Some straight conservatives claim gays fuck like rabbits, but it seems we vote like rabbits. And more than straights:
[A] study this spring by San Francisco-based Community Marketing Inc. found that an eye-popping 92.5% of gay men reported that they voted in the 2004 presidential race, and almost 84% said they cast ballots in the 2006 midterm election. Among lesbians, the results were almost as impressive; nearly 91% said they voted in 2004; for the midterm, the figure was 78%.
By comparison, the Washington-based Committee for the Study of the American Electorate put the turnout for all Americans eligible to vote at about 61% in 2004 and roughly 40% in 2006.
Exodus International sure does have their work cut out for them.
GoodBuddy
Interesting article. But there are always methodological problems with studies about gay people. The study may be showing that the portion of people who can be identified as being gay are more likely to vote than the overall electorate.
For example, currently in by block there is me and my neighbor who are gay. I always vote (even in the primaries, and even occasionally go to party caucases). I have been a member of HRC and NGLTF (but not since the bastards sold my name to telemarketers. Stupid fuckwads) My neighbor is a black man on the downlow. He approached me about leaving my back door unlocked so he could sneak in at night and fuck me, but made it known that if I saw him on the street I wasn’t to speak to him. Being a vers/top I had no interest in this arrangement, plus the not speaking thing was too creepy. The point is, he is not being surveyed about his voting habits and it is doubtful he even sees himself as gay.
There are between 10 to 30 million gay men and lesbians in the US. HRC claims a membership of 700,000 (a figure that is probably wildly inflated) So if you are surveying the portion of gay people who are active enough to be identified as gay, your sample is already skewed.
But it would be nice if the politicians would buy this.
cjc
700,000 includes all of those people who get the HRC equals sign sticker at pride, for free, without donating or giving a pittance: it’s the gay symbol for men who don’t want a frilly rainbow on their cars because they don’t want to be “fem,” even though you know they’ve got Judy in their iPod….
Craig Browning
Love your line there cjc…
I think we (the Gay & Lesbian community) tend to be more outspoken and visible but I’ve noticed that a gross score of us, especially the burnt out and over 45 crew, are doing less and less and most noticeably, during the primaries and local elections where more can be done “easier” if we but stand up and make it happen.
The Bible Thumpers managed to seize control of this nation by placing their pawns into the PTA and other local organizations and then, gradually getting the natural leaders into regional, state and finally, federal level politics. That was the plan laid out by Pat Robertson within weeks of his stepping down from his bid for office and how he more or less, became America’s version of Rasputin. We however, have the opportunity to accomplish a similar “take over” as it were, if WE stop worrying about who we are going to have sex with this weekend or the white sale at Macy’s and just follow through with what was started.
It’s not easy but as was said on LOGO the other night; we can make the “little steps” count.
verman
hi gay