“Obama Campaign Reaches out to Gay Georgians”

When I first saw this headline, I thought, “what, all four of them?”  Even as a lesbian from Georgia’s neighbor, South Carolina, I still find it hard to grasp onto the idea that there are more than a handful of gays and lesbians in the deep south and I think that it is insanely important (not to mention comforting) that people as politically powerful as Obama are able to recognize that gays and lesbians don’t just live in California and New York.  According to the 2006 U.S. Census analysis by UCLA’s Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation Law & Public Policy, there are over 280,000 GLB’s roaming the dirt roads of Georgia, and a number that meaty isn’t only surprising, but makes you go “Hm, maybe Obama’s onto something.”   And hey, maybe if this little experiment works out for him in Georgia, he can head on next door to my neck of the woods and see what kind of support he can rustle up over there.

According to the article in Southern Voice, Obama has turned some of his campaigning efforts in Georgia towards the GLB community in hopes of getting the southern st­ate to turn a pretty shade of blue in November for the first time since Bill’s first election in ‘92.

It would appear that Obama’s tactic is so appealing that, according to this article at least, even some of the gay Republicans can’t help being interested in his views on gay rights.

Ah, the controversy of the Gay Republican.  Being born and bred on the buckle of the Bible belt myself, the concept of the “Gay Republican” is not foreign to me, though that does not makes it any less baffling.  So many of my peers and elders alike have lectured me about how “politics has nothing to do with sexuality and therefore doesn’t influence who I vote for.”  I’m sorry to burst any bubbles, but it does and it should, especially once anyone, GOP or otherwise, starts using a particular stance on sexuality for political sway. “Yes, you might be one of the few who gets a tax cut, but you must also resign yourself to wearing a pink triangle on your arm so that we can keep an eye on you.” It becomes unavoidably apparent that sexual and political preferences unquestionably go hand in hand. The question that does remain to be asked, however, is where is the line here? And what trade-offs are we willing to make for these “clear cut politics” so many people speak of?