Thursday, November 19, 2009
News Norwood goes for the gay vote
Posted by Scott Henry @ScottTheHenry on Thu, Nov 19, 2009 at 10:31 PM
Last night, mayoral candidate Mary Norwood threw a well-attended wing-ding at Amsterdam Atlanta, a popular gay bar in Morningside. I missed her speech, but caught up with former City Council President Cathy Woolard, who'd stopped by to check out the festivities.
Woolard isn't not publicly backing either Norwood or opponent Kasim Reed, but she believes Reed's stance on gay marriage — he favors civil unions — has hurt his appeal among gay voters. This could be a significant factor in the election because, as we noted in a news article this week, the contentious race for Council District 6 is likely to turn out a large number of gay votes.
It seems a bit odd that a candidate's position on a non-local issue such as gay marriage — or Jewish settlements, global warming, immigration policy, etc. — would have much bearing on a municipal election. Frankly, if you're looking for a litmus-test to help determine whether a candidate is supportive of your interests, there are many others that would be more relevant.
Both Norwood and Reed have prominent gay campaign staffers, including neighborhood activist Paul Zucca, who chairs Norwood's campaign, and Reese McCranie, Reed's campaign spokesman.
Still, Reed seems to be on the wrong side of this issue and it may cost him.
On the other hand, I've heard from my sources in Buckhead that many residents there are upset that Norwood now says she's willing to consider re-instituting the old 4 a.m. closing time for bars and nightclubs. The law rolling back bar hours was passed — with Norwood's affirmative vote — in 2003.
The Councilwoman's apparent wishy-washiness over bar hours could end up losing her votes in her home base of Buckhead, which is still largely opposed to a return to later bar hours.
At this point in the game, a candidate's success could hinge not simply on saying the right things, but also his skill at avoiding controversial topics.
Comments (9)
Showing 1-9 of 9
GLBT ATlanta voters, please ask yourselves which is more important to the future of Atlanta: That Mary Norwood is pro-Gay marriage, or that she has the IQ of a sack of hammers?
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LGBT voters are a little more sophisticated than Mrs. Norwood thinks. Kasim Reed's record regarding our issues speaks louder than anything else. From proposing hate crime legislation to opposing an amendment that would've outlawed gay marriage, Kasim Reed has proven over and over that he supports our issues. He's more than just talk.
Surely, we aren't voting based on one issue. Let's be serious. What has Mary Norwood done to back up her words?
I'd be willing to bet that if Kasim Reed had 400 gays attend a fund raiser for him, you wouldn't have missed the speech and you wouldn't "frankly" dismiss the issue of marriage equality. If marriage equality isn't important in a municipal election - then neither is party affiliation 20 years ago...and you had NO PROBLEM pushing that story when the GA Democratic party was attacking Norwood.
Both candidates will be strong gay rights supporters. Its not even an issue, Reed is against gay marriage but everyone knows he is strong on LGBT issues. Why do people in buckhead care if last call changes? There arent anymore clubs in buckhead anymore--unless you count Fado's. They all got torn down for SoB, so why do they even care?
Call me crazy, but it does matter that Mary Norwood honors me as a whole person and Kasim Reed fundamentally feels that I am not as good as he is. Since when is respect for me as an individual not a logical place to start before moving on to evaluating a candidate's political platform? To be honest I am baffled how people I respect and call friend in the gay community have rationalized this away and blindly thrown their support behind Reed. Sure acquiescing to civil unions is a lot better than fighting to deny any recognition to gay relationships, but when did gay self-esteem denigrate to the point that we are saying it's OK to be just a little bit homophobic? I doubt Kasim would accept anyone associated with his campaign being just a little bit prejudiced. How powerful it would be if Gay Atlanta locked arms and said any mayor is better than a mayor who sees us as inferior. This race has shown that you can't win city-wide without the gay vote. Perhaps it's time we use that power and send a message.
Why do people like "u jest", continue to try and speak for the entire g/lb/t community? The fact is, the issue of gay marriage is only the top priority of a few well to do folks who have everything else going for them but that one issue. The G/L/B/T community isn't even in agreement about whether or not gay marriage should be a priority over such things as jobs, health care. housing discrimination, police discrimination, and hate crimes. Truth be told, many in the community do not even believe in gay marriage but they support the cause so as to not upset the "I'm not a whole person unless I'm married" crybabies. We need to show people that our community will show up and we will vote kitchen table issues first just as anyone other group. The people who hold fund raisers in their luxurious homes are not at all representative of the larger community and people should stop anointing them as such, it only feeds their sense of entitlement.
Wow, PGA, you make a lot of assumptions about my socio-economic situation. Discrimination, whether it be in employment, housing, law enforcement, or marriage rights, emanates from a lack of respect and ignorance. No matter how much rhetoric and sugar coating a person my try to wrap around it, if they feel you are not suitable to marry, they see you as inferior. There are not degrees of equality.
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