Mary Wiseman, Ohio’s first openly gay judge, received her share of anti-gay sentiments when she was appointed late last year. Her anti-gay opponent for the position of Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas Judge took his anti-gay words to the media after her appointment, calling for Wiseman to abstain from ruling on any gay-related case. A week after LGBT and mainstream press picked up on the issue, Wiseman’s anti-gay opponent dropped out of the race. Wiseman is running to defend her seat in the November 4th election.
The most well-known out Midwestern politician, Tammy Baldwin, is also up for re-election this year. Baldwin, who became the first openly gay first-time candidate elected to Congress, was also Wisconsin’s first female representative. Throughout her political career, the media have focused less and less on Baldwin’s orientation. In fact, her orientation is not even mentioned in recent articles and letters to the editor concerning her.
Baldwin has been in Congress for a decade, while Wiseman and Flaherty are relatively new to the political scene. In Baldwin’s case, her orientation is basically a non-issue for the media. In both Flaherty and Wiseman’s cases, orientation has not been a media issue unless an anti-gay activist attacks them. As gay people become more visible in the media, more Americans change their hearts and minds about their gay neighbors. Americans also change their hearts and minds about politicians representing them who happen to be gay. With at least eight openly gay candidates up for election this year in the Midwest, it will be interesting to see how and when candidates’ orientations are mentioned in the media as the elections progress.
Paul Karr is the Director of Media Field Strategy
