Lesbian Super PAC Supports Republicans Who Support LGBT Rights
A new Super PAC hit the ground running Wednesday with $200,000 already in pledges, and goals to bring in at least $1 million. Lesbian super pac (or, LPAC) chairperson Sarah Schmidt gave an interview with Huffington Post on what LPAC is all about and which potential candidates would be endorsed by the super pac. The best part about LPAC? Schmidt made a point to not define these potential candidates by party line, sexual orientation, or gender identification and, in essence, reaffirmed the centrality of the actions and beliefs of candidates as being the primary concern in an election, and the importance of allies fighting for LGBTQ goals.
LPAC, which has influential backers like Jane Lynch and Billie Jean King already on board, has expressed its candidate criteria of, "support [for] equal rights for LGBT women and their families, and that they also back sexual and reproductive rights for women and access to health care." An article from Autostraddle explains the goals of LPAC in more detail. But in all of the recent legislation that has prompted the creation of the term "War on Women," LPAC seems to be taking steps to ameliorate the incorrect idea that if you're a Republican, you must be in some form opposed to complete, accessible, and competent health care for women.
While it does seem that Republicans are largely responsible for a lot of the anti-women health care legislation being passed around the country, to pigeonhole Republicans as being anti-woman as so many women's rights groups have done reinforces a binary of "Republican women haters" versus "Democratic women supporters" that doesn't help anyone get things done politically. Just one of many examples of a break from this binary is a series of remarks by Republican Representative Ted Poe about the Violence Against Women Act where he surprised everyone (given his far-right leanings) and supported the protection of undocumented victims of domestic violence.
Geoffrey Kabaservice from CBS News writes about the difficulty and implications of creating this binary in the election year and what it means for both sides. He concludes that we have on our hands a "Prisoner's Dilemma of modern American politics, and both parties will be bound to act this way even though they recognize that the marginalization of moderates leaves everyone worse off." This is where LPAC and other bipartisan focused groups can help us all in passing LGBTQ, women's health, and undocumented rights legislation by supporting candidates (regardless of party) should they demonstrate progressive, action-oriented ideas on these topics.
