Comments on: A fourth openly gay member of Congress? http://www.washingtonblade.com/2010/09/09/a-fourth-openly-gay-member-of-congress/ the gay community's news source Thu, 20 Jun 2013 08:38:03 +0000 hourly 1 By: wastingurvote http://www.washingtonblade.com/2010/09/09/a-fourth-openly-gay-member-of-congress/#comment-3481 wastingurvote Sat, 11 Sep 2010 03:46:15 +0000 http://www.washingtonblade.com/?p=11740#comment-3481 We are going to loose the country to rightist if you continue your stance. Being gay is important in the US Congress and from what I read he’s the best choice for RI. Please don’t waste your vote and let a lesser named/quality candidate run against a strong Republican

]]> By: jenn http://www.washingtonblade.com/2010/09/09/a-fourth-openly-gay-member-of-congress/#comment-3457 jenn Thu, 09 Sep 2010 23:33:13 +0000 http://www.washingtonblade.com/?p=11740#comment-3457 Just because a candidate shares some attribute with me does not mean that they’re more likely to be better in office for my needs or interests. I voted for Cicilline twice, but you must remember that he first ran in the wake of Operation Plunderdome, a federal corruption investigation that made national headlines. We all wanted a new start. And last time around, the pickings were very slim.

Being gay doesn’t make Cicilline a better candidate for Congress, for the gay community or anyone else. I have voted against gay candidates before, and I will again, when and where it makes sense.

A big part of Rhode Island’s problems come from the habit of Rhode Islanders voting for people they feel are like them in some way — Irish, Italian, Hispanic, gay, Catholic, whatever. None of these attributes in themselves recommend any candidate over any other. Yes, Cicilline would likely be stronger on gay issues than other candidates. But that doesn’t mean he’d be a better congressman overall. I don’t believe he would be, and I intend to vote against him in the primary.

Should he win the primary, I would likely vote for him in the general election, as a better alternative to the other candidates we’ve seen, but that is unrelated to his being gay. I don’t vote for someone just because they’re gay, but only if I truly believe they’re the best candidate compared to all others.

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