Campaigns turn lavender: statewide races.

Gay issues have risen to the top level of debate among politicians this fall, and as a result, statewide races in Illinois, Hawaii, and Massachusetts may prove to be nail-biters. But while many activists believe any discussion of gay topics is a positive step, others watching the debate in these races say it has sunk to new lows and, in some cases, blurred what is really at stake on November 3.

In Illinois a furor erupted August 18 over a leaked memo that suggested GOP gubernatorial candidate George Ryan's office was employing subversive tactics--including a letter-writing campaign to the Chicago newsweekly Windy City Times--to woo gay and lesbian support from Democratic candidate Glenn Poshard. Subversive tactics or not, Ryan is in favor of statewide equal fights protections while Poshard, a congressman from southern Illinois, voted for the antigay Defense of Marriage Act in 1996 and has not cosponsored the pro-gay Employment Non-Discrimination Act. Ryan's courting of gay votes has riled many conservative Republicans, who have threatened to defect to Poshard, indicating that Illinois's traditionally heated governor's race could be especially fierce this year.

In Hawaii, Democratic governor Ben Cayetano has been engaged in a nasty spat with the Republican challenger, Maui mayor Linda Lingle, on whether he is spreading a rumor that she is a lesbian. Lingle raised the issue in a voters' forum, denying she is a lesbian and blaming Cayetano for the rumor. Lingle's spokesman Bob Awana upped the ante by saying that Lingle's staff had a copy of a memo from Cayetano's campaign raising the issue of Lingle's sexual orientation and that the Cayetano camp had hired a private investigator to look into the matter. Cayetano denied the allegation and called Lingle "a cheap-shot artist." Lingle has received little sympathy from the state's newspapers--she rejected their offer to release the report to prove her accusations against Cayetano.

Meanwhile, Michael Duffy, the Republican candidate for Massachusetts state auditor, is openly gay, but he's finding he can't count on the votes of gay rights supporters. His party's moderates, who have carved a niche for themselves in Massachusetts, may signal their disapproval with Republican governor Paul Cellucci's shaky support for gay rights by voting Democratic. Duffy is not helped by the antigay sentiments of national Republicans either. "I happen to be a Republican," Duffy told the Hampshire Daily Gazette, a newspaper in heavily gay Northampton, "but I think I'm working pretty hard to change the Republican Patty." The auditor's race also has forced gay voters to regard the candidates for their stands on other issues, like the fact that the Democratic candidate, incumbent auditor Joseph DeNucci, opposes abortion rights.