Complicated Culture
Andrew Sullivan is understandably upset about what the election results portend for gay Americans. But even culturally conservative people and places are a lot more complicated than you might think. Dallas County just elected a lesbian Latina with a long federal law enforcement career to clean up our mess of a sheriff's department. Her Republican opponent, a department insider, tried to make an issue of her support by the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund, which backs openly gay candidates. The tactic didn't work and it may even have backfired. (It certainly did in the Postrel household, where Lupe Valdez was the only Democrat to get our votes.)