The Promise of a New Year

What an extraordinary and emotional election year this has been — from the exhilaration of participating in a historic presidential election (no matter who you supported), to the election of the first person of color — an African American — to the presidential office.

And to the pain of the losses in Florida, Arizona, Arkansas and California, as well as Nebraska’s anti-affirmative action measure and Missouri’s English-only initiative.

With the disappointing ballot losses of the recent election, it is hard to remember that we are making progress toward full equality — but remember we must!

Practically unnoticed were significant signs of progress and cause for celebration in states like Connecticut, where voters headed off a threat to the recently won right to marry. Or in King County, Wash., where voters made it illegal for the county to discriminate in hiring based on disability, sexual orientation or gender identity and expression. And, we now have what promises to be the most LGBT-supportive administration and Congress in this nation’s history.

Since the election, we have seen a swell of activity as people turned anger into action with rallies and protests across the country. With our focus on grassroots activism, the Task Force knows the power of people coming together to stay engaged in the fight for change!

Yet, it is clear that we must continue moving more voters of all backgrounds toward justice and equality. The fact of the matter is, the only segment of the population we actually won or came closest to winning across the board on the LGBT-related ballot measures were voters under the age of 30.

We also must not forget the progress that has already been made. For example, despite Prop. 8’s passage, there clearly was a positive shift in public attitudes toward the freedom to marry in California — from 38 percent in our favor during the 2000 vote to 48 percent this election. This gain was due to the hard work of the Task Force and dozens of other organizations that have worked tirelessly to build coalitions and educate the public over the past eight years. We will win back marriage in California, and we will win it across the country.

As we move into 2009, here are just a few things the Task Force is already doing:

• Through our “Anger into Action” campaign, launched shortly after the election, we have given people concrete steps to turn their anger into action — and to turn their action into long-lasting change. Already, nearly 3,700 people have signed our Anger into Action declaration. Our annual National Conference on LGBT Equality: Creating Change will also be a place where people learn how to create long-term change.
• We are working with top researchers to analyze the election data to gain insight into strategies for winning in the future.
• We are taking part in the rallies organized by JointheImpact.com. In fact, we’ve been talking with the women who organized the site about how we can support them to continue the momentum. Turns out, these amazing activists attended Creating Change a few years ago, were inspired and are now inspiring so many others!
• We are heading up a project with 19 colleague organizations to identify and develop concrete policy and regulatory changes that the next administration can make that have a direct impact on the well-being of LGBT people.
• We have spent the past year, in partnership with SAGE, mapping the federal government with regard to aging programs, services and support so that we can advocate for increased attention to LGBT seniors right off the bat in the upcoming year.

In 2009, with your help, we will continue building upon past successes. We are clearly entering a new time and the Task Force is well-positioned to step fully into this era of increased political and community engagement!

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