Gay challenger for Senate seat takes wider view
If elected this fall, Needham psychologist Sara Orozco could be the only openly gay member serving in the state Senate. But some gay-rights advocates say attitudes in Massachusetts have shifted enough that her sexual orientation no longer represents the electoral hurdle it once was.
"It seems to be less of an issue" than in previous years, said Matt McTighe, political director of MassEquality, a group whose top priority is protecting the legality of same-sex marriage in the state. The group has endorsed Orozco. "I think by and large, people really don't care."
Although Orozco would be the lone openly gay member of the Senate, according to her campaign and MassEquality, she wouldn't be breaking new ground. Two former state senators, Cheryl Jacques and Jarrett Barrios, are openly gay, as are four members of the House of Representatives.
Orozco said she hasn't encountered hostility on the campaign trail, adding that she has spent most of her time canvassing door-to-door and attending Democratic Party gatherings.
"I believe as my exposure continues to grow, I will come across people with different beliefs and values," she said.
Orozco, running unopposed in the Democratic primary race, is seeking to unseat state Senator Scott Brown, a Wrentham Republican who has represented the Norfolk, Bristol and Middlesex District - which runs from Wayland in the north to Attleboro in the south - since winning a special election to complete Jacques' term in March 2004. Brown, who won reelection in November 2004 and 2006, has come under fire from gay-rights groups for voting in favor of a state constitutional amendment that would limit marriage to heterosexual couples.
Brown said he won't focus on the race until after the legislative session ends July 31.
"I don't know anything about" Orozco, Brown said. "I've met her once. I don't know anything about her campaign or what her motives are or anything."
Orozco said that protecting gay rights is one of her top four priorities, along with healthcare, education, and the economy.
"It's not that I'm a gay candidate," Orozco said. "I'm a candidate who cares about the quality of life for people, who happens to be gay."
In 2004, gay rights was seen as a national "wedge issue" used to divide voters after the state Supreme Judicial Court decision that legalized same-sex marriage here. But the recent California court decision legalizing those unions there is unlikely to create much backlash, said Laura Esquivel, senior vice president for political affairs with the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund, which works to elect openly gay people to public office.
"I think that the national discussion has sort of moved on," Esquivel said. "People are getting married now in California, and even if the issue is on the ballot in California, we have months and months of Californians watching people getting married who are their neighbors, their family members, their co-workers. . . . It's very unrealistic to expect those people in November to vote to take that away."
Esquivel said there are more than 400 openly gay elected officials across the country, up from around 50 when the organization started in 1991. She attributes the overall progress to greater political organization by gay groups and to more gays coming out to their friends and family.
"They realize gay people are people, too, and they are people other people know and respect and oftentimes love," she said.
Of course, simply being accepted by voters doesn't guarantee a victory for Orozco in November, noted MassEquality official McTighe.
"There have been openly gay candidates that have run and didn't win, but the reasons they didn't win had nothing to do with their sexual orientation," he said.
