Representative Johnson’s record on gay rights
One of the freedom struggles of our time is undoubtedly the quest to obtain equal rights for Gay Americans. This week (August 16–20, 2010) will witness two landmarks of progress in this struggle.
The first landmark will occur at 5:00 p.m. PDT on Wednesday, when (barring the intervention of a higher court ruling), same-sex couples in California will finally be allowed to legally marry. The importance of the overturning of Proposition 8 cannot be overstated. Because of the heroic ruling of Judge Walker, the struggle toward equality for Gay Americans in all states is taking an important step forward.
The second landmark will occur at 4:00 p.m. CDT on Friday, when Champaign-Urbana will host its first Pride Fest. While this event does not hold as much significance as the legalization of marriage in California, it is a serious accomplishment for the LGBT community in Champaign-Urbana. CU Pride Fest is a sign of an increasingly organized and powerful voice in our community. That voice will become more difficult for local citizens and their elected representatives to ignore.
This is a time of historic change and progress in our nation. Years from now our posterity may look back on this time and declare it a moment when the idea of equal rights for all citizens became more real. For all Americans it should be a time of immense pride in our nation that, by fits and starts, occasionally lives up to its promise of equality.
But not everyone is eager to extend equal rights to all Americans. Our own Representative Timothy V. Johnson (R-IL15) seems to be one of those people. Representative Johnson is quietly, yet distinctly, staking a position against the extension of equal rights to all Americans. While he is careful to not draw attention to his votes on this subject, his record is clear. Here are some examples:
On May 27 and 28, 2010 Representative Johnson voted against the repeal of the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy.
In November, 2007 Representative Johnson voted against the Sexual Orientation Employment Nondiscrimination Act (ENDA), which would have prohibited "employers from discriminating against any employee in respect to the conditions and privileges of employment based on the employee's actual or perceived sexual orientations" (Sec. 4).
In May, 2007 Representative Johnson voted against the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2007, also known as the Matthew Shepard Act. This law, eventually passed in 2009, "expands the 1969 United States federal hate-crime law to include crimes motivated by a victim's actual or perceived gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability." Something Representative Johnson apparently opposes.
In July, 2006 Representative Johnson voted in favor of the Same Sex Marriage Resolution, which proposed a constitutional amendment defining marriage as "the union of a man and a woman," and forbid any state from extending the benefits of marriage to same-sex couples. Fortunately, this particular bill was so extreme that even the Republican-controlled House of Representatives did not pass it at that time.
We are indeed in the midst of great and profound changes in the American experiment with democracy and equality. For many of us, this is a time to expand our notions of what equality means. But for many others, like our representative to Congress, this is a time to fight against progress and resist the expansion of equality to all Americans.
Our district has a choice to make this November about what kind of leaders we want to have representing us in Congress. While it may be difficult for many of us to care about which seemingly corrupt clown fills the Senate seat in DC, or the Governor's mansion in Springfield, here in the 15th district we have a real choice to make. Does Tim Johnson really speak for our community when he votes against equal rights for same-sex couples? I don't think so. Perhaps it is time that we elect someone who does truly represent our interests.
––Mark C. Foley
7 comments
At least he is consistent in his stand against extending human rights to homosexuals. Human Rights Campaign has given him 0% scores for the past 4 sessions. This consistency cannot be said about his promise in 2000 to limit himself to 3 terms.
But at least he is handsome.
Mark, thank you, for submitting this well written and thoughtful essay.
I wonder if Tim Johnson won our district in the last election. I’ve always assumed our district went to David Gill.
I’ve always assumed that Johnson’s core constituency is the rest of Champaign County that surrounds us. And they’re not too terribly concerned with his abysmal gay rights record.
In 2008, when he ran against Steve Cox, Johnson won Champaign County with almot 57% of the vote. I can’t give you definite numbers (because I’m too lazy to do the math), but these results do indicate that Johnson lost most of the Champaign and Urbana voting precincts. In the 15th district overall, which stretches far south, he ended up winning with 64% of the vote.
That said, in 2006 Johnson had to run against Gill (a better candidate than Cox, imo) and won with 52.6% of the vote in Champaign County. In the 15th district overall, he won with 57% of the vote.
There’s a pretty good chance he will win again in November. But he has an even better chance if the young folks stay home or do not volunteer for David Gill. There is also a strong chance that his record on equal rights will catch up to him. The nationwide tide is turning in favor of same-sex marriage. It is hopefully just a matter of time before even our country cousins start to see the light.
Cheers!
Robert Knilands
At the risk of stirring up the “shoot the messenger” crowd:
The 15th District is made for Johnson to win. There just aren’t enough people who will vote for a Democrat in much of the district.
I talked with David Gill in 2004, and he seemed like a good guy. But he has an uphill battle every time he runs in the 15th District.
CQ
What’s more important, the “human rights” for gay people domestically or the “human rights” for all the sweatshop laborors 90% of all our food, clothing, technology are imported from? Chances are the most venemous gay rights activist reading this right now has sweatshop clothing on. Also, what does the gay community think about BPA plastic and other plastic leaking estrogen hormones for the past hadnful o decades. Or what about genetically modified soy, or gmo anything, which has been proven to reduce fertility and also has uncommonly high levels of estrogen. Last week they found two, three year old girls growing breasts in China due to the hormones in the Monsanot milk. Or is all this unimportant? No, its just less emotionally charged and a hell of a challenge to actually face and think over.
Mark, thanks for taking the time to answer my questions, which were so poorly worded that it’s a wonder you could figure out what I was asking. (I used the word “district” when I actually meant “precinct,” for example.)
file:///Users/mfoley/Library/Caches/TemporaryItems/moz-screenshot.jpg"The 15th District is made for Johnson to win.”
Yep. In fact, the 15th has been represented by a Republican for all but two of the last 71 years. I’m not sure of any reputable political media outlet that doesn’t have the 15th marked as a “safe” district for Republicans in 2010.
But Johnson’s record is not pretty. And my guess is that a lot of people just don’t know all that much about what he does, or does not do, during his trips to DC. My hunch is that the more effort we make to inform the public about his record, the better the chance that he may lose an election, or come close enough to losing that he will change his politics. Personally, I don’t know how someone could support Johnson knowing his record on equality. It’s kind of like supporting a segregationist candidate in rural Mississippi in the 1960s.
If anyone reading this feels strongly that there elected representatives should be working for equal rights instead of against equal rights, then I would suggest they can take some concrete steps to make that happen by volunteering for the Gill campain in the next couple of months.
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