Gay Endorsements Give Reid More Credit Than He Deserves

I'm so confused.

I have a great deal of respect for the gay activists who wrote up the endorsements for the 2010 election from the point of view of gay issues, a consortium known as Nevada Impact. Many of them are my friends. And if one were to examine the Harry Reid-Sharron Angle race based on their friendliness to gays and lesbians, it's kind of a no-brainer after Angle claimed she didn't even want campaign cash from companies that provide health benefits to the same-sex partners of their employees.

But this endorsement explanation is mystifying:


ENDA stands for the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, prohibiting employers from firing or mistreating gay employees on the basis of their sexual orientation. And the people who are writing these endorsements are the editors and publishers of Vegas' gay magazines as well as some of our most significant activists.

Oh, and ENDA hasn't passed. In fact, you might recall this:


Eight out-of-town activists were arrested in July stopping traffic on the Strip trying to light a fire under Reid's ass to get a vote in the Senate for ENDA.

It hasn't happened.

What's even more confusing about this is that the same group included the same erroneous claim in their endorsement of Reid in the primary in May. They were publicly rebuked for that then, too, by Mark Ciavola, a conservative gay activist who blogs at RightPride.Org.

There are two other curiosities in these endorsements:

• I was unaware incumbent Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki was "for our issues," especially when Nevada Impact's 2006 endorsements indicated the Republican supported banning gay marriage in 2002 by signing the anti-gay-marriage pledge. That's the same pledge that the endorsers this year specifically refuse to forgive Brian Sandoval for signing even though the Republican gubernatorial front-runner says he supported the domestic partnership law that passed last year.
• I'd like someone to show me the quote where Republican CD3 candidate Dr. Joe Heck said he doesn't believe HIV causes AIDS. I don't buy that one.

Mostly, though, I don't get how they credit Harry Reid for passing ENDA ... again. Embellishing his record seems unnecessary given the opposition, so what gives? They want these endorsements to be taken seriously, right?