Politics

The next openly gay member of Congress will almost certainly be Wisconsin State Rep. Mark Pocan, a progressive small business owner who won the Democratic primary tonight in the Congressional District that has been represented by Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin for the past 14 years.

CHARLOTTE — Walk into Steve Kerrigan’s office on the 13th floor of the old Wachovia Center in Uptown Charlotte and you’ll get a sense that this is a man on the move. He has no choice. The countdown clock mounted firmly across from his desk says it all. The 2012 Democratic National Convention used to be months away, but time is ticking.

The Human Rights Campaign – the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization – on Saturday denounced presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney’s selection of Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) as his vice-presidential running mate.

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney announced on Saturday Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan is his pick for vice presidential running mate.

CHARLOTTE — Thousands of delegates, party activists, politicians and party officials will convene in Charlotte for the 2012 Democratic National Convention in September. With them come the dreams and aspirations of the nation.

The fight to include a marriage equality plank in the 2012 Democratic Party platform is heating up as one LGBT advocate drew on support from Democratic governors and the late Sen. Ted Kennedy in testimony urging platform committee members to adopt such language.

CHARLESTON, S.C — A new political ad is emphasizing U.S. Senator Jim DeMint’s previously stated belief that LGBT people shouldn’t be allowed to teach in schools has angered DeMint supporters because, they claim, it falsely portrays the Senator as anti-Semitic.

WASHINGTON — The Obama campaign released a statement Thursday reiterating the president’s support for marriage equality, but falling just short of endorsing a call for its inclusion in the official party platform.

Dan Savage and the producing team behind the “It Gets Better” documentary specials for MTV and Logo have announced a new project that will examine openly LGBT political candidates and how they prepare to run for office.

A trio of advocacy groups has launched an independent expenditure campaign with a goal of raising $3.5 million to help Rep. Tammy Baldwin in her bid to become the first openly gay member of the U.S. Senate.

Two separate half-million dollar attack ad campaigns targeting U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.) in the Wisconsin Senate race may have produced zip for the special interest groups that launched them.

LAGUNA BEACH, Calif. — Fred Karger, the first openly gay presidential candidate from a major political party in American history — ended his campaign on Friday.

Nevada and Maine could see the number of openly gay state lawmakers triple after Victory Fund-endorsed candidates advanced in primary elections this week, while in California, nine LGBT state legislative candidates won their primaries, setting the state up to elect the largest LGBT caucus ever.

As President Obama and Mitt Romney articulate competing visions for the future in their presidential campaigns, most LGBT rights advocates agree the choice couldn’t be more stark given the advances the community has seen over the past three-and-a-half years and the anti-gay positions espoused by the Republican candidate.

We are in the midst of a slow motion variation of an assassination. You may well be fooled into thinking that it is aimed at stopping the re-election of the President, but it is actually aimed directly at the hearts and minds of “we, the people.” Would-be despots and tyrants, masquerading as bureaucrats under the guise of think tanks, have been busily organizing the dishevelment of society in order to maintain and increase the profits of the privileged, their positions of power, and the power of those positions…

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Jacob Candelaria is poised to become the first openly gay man to serve in the New Mexico state legislature.

Openly gay conservative Republican Carl DeMaio captured first place in San Diego’s mayoral primary election June 5. DeMaio, 37, currently a City Council member, and the second-place finisher, Congressman Bob Filner (D), 69, will advance to the November runoff election to head the nation’s eighth-largest city.

I know it is cliché to say that this presidential contest is the most important election of our lifetime, but if you are a gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender, it truly does hold monumental importance. Here are ten reasons why it is critical that Obama wins and what his victory would mean for America and the LGBT community.

WASHINGTON — The campaign to reelect President Barack Obama and Vice-President Joe Biden rolled out a new campaign effort Wednesday, targeting LGBTQ voters.

WASHINGTON — Mitt Romney reiterated his opposition marriage equality for same-sex couples again Saturday morning this morning while delivering commencement remarks at Liberty University, an anti-gay school that bans openly LGBT students from attending.