Sanders raising funds against gay congressional candidates

[La Lioness Priyanka]

- See more at: http://www.washingtonblade

Sanders declared support for Lucy Flores, a former Nevada Assembly member running in Nevada’s 4th congressional district; Pramila Jayapal, a member of the Washington State Senate running in Washington’s 7th congressional district; and Zephyr Teachout, a law professor at Fordham University running in New York’s 19th congressional district.

... But two of these three candidates are seeking to defeat openly gay contenders seeking the Democratic nomination to run for Congress. As of right now, a total of seven lawmakers serving in the Congress are openly gay, lesbian or bisexual, or slightly more than 1 percent of the legislative body. That’s short of the estimated 3.5 percent of the U.S. population as a whole who identify as lesbian, gay or bisexual, according to the Williams Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles. (Transgender people make up an estimated one-third of one percent of the U.S. population, but no member of Congress, nor any member of a state legislature, is openly transgender.) -

See more at: http://www.washingtonblade.com/2016/04/14/sanders-raising-funds-against-gay-congressional-candidates/#sthash.HfyGz5XV.dpuf

[LoveIsNow]

1. So?

I don't support candidates just because they are gay. It is insulting to suggest that because I'm gay, I have to.

[Nacho-_-Bandito]

3. I was going to ask a variation of this.

If we expect equality then our sexuality should be no more or less of an indicator or asset of our ability to govern than what it would represent to those candidates of the heterosexual persuasion.

[Travis_0004]

2. Stupid post

Why are they better choices?

Somebody should not get support just because they are gay. They should get support because they are the better canidate.

Maybe they are, maybe they are not.

[Smarmie Doofus]

10. The idea here is to bash Sanders.

Clinton fans are embarrassed that Sanders called for decriminalization of homosexuality.... IN PRINT... in *1973* while Rodham/Clinton was.... you know... "evolving". ( Into whatever it is you want to call her now.)

[Bohunk68]

22. I think you are correct. I live in the 19th District, am a

registered Dem, and am active in the party in Schoharie County. I never got any indication from our farmer brother. OTOH, Teachout is known and has been around the area and won the County in the primary when she ran against Cuomo. I fully supported Sean Eldridge, who ran in 2014. While Sean and I meshed, both being from Ohio and having a Hungarian Jewish parent and being gay, he did not win the campaign. He only gathered 27% of the vote, and the main reason was because he was openly gay! I heard it from many. Which then opens up the question of should we support a gay candidate, with the knowledge that the last one, two years ago, did not so well? In the past, I have always supported the gay candidate. I like Zephyr, having met her as well, and her policies are nearly the same. Difficult question. I will probably go with the brother. It is still going to be a hard fight come November. It is a heavily Rethuglican district. Only where the colleges are located, are there reasonable batches of Dems. The County went for Bernie 63.63% in the recent Primary.

[Bluenorthwest]

4. I find the argument extremely insulting without any political reason to support these candidates

Being LGBT in and of it self is not a political point of view, and there are many LGBT people I would not vote for. Plenty I would vote for, but none owns my vote for simply existing.

[TDale313]

5. As a Bi woman

Should I be upset by this, or happy he supports these women? Or hate him cause he's running against a woman? This identity politics divide-and-conquer stuff is so confusing.

Fuck it- I'm going with the best candidate. Bernie's far better on policy and he'd be the stronger general election candidate. He has a long history of being right on economic and social justice issues. And he's not bought and paid for by Wall Street.

[revbones]

6. By that logic, I'm sure if we cared to dig around

that we could find various subgroups of candidates that Hillary is raising funds against as well. There are probably women, minorities, LGBTQ folks, etc... that she is raising money against.

This is all if she was actually raising money for other democrats instead of using the Victory Fund to get around campaign contribution limits to her own campaign.

[Trajan]

7. I did not expect this from this poster ...

A very poorly executed ad hominem attack ....

So now Bernie is anti-gay too?

Do tell ... But tell it to somebody else - I won't ever see you again ...

[zalinda]

8. I belong to the thinking group

I don't support a candidate because they belong to a group, including the Democratic Party. If there was a Republican that was better policy wise than a Democrat, I would vote for them. Voting party line, sex line, sexuality line or whatever is just plain stupid, not dumb, but stupid. You vote for what a person has done and promises they will do. Then you look to see if their promises are in line with what they have done in the past. That's when you make your decision to vote for a person.

Z

[NV Whino]

9. Really, you are better than this.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

13. no i am not. all else being equal I will support the queer candidate

[Travis_0004]

11. Clinton opposed gay marriage in 2008, hows her Track record?

[catnhatnh]

12. K&R

I have to agree you post is misguided but would like others to see the replies. And I do read and enjoy most of your posts.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

14. He is supporting candidates who have little shot of winning, against gay candidates

who are already highly unrepresented in Democratic leadership.

Yeah. i do think it's an issue.

[Crash2Parties]

15. They seem to be Pro-Clinton, that's why?

I would have preferred McDermott and Jayapal based on their LGBT activism. But that doesn't matter in this case.

Will Yandik, Joe McDermott and Brady Walkinshaw seem to be fairly solidly embedded in their respective local pro-Clinton Democratic committees & establishments.

In other words, the gay guys threw their hats in with Hillary, a long ago in at least two of the cases. Also, McDermott already endorsed Hillary Clinton for president.

[closeupready]

16. As others here have said, I've always liked you, but this post is a miss.

First, you fail to explain in the opening post what you believe to be the takeaway here.

Second, being openly gay is important for lawmakers, but if that openly gay lawmaker is a crook or working in conjunction with the opposition, then the overriding objective should ALWAYS be to replace that lawmaker as soon as possible - ideally with another openly gay one, but if not, then someone ethical and competent. I should think this is indisputable.

[Chitown Kev]

17. This is a very stupid and ignorant post...

Zephyr Teachout is one of these candidates...I assume that Sanders is supporting Teachout becasue Teachout supported him as opposed to Sanders is supporting Teachout out of anti-gay sentiment.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

19. my point isn't that he is anti gay. my point is that he is trying to unseat people

without looking at what each person brings to the table.

you cannot be a party full of diverse people, but have no diversity in leadership

that was my point

[Chitown Kev]

20. In one of those cases

Zephyr Teachout is a woman who endorsed him.

[DemocraticWing]

18. Ugh, this is illogical and reductive.

The idea that every queer person running for office must be elected even if they don't have the best ideas...well, it's just fucking offensive. Looking at the platforms of the candidates that Sanders has raised money for, it's obvious that these women are bright, qualified, and progressive on issues from income inequality to LGBTQ rights. If their opponents don't measure up, it doesn't make up for their problems if they are queer. The same applies for Log Cabin Republicans and their ilk.

[Chitown Kev]

21. Christine Quinn

would be mayor of New York (or at least would have won the LGBT vote) by the logic of this post.