Words From DNC Director Of GLBT Outreach:
Dear Friends:
While this election was tough for all Democrats, it was especially disappointing for those of us in the GLBT community. But I wanted to express my enormous gratitude for all the work you did during the course of this campaign.
I have never had the privilege and honor of working with so many dedicated and talented grassroots activists. You put your heart and soul into this campaign, and for that I am eternally grateful.
Thanks to your ideas, input, and dedication, we were able to take our grassroots programs to the next level. You are responsible for that success, and you should be very proud of the contributions you made to this election.
Click here to take a look at the Pride at the Polls photo gallery.
The passage of 11 state anti-gay marriage amendments in this election was a huge setback for GLBT and allied activists. However, there were positive results in this election that provide our community with hope for the future.
Six out of ten voters -- 60 percent of the electorate -- believe that legal recognition, rights, and benefits should be afforded to same-sex families.
Despite a threatened backlash, none of the Massachusetts legislators who supported equal treatment for same-sex couples was voted out of office.
In Cincinnati, Ohio, voters repealed by an eight point margin anti-gay portions of the city's charter.
In Idaho and North Carolina, voters elected their first openly gay legislators, and an openly gay Hispanic woman was elected county sheriff in Dallas.
The Democratic National Committee's commitment to the inclusion of GLBT families in the party netted 400,000 more GLBT votes for Kerry than Gore got in 2000. According to exit polling, more than 4.6 million self-identified GLBT voters cast ballots in the presidential race. Exit polling showed that 77 to 80 percent of GLBT voters cast a ballot for the Kerry-Edwards ticket, delivering more than 3.5 million votes for the Democrats.
Click here for an extensive review of exit polling data.
We have made so much progress together and it is critical, now more than ever, that we all continue to be involved.
Get involved with your local Democratic Party. To find your local party,
click here.
Join or form a Stonewall Democrats chapter in your community. For more information,
click here.
I would also love to hear from all of you about your experiences in the field so that we can learn from this election cycle. What worked? What didn't work? What should we do differently next time? Send me an e-mail at
glbt@dnc.org. I would love to hear from you.
Thank you for all your hard work.
Take good care, Eric J. Stern DNC Director of GLBT Outreach
