CHICAGO – Social conservatives are often ridiculed and mocked for promoting traditional Biblical values such as one-man/one-woman marriage, encouraging sexual abstinence outside of marriage and refraining from immoral lifestyles.
The more popular perspective now is for political candidates to declare they "really don't care what goes on in the privacy of a bedroom" or that "love is the determining factor" about whether a couple – or three or four – of adults should be joined in state-recognized legal unions. Now it is considered rude, bigoted or homophobic – all societal taboos – to even be aware of a candidate's sexual orientation.
Ironically, that same tolerance and polite silence is not a part of the LGBTQ movement's political views. Instead, sexual orientation is a reason to support candidates, as indicated by the Victory Fund's promotion of candidates running in the 2018 election.
The LGBTQ Victory Fund spotlights U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin as the first openly LGBTQ US senator, Arizona Democrat Kyrsten Sinema as the first openly bi-sexual candidate for US Senate, Gina Ortiz Jones as a potential first LGBTQ openly gay Congress member from Texas and Jared Polis as first openly gay governor in Colorado.
And the Victory Fund hones in on local Illinois candidates' sexual orientations for offices such as Cook County judge, Cook County Board commissioner, Peoria County Board commissioner and the Illinois House:
LGBTQ Victory Fund says it is "working to change the face and voice of America’s politics and achieve equality for LGBTQ Americans by increasing the number of openly LGBTQ officials at all levels of government."
So which is it – does a candidate's sexual orientation matter, or does it not?
