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‘Out the Vote’ courts gay voters before fall elections

By Brittany Hays · July 23, 2008 · Print This Article

PHOENIX — A voter registration drive geared toward gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender voters is ramping up in the face of an electric presidential contest and a statewide ballot measure to ban gay marriage.

Dubbed “Out the Vote” by its proponents, the campaign started as a response to the concern of community activists wanting to get people involved in politics. Its backers say it is nonpartisan.

"People get disengaged with politics because they feel that no one specific party represents them," says Annie Loyd a community leader of Out the Vote. "We just want to simplify the voter registration process and get people voting."

The campaign focuses on providing the resources, education and information for people to register to vote or host registration drives at their businesses.

"We had a similar program in 2004 for the election, and we registered 2,500 to vote from bars alone," says Sam Holdren, a representative of Equality Arizona. "We want to reach out to people, including those who aren’t around the typical bar scene."

The campaign relies on word of mouth promotion, along with the support of GLBT community publications such as Echo and In Touch magazines to reach people who overlook the bars. It is funded by community donations and free advertising from both publications, and it is not endorsing any candidates or positions, Loyd says.

Community leaders insist that this citywide voter registration drive is completely separate from the issues facing the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community and exists primarily to educate people how to register.

"The Legislature and politicians are out of touch with the people in Arizona," Holdren says. "The only way to change that is by changing who is sitting in the legislative seats. We encourage people to sign up, vote by mail, be familiar with their polling places."

But the fact remains that there is a lot at stake for this voting bloc – namely a ballot measure that would essentially ban gay marriage in Arizona and a sizzling presidential race.

Although Arizona voters rejected a similar measure to ban gay marriage in 2006, the law is alive and well after the Arizona Senate voted to place it back on the November ballot in an extremely heated and lengthy legislative session in late June. Senate President Tim Bee, R-Tucson, cast the deciding vote.

The presidential race features Illinois Democrat Barack Obama versus Arizona Republican John McCain. Both men have stated that marriage should be between a man and a woman but argued against a federal law banning same-sex marriages. McCain is on record saying it’s a state-by-state issue and endorsed Arizona’s 2006 ballot measure that voters ultimately rejected by a 2 percent margin.

Supporters of Out the Vote, meanwhile, are casting a wide net for new voters. The campaign is reaching out to GLBT-supported businesses, churches, event promoters and organizations and providing them with the resources to get their peers interested and registered to vote.

"I think there’s a feeling of ‘one vote doesn’t matter’ but it’s different when it’s a community effort," says Patrick Roland, editor of Echo magazine. "Most gay people don’t live in a box and interact with just gay people. We want to get everyone involved."

The next Out the Vote event is the "Out the Vote Summer Chill" Gala at the Wrigley Mansion on Aug. 16. Participants are invited to stop by and register if they haven’t already done so by logging on to servicearizona.com.

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>>Email the editor at aklaw@zoniereport.com.

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