Post Frank

Roll Call suggests that a gay Republican legislator might actually defeat an incumbent Democratic congressman in Massachusetts. Congressional candidate Richard Tisei is a fiscal conservative who says his political philosophy is “the government should be off your back, out of your wallet and away from your bedroom.” Sounds good to me.

One Comment for “Post Frank”

  1. posted by Tom Scharbach on

    At last we have an openly gay Republican candidate for Congress who supports “equal means equal”. Tisei supported marriage equality in his run for Lieutenant Governor (as did his running mate, Charles Baker) and has been co-sponsored transgender protection bills in the State Senate. As important, I think, as the fact that he is openly gay is the fact that he is openly pro-equality.

    For that reason, I believe that if Tisei wins a seat in Congress, he can be expected to bring the fight for equality to the Republican caucus, making it more acceptable for Republican representatives to support equality.

    He won’t face an easy task, but I watched Barney Frank and Tammy Baldwin bring the Democratic caucus around over the years, and I think that their role was instrumental. Similarly, Tisei could be the beginning of the end for the death grip that social conservatives hold over Republicans in Congress.

    The importance of gays and lesbians having a seat at the legislative table is often overlooked, in my view. I saw it in Wisconsin’s legislature in 2009, when Wisconsin’s Domestic Partnership Act might have been shunted aside but for the leadership and legislative power of Mark Pocan, who is now running to replace Tammy Baldwin in Congress.

    With Barney’s retirement and Tammy’s run for the Senate, the House will have only two openly gay representatives. If Tisei, Mark Pocan (D-WI) and Marko Liias (D-WA) join Jared Polis (D-CO) and David Cicilline (D-RI) in Congress, the number of openly gay representatives will go from two to five. That’s a significant gain.

    Tisei’s role may be particularly important. We’ve seen no shortage of closeted Republican gays and lesbians in Congress who fought equality upon and down the line. It will be a real breath of fresh air to see an openly gay Republican representative who supports equality.

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