate candidate Sara Orozco, lost her bid to unseat anti-gay Sen. Scott Brown (R-Wrentham).

Excitement was in the air at the MassEquality election night party at Club Caf?, but as much if not more of the enthusiasm seemed directed at the presidential election. Liz Good and Margaret Garascia, two Wellesley students, were camped out with their friends in Club Caf?'s back room from early evening through the end of Obama's acceptance speech, watching as CNN reported the state-by-state election turns. This was the first election in which either young woman had voted, and last month they joined a group of other local LGBT activists who traveled to Ohio by bus to work for the Obama campaign.

"It was incredible. The Obama supporters we talked to were so excited we were there. ... We got so many hugs from people. I was invited into people's homes," said Garascia.

Good, who voted absentee in Massachusetts so she could spend the day volunteering with the Obama campaign, said even though she knew her vote for Obama would likely have little impact in Massachusetts, she mailed her ballot in from Ohio for symbolic reasons.

Holly Ryan, board member of Bay State Stonewall Democrats and the Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition, said she worked with Stonewall this campaign season on the Bowles and Hogan campaigns. But in her family the main topic of excitement was the Obama campaign. She said earlier that day her 20-year-old daughter out in Oregon sent her a text message after voting in her first election.

"She texted me and said she was so excited she got to vote for Barack Obama for the first time," said Ryan.

Georgia Hollister Isman, director of the progressive coalition MassAlliance, said at the local level Election Day was a win for LGBT-rights supporters and progressives more broadly. But she said Obama's win was exciting on a deeply personal level.

"My whole political career has been under this horrible [Bush] administration, and I almost can't believe it, it's so amazing," said Isman. "I spend so much of my life interacting with elections on an intellectual level, knowing a lot of data about them, being able to comment on them intelligently. I interacted with this one purely as a voter and I was totally terrified up until the moment that they called it for them."

During Obama's acceptance speech the back room of Club Caf? was uncharacteristically quiet as people gazed at the televisions mounted along the walls and watched the new president-elect address the country. As Obama told the story of a 106-year-old black voter and the experiences she had seen over her long life, ending every sentence with the phrase, "Yes we can," a young blond-haired man chimed in, "Yes, ma'am."

Following Obama's speech O'Malley welcomed Lt. Governor Tim Murray to the party and introduced him to the crowd. Murray joked that the history-making election and the Obama campaign's themes of hope and unity had taken a page out of Gov. Deval Patrick's own history-making election in 2006, in which he became the state's first black governor.

"For the rest of the country, thanks for taking our blueprint, right?" said Murray, prompting cheers from the crowd. "And as Gov. Patrick has said, and tonight president-elect Obama, there's still a lot of work to do, a lot of victories to win. Tonight let's savor it, and tomorrow let's go to work."