Steel City Stonewall Democrats - Results of Tuesday's elections are a wake-up call to Pittsburgh region LGBT people and allies.

As President of Steel-City Stonewall Democrats, I am writing this with a sense of deep concern and urgency.  The results of Tuesday's elections are a wake-up call to Pittsburgh region LGBT people and allies. You may have heard of the disheartening defeat of Maine's marriage equality measure, but closer to home there were numerous electoral losses that will greatly impact our ability to move equality forward in our region for the next several years. Please read the following and consider what our community could have done better. 

 

We say we want equality but are we willing to work for it?

 

Republicans won at least six of the seven Pennsylvania court races and may end up sweeping the contests, depending on the outcome of a still-undecided Superior Court seat. What this means is that likely none of the judicial candidates that Steel-City determined were good on our issues for the key races were elected. Instead, hard-right Republicans, many of whom actively work to block LGBT equality with their rulings, won every judicial seat in this state on the key races. 

 

How did this happen? It appears that it comes down to a simple thing.  Republican voters turned out and voted.  Democratic voters didn’t bother to vote.  Early results show only 10% of young people voting for example.  Another example is a local Republican judicial candidate who did not even have a web site and didn't campaign yet won.  Republican voters likely went to the polls and voted straight party ticket while Democrats overwhelmingly did not bother to even show up.

 

If you voted, THANK-YOU, please take a moment to consider what inspired you to vote and what information helped you to feel engaged with this process. Then pass that energy and inspiration forward to at least one other person and encourage them to become an active voter.  Next year there will be other critical elections which will impact our community. In the meantime we are heartened by the progressive, LGBT supportive candidates who won their City Council seats and those who retained their County Council seat and look forward to continuing to work with them.

 

If you did not bother to vote, please take a moment to consider why not, and consider what information you need to feel empowered to take the future into your own hands by voting. Then let us know.  

 

The next ten years just got more difficult to move LGBT equality forward in the state and region.  We are deeply saddened but a setback is not a defeat.  Steel-City Stonewall Democrats will continue to do what we can to try and make an impact.  However, we cannot do this work alone.  We are hoping the community comes to understand the enormous long-term impact that all elections have on the future in our region & Pennsylvania in general.  

In the future we hope more people

- Help us get the word out about good candidates and the importance of voting in EVERY election.

- Become more engaged in the political process by attending political events, fundraisers & meetings

- Work with us to counteract the cynicism, lies, misinformation, and fear that too often taint our elections.

Thank-you for taking the time to read and consider these thoughts I send on behalf of Steel-City Stonewall Democrats.

-Dana Elmendorf, President, SCSD