Gay and Lesbian Rights Group Complains Their Voice Won't Be Heard by Networks

ABC News.com ^ | 10-31-02

[Oldeconomybuyer]

N E W Y O R K, Oct. 31 — A gay and lesbian rights group complained Thursday that a polling consortium organized by television networks and The Associated Press is doing away with a key measurement of their political clout.

The Washington-based Human Rights Campaign says Voter News Service, which conducts exit polls of voters on Election Day, won't ask this year whether the voter is gay or lesbian.

Voter News Service is a consortium organized by ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox and the AP to count votes on Election Day and conduct exit polls.

It may seem like a small point, but the Human Rights Campaign says that question has been asked by VNS for the past decade. It has consistently measured gays and lesbians as about 4 percent of the electorate a definable group that makes politicians take notice.

"You can look back to the mid-1990s at a shift in momentum for support on gay and lesbian issues," said David Smith, spokesman for the Human Rights Campaign. "Elected officials began looking at our community as a vital part of the electorate and began reaching out to us in very visible ways."

The Human Rights Campaign wrote about its concern to leaders of the news organizations on Tuesday.

Ted Savaglio, executive director of Voter News Service, said the company does not discuss publicly the questions it asks in exit polls.

VNS has completely rebuilt its exit poll system over the past two years in response to botched calls in the 2000 presidential election. With time short, it has streamlined the number of questions being asked in its exit poll.

[Always Right]

The Washington-based Human Rights Campaign says Voter News Service, which conducts exit polls of voters on Election Day, won't ask this year whether the voter is gay or lesbian.

Wonder if they will ask if the voter is into S&M or maybe they should as if they have a rubber fetish. It is critical to know just what type of kinky sex the voter is into and determine how he/she votes.......

[dyed_in_the_wool]

As a Straight, White Male, I can empathize.

[KeyWest]

Interesting that with about 1-2% of the population they magnify their influence by getting out and voting. Hmmm. Maybe that would work for others.

[RushLake]

"Interesting that with about 1-2% of the population they magnify their influence by getting out and voting.

The Nazis and the Bolsheviks were once a very small part of their respective countries populations and look what it got them. Maybe these homosexualhyphenamericans can take a page from their totalitarian brother's handbook.

[GRRRRR]

Straight Pride

[longtermmemmory]

Repeated exposure to homosexual deviance is an effort by the 1 to 3% to desensitize parents. This will allow homosexuals to recruit children. Perhaps they should also ask about <>.

[Skooz]

That's odd. I turn on the TV and it always seems to be "Gay Pride and Acceptence Day" on all the networks all the time.

[anniegetyourgun]

Yes, I can see the reporters asking their questions of every voter now: "Can you tell us if you routinely have anal or oral sex with someone of the same gender? Do you make your political decisions based on how the candidate has sex? Could you tell us who your current partner is and how they voted? Are you HIV positive and how does that impact your voting? When was the last time you had sex with someone who was not of voting age?

[borisbob69]

Your comment is Right on!

Maybe someday these people will figure out, that nobody really cares...except them!

Nah...on second thought...I doubt they will ever figure that out.

[Norman Conquest]

Whenever they chant "We're here. We're queer. Get used to it" I reply "You're there. No one cares. Get over it