Handel should focus on her own family, not gay families
Re: “Karen Handel: ‘I would consider’ banning gay adoption” (blog by Laura Douglas-Brown, www.thegavoice.com, July 14)

We’re clearly at the “say anything” point in the campaign. I hope people remember GED Jane and her quitting ways will not fix the serious and longterm problems this state has.

Her TV ad boasts that at 17 she left an abusive home life. What does that say about her hetero parents?

All of them are worthless, and I am a conservative, by the way. It’s time that gay bashing to get votes stop by these ultra conservative creeps.

I hate Oxendine (who blocked insurance coverage of same-sex partners in Georgia) and Handel. I do like Roy Barnes.

Here’s why candidates in state races don’t care about gay votes
Re: “Candidates, where art thou?” (Blog by Michael Brewer, www.thegavoice.com, July 15)

Because they don’t need the handful of LGBT voters that actually turn up at the polls. As a community we like to bitch and moan about issues but when it comes time to vote and give ourselves a voice with elected leaders people don’t show up. But those same people surely don’t mind bitching when it doesn’t turn out in their favor.

We don’t demand their accountability to us. … If we re-directed things like say the Atlanta Pride parade from Piedmont Park to the steps of the Gold Dome, would we finally get a little respect in this state? But as a community it wouldn’t be as fun as the party.

The Atlanta LGBT community’s ability to organize a rally and pressure the politicians in Georgia is questionable at best. There should have been outcry like the NAACP and other civil rights organizations the moment those hateful political ads hit the air. Where’s GLADD? Where’s HRC?

There is always a cocktail party that is more important to get to. Or a bar to support. If the gay community supported themselves like they support bars this would be a non-issue. I’m not criticizing because the good Lord knows I love to take a drink but on election day, that drink will still be on ice waiting for you after you vote. And guess what? Contrary to popular belief the bars won’t close should you not make it there one day out of seven.

The community wants rights and wants to complain they aren’t getting them. Where are you when the decisions are being made? Drunk? Or looking for that perfect bronzer on aisle 7b at Target? If you are going to bitch about the talk then start walking the walk. Until we can come together as one, we won’t get the rights that are afforded to every single citizen under the constitution. United we stand (when it benefits our personal agenda) and united we fall when you choose not to vote.

The difference between Atlanta mayoral and Georgia gubernatorial politics and campaigning is huge. Remember that as progressive as Atlanta as a city may be, it is still within a conservative state that outlawed gay marriage in 2004. On a state level, the GLBT community is a tiny minority and considered by rural Georgians as a “special interest group,” which most politicians try to avoid being associated with. You can’t get elected mayor of Atlanta without courting the GLBT vote, but I doubt you could be elected governor if you do.