Gay Rights Measures Get Mixed Reactions
Backer of civil unions law wins Vermont election
Christopher Heredia / SF Chronicle 9nov00

American voters' lingering trepidation about granting equal rights to gays and lesbians was reflected in ballot-box battles across the country.

But gay rights advocates found a silver lining in the fact that Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, a Democrat, fended off a challenge by a Republican opponent, who had slammed him for signing the landmark law that grants marriage-like rights for gays.

The dire predictions before the Vermont election were that voters were going to ``clean house'' of all who had voted for civil unions.

While the civil unions law was credited for handing the state House over to the GOP for the first time in 14 years, Democrats retained control of the Senate.

``I think the message out of Vermont is that the civil union issue did not come into play in voters' final decision,'' said Elizabeth Toledo, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. ``There was not a voter outrage in Vermont to toss people out of office.''

But Tom McCormick, a lawyer for the anti-civil union camp in Vermont, predicted it is just a matter of time before the law is challenged.

``If not to try to repeal it, then we're going to try to redefine it to broaden the parameters so it doesn't restrict civil unions to same-sex couples,'' he said.

Beth Robinson, an attorney who litigated in favor of gay marriage in the courts, said she believes the votes cast for Dean and several other pro-civil union candidates sent a different message.

``I think voters said they are ready to end the divisiveness and move on,'' Robinson said.

In Maine, an anti-discrimination proposition appeared to be failing. With 87 percent of the precincts reporting, Question 6, which would have prohibited discrimination based on sexual orientation in employment, housing, or education, was failing by 50.6 percent to 49.4 percent.

In Nevada and Nebraska, voters sent a message to the state of Vermont: Keep your civil unions out of our states. They adopted measures prohibiting recognition of same-sex unions in response to Vermont's law.

With 89 percent of precincts reporting in Oregon, a measure aimed at banning teachers from ``promoting'' homosexuality in public schools appeared to be failing.

Oregon's ``No on 9'' campaign manager, Kathleen Sullivan, said the proposition was failing, 52 percent to 48 percent.

``Our level of optimism is pretty high,'' said Sullivan. ``I think the number of `no' votes says Oregonians are fair-minded people who believe in basic civil rights.''

In the final days of the campaign, the ``No on 9'' campaign pointed out that the ballot measure would lead to a marked reduction in the teaching of AIDS education, something supporters of the initiative called a distortion.

``It came down to the fact that we were outspent 7 to 1 and the fact that they lied,'' said Lon Mabon, founder of Oregon Citizens Alliance, which sponsored the measure. ``In the last week, they talked about how the measure would cut out AIDS education and make more people die. It would never have had that effect.''

Exit polls on election night showed gays represented 4 percent of the national vote. Seventy percent voted for Vice President Al Gore, 23 percent for Texas Gov. George W. Bush, and 4 percent for Green Party candidate Ralph Nader.

Toledo, of the National Gay Lesbian Task Force, said gay rights groups were optimistic about nationwide election results.

``We've come a long way from the days when simply outing a candidate or raising (gay) issues in a campaign was a sure win for the opposition,'' she said. ``Now you see out candidates like (U.S. Rep.) Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) skating to victory in her second term without serious opposition. It shows that our issues are beginning to resonate with the broader community.''