AHC: Gay politician guaranteed to win

Photovoltaic Array

The current PM of Iceland is a lesbian. Are there any known or even potential LGBT MPs that could have challenged her for the position?

I'm not sure about the current crop of really small states right now, given how they tend to lurch conservative. Iceland is probably the best bet, if not that, a European country in general most likely is the only potential area I can think of to achieve this.
 

Dathi THorfinnsson

Plumber said:
Chance, pure chance.
Click to expand...
Hmmm... if, say, 10% of the population is gay, then about 10% of candidates are gay and in the closet (even in denial), so 1% of contests should be between 2 gays, even if they don't admit it?

I guess that works. A lot easier to get than what I had intended, but that would have been really tough.
 

zert

Well it would not be a full state, but you can well have a two sided battle for the office of mayor in San Francisco or West Hollywood.

As others have said, one of the smaller Nordic Countries may well see a battle between two homosexuals with no one really blinking.
 

voss749

Heres a scenario

Gays and lesbians can now openly serve in the US military.

Suppose a gay or lesbian becomes a war hero, say Medal of honor winner.

A moderate democrat gay or lesbian medal of honor winner.

Any christian right attack on a medal of honor winner becomes an assault on patriotism.
 

Uff Da the optimist

Donor
Okay, if a soldier(who is a homosexual) get the MoH he/she is a hero and "untouchable". But do you really think they would be supported by conservative christians?

I mean, most of them support candidates opposed to gay marriage, right to serve in the military and some even view them as "sick" due to their sexual preferences.
I imagine there would be a sort of quiet smear-campaign against said soldier if the soldier started becoming a "threat" to their values.

In Nordic countries an openly gay politician might even win extra voters due to being viewed as "progressive". Lot of well respected gay politicians in the Norwegian Right-party
 

voss749

You mean like the smear campaigns against other politicians

smear campaigns are nothing new and the people who likely wouldnt vote for a MOH winner because he or she was gay or lesbian wouldnt vote for a Democrat anyway.

In any event I dont think a gay or lesbian moderate democrat MOH winner is going to worry about the conservative christian vote.
 

Stormy Sky

How "guaranteed" do you want?

The only way I see is to only have gay candidates. Maybe as suggested above have a gay war hero. Maybe the Democrats run a gay candidate and the Republicans (in the style of the Dutch: "I'm gay so therefore I can't be xenophobic!) run a gay war hero against them. This would probably be possible in a few decades, but not now. I think it would be realistic in a few European countries though.
 
neopeius

neopeius

Of the four contenders for the San Diego mayoral race (so executive over more than a million people of a decidedly purple voting demographic), two are openly gay with partners.

So the odds are against two gay people running for President only because there are fewer gay people than het people. But as gay rights progresses (q.v. recent developments in CA and WA), demographics will increasingly be the only factor (rather than prejudice).
 

baldipaul

Why are conservatives in the US so anti gay. The Conservative Party in the UK has the most gay MP's (including Cabinet Ministers), the only openly lesbian MP's (and BTW the most BME MP's).

The party is introducing a bill to legalise gay marriage, and allow those churches / religions that want to have religeous ceremonies, with the tag line "we're not doing this despite being conservatives, but because we are conservatives".

A lot of gays in the UK are very much above average earners (DINKY's) and thus support the lower tax regime that the Conservative Party promotes.

Sometimes this board is a bit too US centric as 90% of the discussion has been about the US experience.
 

Barbarossa Rotbart

For an European like myself the reason is very simple. In comparision to most European countries the US is a very religious country. And thus most conservatives are also very religious because for them religion is very important. (Remember that most of the fools who believe that the Bible was right and Darwin's Theory of evolution is pure fiction live in the USA and there in states which are dominated by the republicans).
A gay member of a conservative party in an important office (chancellor, prime minister etc.) is possible in Europe but not in the US. Ole von Beust for example was First Mayor of Hamburg from 2001 to 2010 and is a member of the conservative CDU (and is gay). The german Foreign minister Guido Westerwelle is also gay (but as a member of the liberal FDP not a conservative).
The first open gay minister-president of one of the German states was Klaus Wowereit (SPD) as Mayor of Berlin.
 
iainbhx

iainbhx

Thande said:
The Bermondsey by-election of 1981, but of course we didn't know it at the time...
Click to expand...

Well, some of us did. My first by-election (at the tender age of 17) and as I said to Peter Tatchell a couple of years back - overall, I think the wrong guy won.

I could name a couple more closet vs closet competitons, but I'll be good and won't.

I think it's going to become more common, there are a disproportionate number of gay men in particular who get involved in politics and the British political climate has changed sufficiently that not that many people give a monkeys. Certainly, when I was first up for election in my ward, the BNP denounced me as a danger to children. I still ended up with a 900+ majority and that's in a ward which is 50% social housing or former social housing.
 
Magniac

Magniac

Does bisexual count?

If so, then have Don Dunstan lead the Australian Labor Party against the federal Coalition government of William McMahon in 1972.

Okay, I can't guarantee that McMahon wasn't heterosexual. But even Dunstan in his memoirs hints at McMahon being a member of the club...
 
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