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Transgendered Candidate for SF Board of Supes Gets National Coverage

by various
1. Sexuality No Big Deal in Coverage of Openly Lesbian and
Transgender Candidates
2.a. Transgender Candidate Ahead in S.F. Race
2.b. Fox News weighs in on D5 supervisor race
1. Sexuality No Big Deal in Coverage of Openly Lesbian and
Transgender Candidates

Malinda Lo
AfterEllen.com
November 1, 2004

http://www.afterellen.com/People/112004/candidates.html

Anyone who has been following the coverage of the U.S. election
over the past few weeks could be excused for thinking that Mary
Cheney’s sexual orientation was one of the primary issues in the
presidential election. But the Mary Cheney brouhaha is actually
the exception to the rule in press coverage of local and state
elections across the U.S. this time. Most coverage of LGBT
candidates has avoided focusing on their sexual orientation,
showing how far most of America has come in terms of accepting
homosexuality. Even in the few campaigns where sexual
orientation has cropped up, the press coverage would seem to
indicate that a candidate’s sexual orientation is simply not as
important to voters as their position on the issues that affect
them locally.

According to the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund, a Washington,
D.C.-based political group that supports the election of LGBT
candidates, 28 Victory Fund-endorsed candidates have good
chances of winning their races this Tuesday. These include all
three openly gay U.S. House of Representatives incumbents,
Barney Frank (D-Mass.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), and Jim Kolbe
(R-Ariz.).

Democrat Julia Boseman, running for North Carolina State Senate,
is one of the few openly lesbian candidates this fall to
encounter negative attacks because of her sexual orientation.
Ads paid for by the North Carolina Republican Party in support
of State Senator Woody White, who was appointed to office after
the previous incumbent resigned to run for governor, focus on
Boseman’s sexual orientation and declare that if she is elected
she will pursue “a liberal, activist homosexual agenda.”

In a truly positive sign of progress toward greater acceptance
of homosexuality in the U.S., White’s local newspaper, the
Star-News, pulled its endorsement of his candidacy after the ads
were printed. According to the Star-News’ editorial, “Until he
allowed these ads to be circulated, Mr. White seemed the more
promising candidate. But now a vote for him would be a vote for
intolerance and dirty politics.” The editorial goes on to state:

It's something else to use language such as "known lesbian
activists" and "radical homosexual rights and privileges" and to
conclude by saying "The truth is … Julia Boseman seeks to be the
first openly gay or lesbian State Senator in North Carolina
History." So what? Most sensible voters don't care what a state
senator does at home. They care about what he or she does at the
legislature.
Although the Star-News did not endorse Julia Boseman, its
decision to pull its support from Woody White shows that
attacking someone based on their sexual orientation is no longer
acceptable—and the Star-News’s actions are certainly to be
applauded.

Sexual orientation can intersect with a candidate’s work in
elected office, however, as a bitter campaign in southern
California shows. Cynthia Matthews, a 41-year-old Democrat and
environmental activist, is challenging 12-term Republican
incumbent David Dreier for his seat in the U.S. House of
Representatives, representing California’s District 26 just
north of Los Angeles. Their contest, which has focused mainly on
illegal immigration issues, unexpectedly turned to sexual
orientation when Dreier refused to reveal whether he was gay on
a radio interview.

Dreier, a conservative who has repeatedly voted against gay
rights (including federal medical coverage for AIDS patients),
has been followed by rumors that he is gay for some time.
Matthews, who is openly lesbian, told the Washington Blade last
week that she’s not critical of him because he’s gay, but
because “he’s a hypocrite.” Although it is not at all certain
that Matthews will be able to win in this race, given the
district’s large Republican majority, the coverage of Dreier’s
alleged homosexuality in combination with Matthews’s openness
about her own sexual orientation shows us just how much has
changed in the course of the last two decades. It’s clear that
being closeted is no longer a necessity, and may even be a
handicap.

As Matthews explained to The Advocate last month, “Anybody who’s
ever known me knows I am out. On my Web site I say I support
gays and lesbians. They call my office and ask, ‘Are you gay?’
and I say ‘Yes,’ and they say, ‘Oh.’ It’s a nonissue.” By
frankly acknowledging that she is a lesbian, Matthews and other
openly gay candidates easily defuse what can become a prickly
issue if a candidate stays closeted. The recent outing and
resignation of New Jersey’s Governor James McGreevey shows just
how damaging remaining in the closet can be to a political
career.

An Idaho State Senate campaign shows that being openly gay can
even be an advantage, particularly after the state’s recent
divisive battles over an anti-gay-marriage initiative. In Idaho’
s liberal District 19, which includes the capitol city of Boise,
openly lesbian Nicole LeFavour, a Democrat, is running against
GOP candidate Alicia Cassarino. If elected, 40-year-old LeFavour
would be the state’s first openly gay elected state senator. A
former lobbyist for the Idaho Community Action Network, LeFavour
testified against the state’s anti-gay-marriage bill last
winter, which passed in the Idaho House but was stymied in the
Senate.

In an interesting twist, particularly because of Idaho’s strong
Republican base, the sponsor of the anti-gay-marriage bill, Rep.
Henry Kulczyk, was voted out of the Republican primary by voters
in his district earlier this year. Speaking to the Twin Falls
Idaho Times-News, LeFavour notes, “I think, in light of seeing
how out of touch some (lawmakers) were then, some people thought
it was time to have somebody to represent the gay community in
the Legislature.”

Lesbians and gay men aren’t the only queer people seeking public
office in the U.S.; transgender candidates are also making
themselves known in local elections. In San Francisco,
40-year-old female-to-male transgender Robert Haaland, a
Democrat, is running for the position of San Francisco
Supervisor. In Arizona, male-to-female transgender Democrat
Amanda Simpson is running for the State House of
Representatives. Either Haaland or Simpson could be the first
openly transgender official elected to public office in the U.S.

Although Tom Murphy of the Rapids City, South Dakota City
Council recently came out as transgender, he has not yet begun
transitioning and will not be running for reelection.
Internationally, Georgina Beyer of the New Zealand Parliament is
the only transgender office holder in the world.

Robert Haaland is a frontrunner in a 22-candidate Supervisor
race to represent the Haight/Ashbury district, which is one of
San Francisco’s most ethnically and economically diverse.
Although Haaland has not made any secret of the fact that he is
transgender, he has also received very little criticism because
of it. An article about Haaland in the Sacramento Bee published
in September echoes the general sense of acceptance of Haaland’s
transgender identity, declaring, “Robert Haaland is a
transgender person. It doesn’t matter in the race for supervisor
in S.F.”

That’s the most exciting thing about the LGBT candidates running
for office: in general, their sexual orientation or gender
identity simply doesn’t matter when it comes to media coverage.
Local coverage has been consistently fair to these candidates,
and when they report about their sexual orientation, they avoid
the drama and hyperbole that has surrounded the recent political
mess about Mary Cheney.

If politics is local, then this election coverage proves that we
’re clearly moving in the right direction.

NOTE: AfterEllen.com is not affiliated with Ellen Degeneres or
The L Word
Copyright © 2004 AfterEllen.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

2.a. Transgender Candidate Ahead in S.F. Race

Fox News
Saturday, October 30, 2004

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,137094,00.html

SAN FRANCISCO — A transgender candidate might raise a few
eyebrows in some locales, but in liberal San Francisco, it's not
an issue.

Robert Haaland (search), who was born a female but now lives
life as a man, is running for a seat on the city's Board of
Supervisors and if elected, he would become the first
transgender politician elected in the U.S.

An alderman in Rapid City, S.D., announced in April that he is
transgender and is preparing for gender reassignment surgery.

Haaland, who wants to represent the ultra-liberal Haight Ashbury
(search) district, is currently the front-runner in a field of
22 candidates.

Voter Joan Van Bressan lauded Haaland's effort and said, "San
Francisco is the most likely place for her to stand a chance."

Haaland's campaign rekindles memories of San Francisco's other
history-making race in 1977, when openly gay politician Harvey
Milk (search) was elected to the Board of Supervisors.

San Francisco Chronicle columnist Phil Matier (search) said
Haaland is backed by the city's powerful lesbian, gay, bisexual
and transgender political base.

"Not only does this guy have a shot, he's definitely in the
race," Matier said.

Copyright 2004 FOX News Network, LLC. All rights reserved.

----------------------

2.b. Fox News weighs in on D5 supervisor race

By Adriel Hampton
San Francisco Examiner Staff Writer
Published on Friday, October 29, 2004

http://www.sfexaminer.com/article/index.cfm/i/102904c_bodypoliti
c

Body Politic will appear daily through Monday with
down-to-the-wire coverage of local races.

THE REGIONAL and national press -- from NPR to the San Jose
Mercury News -- have been taking notice of the District 5
supervisor race, focusing on the phenomenon of 22 candidates in
the inaugural run of ranked-choice voting, and on the strong
candidacy of transgender labor organizer Robert Haaland. On
Thursday, Fox News offered its take, characterizing Haaland as
the clear frontrunner whose chief opponent is an
African-American AIDS patient. (Notably, in liberal District 5 a
transgender candidate is more accepted than a Fox reporter). The
story followed the angle of Haaland representing the possibility
of the first transgender person elected to public office. ...

That story has been told again and again, but has just a few
factual caveats. Openly transgender candidates have been elected
to office in other countries, most notably Georgina Beyer to the
New Zealand parliament -- a story that's the subject of the 2001
documentary "Georgie Girl." Althea Garrison was a Republican
state rep out of Boston, and transgender candidates have also
run for office in San Francisco, including Denise D'Anne and
Joan Roughgarden in District 6 in 2000. But Haaland's race is
quite significant in the United States, where he could be the
first openly female-to-male transgender candidate to win office.
...

Forget the transgender angle, politics is politics: Nonpartisan
candidate Julian Davis saw the Fox News piece and felt it a bit
out of touch. How could they anoint Robert Haaland and Bill
Barnes -- the HIV-positive candidate -- the frontrunners? "In
the national media somehow only prominent Democrats filter
through," Davis said. "It's two Greens who are beating Haaland
in District 5." ...

Well, that's debatable, but it sure makes for a fun story, and
that District 5 race is really going down to the wire, with
Greens Lisa Feldstein and Ross Mirkarimi coming on strong. This
week Feldstein, a former planning commissioner, took on the
Golden Gate Park Concourse over its traffic plans for the new
garage in the park, calling on the Board of Supervisors for
urgent public hearings. ...

Mirkarimi touted the new endorsements of anti-gentrification
activist Mary Rogers and actor Danny Glover, key in the "swing"
Fillmore neighborhood where the African-American vote could make
or break a candidate. Haaland got the backing of the Sun
Reporter newspaper and of the Rev. Cecil Williams of Glide
Memorial. ... With the large number of candidates in the race,
"swing" neighborhoods aren't just a joke. On the Haaland
campaign blog (http://www.roberthaaland.com/blog), they're speculating
whether the presidential or D5 race will be decided first. ...

School board member Mark Sanchez got his pre-election slapdown
late last Tuesday night, as the Board of Education voted 4-2 to
censure him for berating a staff member. The public censure is
the first in the memory of board member Jill Wynns, who's been
in office 12 years. ... Sanchez disputes that there was
inappropriate behavior in a testy exchange with a district staff
member last week, and blames the timing on this Tuesday's
election. ...

"I think it's not the timing anyone would have preferred," said
Wynns, who backed the censure. ... The vote followed a common
ideological split, with Green Sarah Lipson and progressive
Democrat Eric Mar voting against censure. ... The votes don't
always split, though. No matter what the weekend mailers say,
it's a fact that all seven board members publicly voted to
support Proposition F, the initiative to allow non-citizen
parents to vote in school board elections. ...

Friday, District Attorney Kamala Harris and her Democratic
friends plan to celebrate her birthday by calling in to swing
states to influence the presidential race. ... Saturday at 1
p.m., the LGBT community plans a unity voter rally at Harvey
Milk Plaza. ... Sunday afternoon, Feldstein, Barnes and other
black leaders and candidates plan a march to City Hall from Ella
Hill Hutch Community Center at 2 p.m. to call attention to
African-American voting strength. ...

© 2004 San Francisco Examiner
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