By Joseph A. Gambardello
Inquirer Staff Writer
The three candidates seeking the Democratic nomination for State Sen. Vincent J. Fumo's seat are hoping to win the homosexual vote through a mix of personal connections and support for gay-friendly initiatives.
Their efforts, in turn, underscore the political influence of the gay community in the diverse First District, which stretches from Port Richmond to Philadelphia International Airport and includes Center City.
Two of the candidates - Anne Dicker and Larry Farnese - support gay marriage. John J. Dougherty says he is in favor of civil unions but would back legislation "to extend marriage to same-sex couples."
All three have promised to fight any effort to pass a constitutional amendment defining marriage as existing only between a man and a woman and say they back legislation banning discrimination based on sexual orientation.
Their positions mirror those of Fumo, who has sponsored antidiscrimination legislation and voted against measures seeking to ban same-sex marriage.
For Dougherty, leader of the city's electricians union, his awakening to gay rights is contained in a personal narrative he related to the Liberty City Lesbian and Gay Democratic Club at a forum that his opponents also attended last week.
According to Dougherty, gay-rights issues took on a greater meaning when his daughter Erin came out as a lesbian two years ago.
"I'm hugging her, she's my daughter," he said in describing the scene.
"We're going to live this together," Dougherty said he told his daughter, who is director of special projects at the Philadelphia Electrical and Technology Charter High School.
In a written response to the club's questionnaire, Dougherty, 47, said he grew up believing marriage was a "religious joining of a man and a woman," but that he had come to question that after his daughter came out and he was invited to the wedding in the fall of Micah Mahjoubian, his campaign operations director and a member of the Liberty City board.
Dougherty even has produced campaign stickers aimed at the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community featuring the rainbow flag.
Dicker, 35, described herself as a "bisexual woman married to a man" and said her "commitment to the LGBT community runs to the core of my political being."
She said her career as an activist began in the early 1990s when she was co-chair of Middlebury College's LGBT group.
Her former organization, Philly for Change, also has worked with Liberty City on various issues, Dicker said.
At the Liberty City forum, Farnese, 39, who is single and straight, spoke of "our issues" and how, if elected, he planned to travel to other parts of the state to make his case.
"I supported our cause with my time and my money," he said after talking about working with Liberty City to unseat conservative Republican U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum.
"Your issues are my issues, are our issues," said the Center City lawyer, whose campaign manager is a former co-chair of Liberty City.
Mark Segal, editor and publisher of the Philadelphia Gay News, said, "The gay vote can be the difference between winning and losing."
"An active gay community goes to the polls and we're highly registered," he said.
On other issues, the three candidates agreed with the city's effort to evict the Boy Scouts Cradle of Liberty Council from a city-owned building on the Parkway because of the scouts' ban on homosexuals. But Farnese and Dougherty make a point of noting that the scouts have done good work.
The candidates also support abortion rights, although Dougherty said that as a Catholic he personally opposed abortion.
Liberty City is slated to hold its endorsement meeting Monday.
| 
