Victory in the News

Sheriff’s 'outing' pushes Arizona to top of states with gay candidates for Congress

Babeu joins three state lawmakers — all Democrats — who are openly gay or bisexual and running for Congress this year in Arizona. Rep. Matt Heinz and state Sen. Paula Aboud, both of Tucson, are running in District 2; former state Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Phoenix, who has said she is bisexual, is running in the new District 9.

But Arizona has a long history of electing openly gay candidates, said Denis Dison, spokesman for the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund, which works to elect gays to public office.

"Arizona has a conservative reputation but it also has a history with openly gay candidates at the local and state level," Dison said. "Once those barriers are broken, people get bored with the topic and it's less of an issue." 

Oklahoma gay candidate wins in landslide

Al McAffrey is moving from one chamber in Oklahoma's statehouse to another.

The gay state representative on Feb. 14 won a special election for the state Senate. McAffrey, a Democrat, was the first openly gay candidate elected to the House and is now the first openly gay candidate elected to the Senate.

"Al's election to the state Senate is another milestone for LGBT Oklahomans, and we are proud to support his campaign," said Chuck Wolfe, president and CEO of the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund. "There are still a number of states that have never elected any openly LGBT state legislators, so Oklahoma can be proud that Al has been elected to both the House and the Senate."