Lavender Magazine's Troubled Politics

Part 2 of 2

Lavender Magazine recently endorsed Ember Reighgott Junge for the 5th Congressional District DFL Primary which is a good choice, however, Lavender's politics have been a little troubled. In part 1, I recalled Lavender's political gaffs over the past several years.

In part 2, I look at Lavender's attack on Rechgott Junge's opponents. In Lavender's endorsement, they say "Reichgott Junge’s stand on issues protecting those without a voice is not tokenism" and that she will "not play token politics, as so many in the DFL are wont to do." I argue that all the candidates for the DFL primary are good candidates and the implicit charge of tokenism should have been left out of the endorsement. In the interest of keeping it short, I've listed 2 accomplishments for each candidate.

Paul Ostrow was a leader in the Minneapolis City Council's efforts to oppose the amendment to the Minnesota Constitution that would end domestic partnerships, and ban civil unions and same-sex marriage. He co-sponored a resolution opposing the amendment that "restricts or jeopardizes the equal rights of members of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community or limits the recognition of domestic partnerships, or civil unions." In a Minnesota Daily article on the city's opposition, Ostrow said, "Minneapolis has a long history of support for the gay and lesbian communities."

Ostrow was also instrumental in the construction and funding of Clare Housing, a low income housing development for people living with HIV and AIDS. He fought against the prejudice anger from local residents who didn't want "those people" living in the neighborhood, and succeeded in getting housing for a population in need.

When Steve Sviggum and Carol Molnau stripped the state employee contracts of domestic partnerships, Keith Ellison demanded to know the public policy rationale and how this move would help Minnesotans. According to OutFront Action Minnesota, "Keith took a tough vote on behalf of the gay community, when he voted against the state contracts because the bill had taken the negotiated domestic partner benefits out of the contract. Most democrats voted for this bill." Keith Ellison then authored an amendment to restore the benefits for same-sex families.

He was also a tireless opponent of Michele Bachmann's marriage amendment, saying "What single heterosexual marriage that exists today will be saved by the passage of this amendment? Nobody thinking about getting divorced today will change their mind based on this amendment.''

Mike Erlandson's support for the LGBT community can be a little harder to find, because his years of service as Martin Sabo's Chief of Staff don't leave much of a paper trail. Erlandson did oversee Sabo's office on a number of important votes, however. Most notably was Sabo's vote against the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996, which made him the only Minnesotan to vote 'no.' Erlandson also has LGBT family members, making LGBT issues one that are close to home. Sabo had this to say about Elandson's support for equality: "I have heard his voice crack when he talks about the rights that his uncle does not have because he is gay. Mike believes that equality and opportunity are the rights of every American, not just a privileged few."

Ember Reichgott Junge's support for the GLBT community has gone back more than a decade. She supported and voted for the Minnesota Human Rights Act which includes sexual orientation, and was the first rights act in the nation to include gender identity. In 1998, Reichgott Junge along with openly gay State Senator Allan Spear, participated in a counter-protest  to a visit by Fred Phelps of "God Hates Fags" fame during her run for attorney general (Star Tribune, July 27, 1998).

The reality is that each candidate is good on LGBT issues, and Lavender would have done well to acknowledge that. LGBT people still live in a society where many politicians use the community in negative ways to gain politically. We should thank those that see equality as an important issue, not attack them for 'token' support.