Blagojevich backers say he’s earned GLBT votes

Blagojevich backers say he’s earned GLBT votes
By Gary Barlow
Copyright by The Chicago Free Press
October 18, 2006



Three high-ranking, openly gay appointees of Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) say the good news about the Blagojevich administration, particularly as it relates to the GLBT community, isn’t being told enough.

Rocco Claps, Michael McRaith and Justin DeJong said in a recent interview that Blagojevich has earned the GLBT community’s support in the November election because of a long list of accomplishments, including GLBT inclusion in state appointments, initiatives on AIDS prevention and other healthcare issues, domestic partner benefits and passage of a law banning discrimination against GLBTs.

“Not only does he practice inclusion in the people he hires to lead agencies—he practices inclusion in public policy as well,” said Claps, director of the Illinois Department of Human Rights. “These are the kinds of intangible things that we don’t necessarily see on the front pages of the papers every day.”

Claps’ appointment by Blagojevich made him the first openly gay director of an Illinois state department. McRaith, tapped by the governor to lead the Division of Insurance in the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, is the first openly gay head of a regulatory agency in the country. And DeJong, working for the Department of Central Management Services, helps shape the state’s communications.

“For Rocco to be the first openly gay agency head in the state is phenomenal,” McRaith said. “One thing that’s undisputed is that the governor has appointed people with greater diversity across all backgrounds.”

The three are campaigning for Blagojevich on their own time because, they say, he’s kept his promises to the GLBT community.

“We support candidates all the time based on what they tell us they’re going to do,” McRaith said. “With Rod, we have a chance for the first time to support a candidate based on what he’s actually done.”

That list, they say, includes a host of issues, starting with passage in 2005 of the amendment to the Illinois Human Rights Act that outlawed discrimination against GLBTs.

“Not only did he say he was going to work for that, he worked the floor,” Claps said. “This governor actually worked the phones and worked the aisles. Every step of the way, he was there.”

On HIV/AIDS, McRaith cited Blagojevich’s initiatives to fight HIV transmission among African Americans and his efforts to keep the state’s AIDS Drug Assistance Program fully funded, something that hasn’t happened in many states.

“There’s not one governor across the country who’s done what he’s done,” McRaith said.

DeJong said Blagojevich’s order to extend domestic partner benefits to state employees helped gay and lesbian families. He questioned why Blagojevich’s Republican opponent in the governor’s race, Ill. Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka, refused to follow suit for employees under her control.

“It was her chance to do more than provide lip service to this community,” DeJong said.

The three said they’d like Blagojevich to back equal marriage rights for gays and lesbians, but said while he’s not there, he does offer state recognition of gay and lesbian relationships.

“He supports domestic partner rights and civil unions,” Claps said. “On basic rights, he’s been there.”

DeJong said GLBTs could look forward to more accomplishments if the governor wins a second term this November.

“Progress is incremental,” DeJong said. “We’ve seen four years of progress for our community, and I think the gay community can rest assured that there will be four more years of progress if the governor is re-elected.”