I know I just said I didn't need to comment on politics anymore, but I do have my niche, and this falls into it:
It is a perennial complaint, heard election after election: Too many Americans don't vote. But based on a massive new survey, one segment of the population surely must be excluded from this rebuke --- gays.The study this spring by San Francisco-based Community Marketing Inc. found that an eye-popping 92.5% of gay men reported that they voted in the 2004 presidential race, and almost 84% said they cast ballots in the 2006 midterm election. Among lesbians, the results were almost as impressive; nearly 91% said they voted in 2004; for the midterm, the figure was 78%.
By comparison, the Washington-based Committee for the Study of the American Electorate put the turnout for all Americans eligible to vote at about 61% in 2004 and roughly 40% in 2006.
I can't imagine better news. But this must make the Republicans crazy. "No wonder we lost in 2006," they should be thinking. "We spent a decade demonizing people who vote at twice the rate of most people." Of course, they're not thinking that. But until they do, I'm sure I'm not the only gay man committed to maintaining our stratospheric rate of democratic (and Democratic) participation.
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