Three reports released this month take a closer look at the role LGBTI issues played in the 2004 election. The LGBTI community suffered many setbacks in 2004, setbacks which were widely discussed in the mainstream media. In contrast, these reports highlight some of the more promising outcomes, and underscore the increasingly important role LGBTI voters are playing in elections.
A record number of self-identified LGBTI voters participated in the 2004 election. A report from the DNC office of GLBT Outreach states: "more than 4.6 million self-identified GLBT voters cast ballots in the presidential race. Exit polling showed that between 77%-81% of these voters cast a vote for the Kerry-Edwards ticket, delivering more than 3.5 million votes for the Democrats and more than 6% of the Kerry-Edwards total." The report goes on to state that Kerry-Edwards received approximately 400,000 more LGBT votes than Gore-Lieberman in 2000.
The 2004 Election, Eric Stern, DNC Office of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Outreach
download pdf fileSame-Sex Marriage, Civil Unions, and the 2004 Presidential Election, Dr. Kenneth Sherrill, Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Political Science at Hunter College, City University of New York
download pdf file
Equality in the States: Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Americans and State Laws and Legislation, Human Rights Campaign
download pdf file |
Despite increased LGBTI voter turnout, 13 states that passed anti-marriage constitutional amendments, sparking a national discussion about the future of Marriage Equality work in the United States. A new report from the Human Rights Campaign suggests focusing on these 13 states does not tell the whole story. “Equality from State to State” — points out the 15 amendments that were defeated in state legislatures in 2004.
“A complete picture of the past year includes 15 anti-gay amendments defeated in the states,” said Seth Kilbourn, HRC’s national field director. “Where the legislative process provided a forum for deliberative and thoughtful conversation, a majority of these anti-marriage amendments were defeated.”
Of the 13 state anti-marriage constitutional amendments that passed in 2004, 11 were on the November 2nd ballot and in key states for the Presidential Election, causing many to speculate that the issue of Marriage Equality cost Kerry the election. This despite the fact that Kerry does not support full marriage equality for same-sex couples, but rather supports only civil unions or domestic partnerships.
An important report produced by the Policy Institute of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, however, states this is not the case. The analysis of presidential election exit polls conducted by Dr. Kenneth Sherrill, shows that among those who opposed marriage equality were among the core supporters of the Republican Party who would not likely to vote Democratic under any circumstance.
Exit polls also indicate that sixty percent of voters in the 2004 election support same-sex marriage or civil unions.
Posted by David at December 29, 2004 03:06 AM
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Since the election, there's been much discussion about voters who identified "moral values" as their primary concern. Everyone presumes these values voters were motivated by the prospect (fear?) of gay marriage. Zogby finds otherwise (from the January issue of The Lutheran):
"Zogby International found that, for the 22 percent of voters who said moral values was the most decisive factor in their vote, 42 percent said the Iraq war was the most important moral value; 13 percent listed abortion and 9 percent cited gay marriage."
I can't comprehend how any perception of the Iraq war as a moral value could lead anywhere but impeachment, but these findings certainly shift the frame from the mainstream interpretation.
