Miami Herald - October 22, 2004
Amy Sherman

"That has gotten so many people riled up, that was part of the catalyst that brought to a head that we need some place to all get together" to organize voters, said JD Camp, who runs the new GLBT Vote Center in Wilton Manors.

Broward County has long had a politically active gay community that has endorsed candidates and encouraged voter participation. But activists say this is the first time they have opened a center with the sole mission of getting Democratic voters to the polls.

Working from a small house, volunteers at the GLBT Vote Center toil seven days a week in a few rooms without air-conditioning or hot water. A wish list taped to the wall says they still need rugs and a stapler. The Dolphin Democrats, a longtime gay group in Broward, helped launch the center.

Volunteers are targeting 40 precincts with a concentration of gay adults, in Wilton Manors, Oakland Park and Fort Lauderdale. Opened a couple of weeks ago, the center has a mission to get occasional and new gay voters to help elect Sen. John Kerry and other Democrats.

Leaders of other gay rights groups in Florida and the country say they have also stepped up their efforts to get out the vote.

Kerry doesn't support gay marriage, but opposes a constitutional ban. And he gets high marks from gay activists for supporting AIDS programs and other issues. Many gay activists say Bush is trying to use gay marriage as a wedge issue.

"This is a year when certain politicians have placed a target on the back of our community believing it's politically expedient to attack and dehumanize us," said Stratton Pollitzer, South Florida director for Equality Florida, which helped create the nonpartisan TurnOut Florida Campaign.

Gay activists say that exit polls in the 2000 election showed that 5 to 7 percent of voters identified themselves as gay and about 75 percent of them, or 3 million, voted for Al Gore while about 1 million voted for George W. Bush.

Gay activists say they can tip the balance for Kerry.

Many groups claim they can tip the balance for one candidate or the other, said Susan MacManus, political science professor at the University of South Florida. But gays represent a sizable vote, and they might vote even more heavily Democratic this time because of the gay-marriage issue, MacManus said.

The Log Cabin Republicans, a national group that works to make the party more inclusive, did not endorse Bush after supporting him in the last election.

The Broward chapter doesn't have a get-out-the-vote effort but some members are active on various campaigns, said spokesman Andy Eddy. "My dream is not that we have to open up a voting center," Eddy said. "My dream is that being a gay Democrat or Republican you go under the title of either Democrat or Republican."

Kevin Hill, a political professor from Florida International University, sees the gay vote as important for Kerry in an election that is coming down to who can turn out more of its base.

"It's a group of people John Kerry absolutely has to get a very large turnout from, " he said.

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