Election 2008: Good for Democrats, Perhaps Not So Good for Gay Rights

by Michael Jones · 2008-11-04 22:33:00 UTC
Topics:

BarackFirst, a congratulations to our 44th president, President Elect Barack Obama. As nearly every commentator said tonight, he ran perhaps the best campaign in U.S. political history. Swinging states like Florida, Virginia, Colorado, New Mexico, and Iowa back into the blue column certainly speaks volumes about just how bad this country wants change.

On a personal note, I must say it's also gratifying to hear the next President, in his first address to supporters, mention gay rights (even if just in passing).

But while this Election night will have progressives buzzing for days, it's worth noting that Election 2008 might not be so good on the gay rights front. Though we won't know for sure for a few more hours, it appears that Amendment 2 has passed in Florida, Proposition 102 has passed in Arizona, and Proposed Initiative Act 1 has passed in Arkansas. The numbers for Prop 8 in California are way too close to call right now, but the exit polling doesn't look good.

So while tonight is a night for the history books, it's also a night to remember that in the battle for equal rights for LGBT persons, we still have a lot of work to do.

Michael Jones is a Change.org Editor. He has worked in the field of human rights communications for a decade, most recently for Harvard Law School.
PREVIOUS STORY:
Election Day and Marriage Equality
NEXT STORY:
Bullied high schooler convinces MPAA to change ‘Bully’ rating to “PG-13”

COMMENTS (1)

    Comment Policy

    · All fields are required to comment.

    [X]

    Comments on Change.org are meant for further exploration and evaluation of the campaign on Change.org. To that end, we welcome constructive comments. However, we reserve the right to delete comments which, as determined solely in our discretion: (1) are offensive, abusive, or off-topic; (2) include content solely intended to personally attack the campaign creator, (3) are designed to subvert or hijack comment threads rather than contribute to them; and/or (4) violate our terms of service and/or privacy policy. Repeat offenders may be permanently removed from the site at our discretion. Please also be advised that: (A) we do not actively curate and/or monitor in any manner whatsoever the comments made on the Change.org platform, and (B) the creator of each campaign on Change.org may remove any comment at her/his/its discretion.