* This is the third article in The Advocate's continuing
coverage of four battleground states: Colorado,
Florida, Virginia, and Ohio. Click
here to read the previous installment.
By now
you've probably heard the news: Out candidate Jared
Polis prevailed over two opponents in the Democratic
primary for an open seat in Colorado's second
federal congressional district, garnering 42% of the
vote on August 12. It was an epic contest that pitted the
progressive up-and-comer against his party's
establishment and, given the heavy Democratic leanings
of the area that includes the city of Boulder, he is
expected to trounce the competition in November, which would
make him the first-ever openly gay man elected to
Congress as a freshman.
With all the
media coverage and hype, it's all the more
significant to note that throughout the intense primary
election, and even after his historic victory, the gay
identity of Polis, 33, was hardly discussed.
"His
sexual orientation was really not an issue at all,"
says Sandra Fish, an instructor in the School of
Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of
Colorado at Boulder who followed the race closely.
"The
Denver Post and the Rocky Mountain News and
the Daily Camera virtually never mentioned
it," she says, citing the major mainstream
newspapers for Boulder, located 25 miles northwest of
Denver in north-central Colorado. "It wasn't
mentioned by the media, and it wasn't mentioned
by his opponents."
Of course, after
the groundbreaking win, all three publications ran some
form of acknowledgment, the most high-profile being a
photograph in the Post that showed a triumphant
Polis clasping the hand of his partner, writer and
board game inventor Marlon Reis, at the Election Night
celebration. The latter had already been appearing at
campaign events once or twice a week, without prompting the
scrutiny of reporters.
"I think
it was an afterthought among media," Fish says, also
noting that constituents in the very liberal district
were not fazed by coverage of the achievement.
"The response among readers was 'Who cares?'
"
Deborah Goeken,
managing editor of the Rocky Mountain News,
largely agrees with that assessment. "We never
ignored it," she says, "but when he
announced his candidacy, it was not a big deal. It was
just part of who he is." She adds that when Polis
first came out publicly in 2006, while a member of the
Colorado State Board of Education, her publication
debated whether the announcement was news before
deciding on a small story.
Goeken says that
coverage of Polis in the 2008 primary was driven by his
stances on issues as well as readers' interest in his
immense wealth. Polis, the founder of websites such as
greeting card company BlueMountain.com, has a personal
fortune estimated to be in the hundreds of millions of
dollars.
"We
didn't hear from any readers," concludes
Goeken. "No one complained about the way we
covered it."
Still, others
suggest the low-key coverage was determined most by
Polis's own philosophy of how he wanted to
present his sexual orientation during the campaign.
"I think
that wasn't his issue so much," says Matt
Kailey, managing editor of the gay newsmagazine Out
Front Colorado. "As far as he was
concerned, that wasn't how he was promoting
himself. He was running as a candidate, not a gay
candidate."
Polis describes
his own position as one of forthrightness but not
necessarily fanfare.
"I think
it's important to live one's life openly and
honestly, and I certainly do that. I treat it as I
would my religion," says the Boulder native,
who is Jewish. "If people ask, I'm happy to
tell them about it.
"I think
it's fair for the media to cover it when it's
relevant, like marriage or serving in the
military," he continues. "On the vast majority
of issues, it's not relevant."
Accordingly,
then, in a heated primary dominated by conversation about
Iraq, the environment, and the economy, journalists seem not
to have made the gay question a high priority.
"I
didn't find that reporters were very interested in
his sexual orientation," says Dayna Morain,
communications director for Polis. "I can
remember a handful of times when the point about making
history was mentioned. If a reporter was interested,
they might ask 'How is that possible?'
and mention Barney Frank."
Frank, the
Massachusetts Democrat who is one of two openly gay members
of the House (along with Democratic congresswoman
Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin), came out in 1987, after
he had already served three terms in the chamber.
Baldwin, who was elected in 1998, is the first openly
gay non-incumbent, man or woman.
As he ascends, in
some ways it is difficult to draw general conclusions
from the Polis primary, which by all accounts was an
exceptional contest. The election was hard-fought, at
times bitter and, ultimately, one of the
country's most expensive House races, in which Polis
contributed over $5 million of his money.
Even the gay
power brokers were split among the Democratic candidates,
all of whom brought strong records on LGBT rights. Reclusive
philanthropist Tim Gill, who in 2004 teamed up with Polis to
help fund the campaign that resulted in the Democratic
takeover of the state legislature, backed the
establishment candidate, 60-year-old Joan Fitz-Gerald
The first woman to serve as president of the state senate,
she also secured the support of Scott Coors, the openly gay
scion of the famous beer family.
"There
were segments of the community that supported each of the
candidates," says Kailey of Out Front
Colorado. "The entire LGBT community was not
behind Jared Polis."
In addition, the
second U.S. district, anchored by Boulder, is
exceedingly gay-friendly compared to many other places in
Colorado; in fact, in 1992 voters statewide passed the
notorious Amendment 2, which made discrimination
based on sexual orientation constitutional
in Colorado until the U.S. Supreme Court invalidated
it. Since Polis was already a very well-known
philanthropist and civic figure, one wonders what lessons
can be learned in terms of whether voters will
accept gay rights.
At the very
least, state senator Jennifer Veiga, the first openly gay
member of the Colorado legislature, finds affirmation deep
within the Colorado character.
Veiga came out in
2002 while serving in the state house, after opponents
planned on outing her during her reelection bid.
Although most of her colleagues and media at the
capitol already knew she was a lesbian, she had never
announced it publicly. She says the result was very
positive.
"The press
here is pretty darn good. I thought they treated it pretty
well," she says. "I think Jared's
coverage was pretty similar to what I experienced.
Coloradans are kind of 'live and let live,' and the media
reflects that."
Others continue
to process what the primary coverage and the response to
a historic victory might mean for gay candidates in
Colorado and elsewhere.
"It's not a good thing. It's not a bad
thing," says Morain, Polis's
communications director. "It's just
interesting."