by Joe Siegel

With Election Day less than two months from now, LGBTQ media outlets are letting readers know where they stand on candidates and ballot measures, locally and federally.

San Francisco’s Bay Area Reporter (BAR) endorsed Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris on July 24, just a few days after President Joe Biden abruptly dropped his reelection bid due to falling poll numbers. Incidentally, Harris is from the Bay Area.

The headline on the endorsement read, “All in for Kamala Harris.”

“Harris’ support for the LGBTQ community is real and deep,” the BAR editorial endorsement stated. “As state attorney general, she led the effort to restore marriage equality in California. She refused to defend Proposition 8, the same-sex marriage ban. After Prop 8 was ruled unconstitutional by a federal court (and that decision was upheld by the federal appeals court and the U.S. Supreme Court), Harris officiated the first same-sex marriage in June 2013 at San Francisco City Hall of the Berkeley women who had been part of the historic case. She also had to make a phone call to the Los Angeles County Clerk’s office to tell the staff that they had to marry same-sex couples, the first being the male co-plaintiffs who were also part of the federal lawsuit.”

The San Francisco Bay Times devoted its July 25 issue to showcasing multiple endorsements of Harris, including a full cover illustration with a quote from Harris reading, “We believe in the promise of freedom and equity and justice.”

The Washington Blade and its sister publication, the Los Angeles Blade, ran a column by Peter Rosenstein endorsing Harris on August 29, just a week after the Democratic National Convention.

“She told us how she will govern, and what we can judge her success on saying, ‘We are charting a new way forward to a future with a strong and growing middle class because we know a strong middle class has always been critical to America’s success, and building that middle class will be a defining goal of my presidency,’” Rosenstein wrote. “She went on to say to women, and the LGBTQ community, ‘America cannot truly be prosperous unless Americans are fully able to make their own decisions about their own lives, especially on matters of heart, and home’”

According to Tammye Nash, managing editor for the Dallas Voice, the paper plans to endorse the Harris/Walz ticket this year.

“We feel like these three presidential elections [with Trump on the ballot] have been and are far too important to our community for us not to speak up and take a stand,” Nash explained. “I mean, you can look at the four years that Donald Trump was in the White House and see how dangerous the GOP agenda in its current state is for LGBTQ people. A win for Trump and Vance this year could be devastating.”

On September 4, the BAR launched its season of political endorsements taking positions on 10 statewide ballot initiatives. Most notably, the newspaper backed voting yes on “Proposition 3: Constitutional Right to Marriage. Legislative Constitutional Amendment.”

“Simply put, removing the old language from Proposition 8, that ‘only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California,’ is overdue,” the endorsement read. “Since Prop 8 was ruled unconstitutional by the federal courts, and the U.S. Supreme Court let those rulings stand in 2013, most people have gone about their lives without really thinking about it. But in 2022, when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, conservative Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in a concurring opinion that maybe it’s time for the court to reconsider other precedents, such as 2015’s Obergefell v. Hodges, which legalized same-sex marriage nationwide.”

The BAR also offered its endorsements on ballot measures regarding raising the state’s minimum wage, as well as authorizing bonds for safe drinking water, wildfire prevention, and protecting communities and natural lands from climate risks.

IN THE NEWS
Volume 26
Issue 7