For LGBT Folks, the Stakes in the Massachusetts Senate Race Are Real

All eyes are on Massachusetts as the overwhelmingly Democratic state continues the final days of what has become an unexpectedly close Senate election between Democrat Martha Coakley and Republican Scott Brown.  And while most media coverage of the race has focused on the potentially devastating ramifications of a Brown victory for the current health care bill, the stakes for LGBT Americans are too significant to overlook.

As Massachusetts Attorney General, Coakley has been a consistent advocate for the state's LGBT residents. She's a staunch supporter of marriage equality, has advocated on behalf of a bill adding gender identity and expression to the state's nondiscrimination law, and filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of the state challenging the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act.

That's in stark contrast to Brown's history on LGBT issues, as a recent article in the Boston Globe makes clear. Brown has taken pains to cast himself as a moderate on social issues. "This is a new century, and marriage has been settled here in Massachusetts ... [T]he issues that are affecting everyday people right now -- taxes, health care, energy taxes, lack of jobs -- affect everybody. Not just straight families, but gay and lesbian families as well," Brown says.

But Brown's career hasn't exactly been marked by such conciliatory rhetoric.

In 2001, he called the decision of then-state Senator Cheryl Jacques and her partner to have children " not>called the decision of then-state Senator Cheryl Jacques and her partner to have children "not normal," a remark for which he subsequently apologized. And when same-sex marriage was legalized in the Bay State as a result of the state Supreme Court's Goodridge ruling in November 2003, Brown became one of its leading opponents. As the Globe notes, Brown backed efforts to put a same-sex marriage ban on the ballot, and made his support for such a measure one of the signature issues in his successful 2004 campaign for the state Senate.

In 2007, Brown continued to back putting the rights of LGBT Massachusetts residents up for a popular vote.  In an appearance that year in a high school in his district, he displayed apparent insecurity about his opposition to equality when he read aloud profanity-laden Facebook posts from students disagreeing with his marriage stance -- and named the names of his critics.

With this record, it's no surprise that Brown is being backed by the National Organization for Marriage, the same organization that played a leading role in defeating marriage equality in California and Maine. NOM is reportedly running robocalls throughout the state, attacking Coakley as "a 'radical' supporter of same-sex marriage who has opposed letting the people decide and has used taxpayer dollars to support the agenda of same-sex marriage," and praising Brown as "the only candidate with a proven record of supporting marriage as between a man and a woman."

As if all this wasn't enough cause for concern, there's also the broader political picture. A Brown victory would mean one less reliable vote for LGBT rights on issues such as passing a federal Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) and allowing gays to serve openly in the military. With this much at stake, gay Americans can't afford to sit this race out. Fortunately, even if you live outside Massachusetts, Organizing for America has made it possible for you to call voters and help turn out the state's residents in support of Coakley. Click here and make some calls -- so much depends on it.

Photo credit: Martha Coakley