Gay groups split over mayoral race

By: LAURA DOUGLAS-BROWN
The race to determine who will succeed Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin has divided two of Atlanta’s largest gay political groups and drawn an openly gay protest candidate who says he’s running to challenge the status quo. On Tuesday, Atlanta voters will determine who will be their next leader at City Hall, or more likely given the large number of candidates, which two candidates will advance to a Dec. 1 runoff.

The three leading candidates — Atlanta City Council President Lisa Borders, state Sen. Kasim Reed (D-Atlanta) and City Council member Mary Norwood — all have lengthy records with Atlanta’s gay community, and candidate Jesse Spikes has also reached out to gay voters during his campaign. Meanwhile, Kyle Keyser, the openly gay founder of Atlantans Together Against Crime, is running a last-minute grassroots campaign with the message that Atlanta can change.

Georgia Equality endorsed Borders, while Atlanta Stonewall Democrats is backing Reed.

“All the candidates have good, strong track records of working with the LGBT community, [but] at the end of the end of the day we thought that Lisa Borders was going to be the most accessible mayor to the LGBT community,” Georgia Equality Executive Director Jeff Graham said.

Atlanta Stonewall Democrats board member Jason Cecil said his group picked Reed for similar reasons. Reed drew controversy this summer when he said he supported civil unions for gay couples instead of marriage.

“Honestly, Mary and Lisa gave really good answers [to Stonewall’s survey] and Kasim’s biggest drawback, and this provoked a lot of discussion with our board, was his stance on civil unions,” Cecil said.

“We decided that there is not a lot a mayor can do [on that issue] and he’s very strong on everything else, and he has a solid track record, and that’s really what pushed him over the top.”

Reed is also endorsed by Rep. Karla Drenner (D-Avondale Estates), the only openly gay state lawmaker. He told Southern Voice he’s worked with Stonewall Democrats since he joined the General Assembly in 1999.

Borders is a fixture at gay events such as Atlanta Pride and the annual Human Rights Campaign Dinner, and has received credit for negotiating a compromise to return Pride to Piedmont Park this year on Halloween. Reed has a 10-year history in the Georgia General Assembly, where he supported Georgia’s first hate crime law in 1999, advocated for HIV funding, fought the 2004 state constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, and recently passed a bill requiring HIV testing and counseling for inmates. Norwood has said her connections to the community go back to her work with the Atlanta Opera in the mid 1990s. On the City Council, she helped work out a compromise where AIDS Walk Atlanta could return to Piedmont Park in 2008.

Norwood, the only leading candidate not to be endorsed by a gay organization, told Southern Voice she understood and promised to advance gay concerns if elected.

“Stonewall Democrats are a Democratic organization and I’ve always understood that they want someone with a great big ‘D’ on their jacket. I’ve always maintained that I am purple. I am fiscally conservative and socially liberal, and I maintain that is where most people are,” Norwood said.

Marriage vs. civil unions

The mayoral race drew early headlines on gay issues when five candidates attended a May 21 forum hosted by the Atlanta Stonewall Democrats and Georgia Log Cabin Republicans at Amsterdam Cafe.

Borders, Norwood, Reed, Spikes and former Atlanta finance manager Glenn Thomas (who later dropped out of the race) answered questions from the crowd of some 200 people. Keyser did not enter the mayoral race until September.

Borders and Reed both referenced their past records of working with gay groups on a variety of issues, while Norwood and Spikes spoke about their vision for the city.

When the candidates were asked to state their beliefs on allowing same-sex couples to marry in a one-word answer, Spikes and Borders both said they support same-sex marriage, while Reed said “civil unions.” Norwood left before the question portion of the forum.

Reed’s staff sought out Southern Voice to clarify his position and he gave an extended interview on the subject the following day.

“Where I am is that like anyone else I have my own personal faith, and I’m working through issues about marriage equality in my own private way, as my own private person,” Reed said. “I have believed, as I have for a long time, in civil unions and being forward leaning toward the LGBT community before really anyone ever noticed.”

Reed said that he has let Georgia Equality know since ...