“Is It OK To Be A Single Issue Voting Gay?”

I've been on this issue quite a bit this week. What follows below was my response to a Lesbian voter who was critical of Gay voters who make our equal rights their single deciding issue when casting their vote. If you read my blog, some of it is repetitive,but can you ever say it enough??


I myself am not fond of one issue voters, but I’ve learned that there are some single issues the justify the position. To group all one issue voters in a category of “stupid” demonstrates a lack of understanding of the importance of the single issue and in and of itself is a stupid action.

When women were fighting for the right to vote, they were one issue citizens. When black Americans fought for equality in civil rights, they too were one issue citizens. It would be hard to argue that given the weight of those issues and what they meant to the quality of life for those groups, that they or the issues were not important enough to become the deciding factor in casting a vote.

The Gay community is at this very moment involved in a civil war in the United States of America. The issue is equal rights for the LGBTQ community,not just equal marriage. If you think this is a bloodless war, you are sadly misinformed and mistaken. Every day Gay kids are committing suicide because of society’s lack of acceptance of who they were born to be. Every day members of the Gay community are physically attacked, abused, murdered, spit on and denied their rights as human beings because of who they are. Our community sheds blood frequently in defense of who we are. Judy Shepard has become a one issue woman since the murder of her son Matthew. Her issue now is that there will be no more cases like Matthew. Would she be called stupid for making this her single issue?

The Gay community is at a crossroads in its battle for equality. The beginning of the end to the abuse of the Gay community begins with equality under the law. The weight of this issue justifies a person to make it the deciding factor in casting a vote. At this point in history, if a person’s actions do not demonstrate support for the Gay community whether by an act of commission or omission, they do not deserve the Gay vote.

To not understand this gets to the core of the problem with the Gay community. Acceptance needs to come on our terms as we are. To be half hearted about this truth will not advance equality for us. The goal should not be to become more palatable to hetero sexist society, so as to gain equality. The goal is to take equality on our terms as we are. Any man or woman who does not fully demonstrate support in a multi- faceted way for the LGBTQ community does not deserve its' vote.