Election Politics: Winning to lose or losing to win?
Filed by: Tobi Hill-Meyer
November 6, 2008 6:00 PM
http://www.bilerico.com/2008/11/election_politics_winning_to_lose_or_los.phpTo begin with, let me leave the 2008 election and go back to the 2004 election, and a campaign that left a deep impression on me: Oregon's fight against Measure 36, one of those constitutional amendments to ban same-sex marriage.
It was a campaign that held great meaning to me, with both my parents marriage my own left in the balance. But at the first volunteer meeting, I was crushed and not even sure if I was willing to work for the campaign any more. Word came down from above that we were not allowed to use the words "bisexual" or "transgender," or even the term "same-sex marriage." The focus groups had shown that swing voters respond better to phrases like "gays and lesbians" and "gay marriage." And campaign officials said that we needed to get ourselves and others in the habit of that language by using it even when having discussions with our friends.
I see such exclusion as a clear biphobic and transphobic appeal to biphobic and transphobic voters. Yet the real problem for me wasn't even the concession to biphobic and transphobic voters, I simply couldn't bring myself to phone bank using biphobic and transphobic language, when the person on the other end of the phone, for all I knew, could have a bi or trans relative, or be bi or trans themselves. I wasn't the only one. Among my group of strong activist friends, only about 1/3 participated in the campaign. As I watched our efforts fail and the ban take effect, I wondered how much of a difference those extra volunteers could have made.
