TG In The Election News

We gained a big win on San Francisco, in Ohio two ballot questions are still up in the air and in Iowa we lost.

In San Francisco, a transgender judge was elected to office…

Victoria Kolakowski, transgender candidate, leads
Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer
San Francisco Chronicle
November 3, 2010

An Alameda County Superior Court election remained undecided Wednesday, with Victoria Kolakowski - who would become the nation's first transgender judge - holding a slight lead over John Creighton.

Kolakowski, an administrative law judge for the state Public Utilities Commission, led Creighton, a deputy district attorney, by 50.22 to 48.77 percent, or 3,300 votes out of 230,000 total votes cast, the county registrar's office reported.

In Bowling green Ohio, the anti-discrimination bills are still up in the air and hinge on absentee ballots

Provisional ballots will decide fate of Bowling Green ordinances
Votes now split on two LGBT equality measures
Gay People’s Chronicles
by Eric Resnick
November 5, 2010

Bowling Green, Ohio--After the vote on two equal rights ordinances was split in election-day returns, their fate will come down to provisional ballots.
[…]
With all precincts counted and the results posted after 11 pm on November 2, Ordinance 7905 won by 24 votes. The measure had trailed for most of the night. The count was 4,104 to 4,080.

Ordinance 7906, covering equal employment and public accommodations, failed by 116 votes. The count was 4,003 to 4,119.

Kim Welter, the director of the campaign in support of the ordinances, credits the efforts to promote early voting and student voting as the campaign turns its efforts to certification of about 500 provisional ballots.

Will the results turn out like Gainesville Florida, where the university carried the election? Stay tuned for the results…

Mean while in Iowa, there is a good example why I don’t feel judges should be elected nor do I like ballot questions…

Removal of Iowa judges may inspire similar efforts
Associated Press
By Michael Crumb and Nomaan Merchant
November 5, 2010

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -- Emboldened by the success of a ballot initiative to oust Iowa judges who supported gay marriage, conservative activists are looking for new ways to use the power of the vote to strike back against the courts
[…]
"For those who impose what we perceive as an immoral agenda, we're going to take them out," said David Lane, executive director of AFA Action, the political arm of Mississippi-based American Family Association, which contributed about $100,000 to the Iowa campaign. He said the group would do so again wherever judges "impose their will on free people."

"impose their will on free people", well sometime the majority are wrong when they impose discriminatory laws on the minor by denying them of their right. It takes an impartial court to rectify the wrongs and if the judges have to worry about reelection or recall, then they cannot be impartial. In addition, outside organizations come in and try to influence the elections with tons of cash. I also have another question that needs to be asked. According to the article…

Lane, of AFA Action, said the distribution by conservative churches of 200,000 voter guides was a big factor that will be effective in future judge-recall efforts.

Churches are 501(c)3 tax exempt organizations, they may take part in legislative lobbying as long as it does not result in expenditures of around 5 – 10% of their budget. However, they may not take part in elections, 501(c)3 cannot endorse a party or candidate. I would be very interested in finding out if those “voter guides” endorsed a candidate, if so the churches could lose their tax exempt status.

As I have said before, I am against ballot initiatives. At one time, they were a good idea, but now they are being used to take away the civil rights of minorities. Outside organizations are dumping millions of dollars to deny the civil rights to the LGBT people. I wrote this when Maine voted to repeal the marriage equality law…

It took 144 years for women to get the right to vote! Only 13 states passed a Women’s Suffrage ballot imitative, but some of those took multiply attempts before they passed, in Oregon, it took six attempts before it passed. However, 16 states did not pass the Women’s Suffrage voter initiatives.

Human Rights should not be subject a popular vote! The LGBT population is only about 5% of the population, but 47% of the people came out to vote in favor of the basic Human Right to be able to marry the person that you love. I do not think that Human Rights be at the whim of the majority.