With
expected
fights
over
gay
adoption
and
hate
crimes
legislation
looming,
next
year’s
General
Assembly
session
may
feature
fresh
faces
from
both
sides
of
the
political
spectrum.
The
freshman
class
could
include
Jan
Hackney,
the
mother
of
a
gay
son
and
recent
recipient
of
AIDS
Survival
Project’s
Volunteer
of
the
Year
Award.
It
could
also
include
Nancy
Schaefer,
founder
of
the
conservative
lobby
Family
Concerns,
who
has
fought
gay
rights
on
the
state
and
local
level
for
almost
two
decades.
And
in
two
DeKalb
County
races,
a
pair
of
gay-friendly
attorneys
seeking
their
first
elected
office
face
two
Republicans
likely
to
vote
against
gay
issues
—
one
a
former
state
legislator
who
supports
banning
gay
marriage,
and
the
other
an
attorney
who
once
wrote
that
he
should
not
be
made
a
“criminal”
if
he
chooses
to
fire
an
employee
based
on
sexual
orientation.
With
Republicans
fighting
to
retain
control
of
the
state
Senate
and
take
control
of
the
state
House,
gay
political
pundits
said
the
Nov.
2
election
could
shape
the
coming
decades
for
gay
and
lesbian
Georgians.
“There
certainly
is
the
potential
for
there
to
be
a
few
more
progressives
[in
the
General
Assembly],
but
many
of
the
conservative
candidates
are
more
conservative
than
we
would
like
to
see,”
said
Larry
Pellegrini,
a
veteran
gay
lobbyist
at
the
state
Capitol.
“Until
election
day,
it
will
be
hard
to
tell
which
way
the
legislature
is
going
to
tip.”
Nearly
every
day
of
this
year’s
legislative
session,
Sadie
Fields,
chair
of
the
Christian
Coalition
of
Georgia,
walked
the
halls
of
the
state
Capitol,
endlessly
lobbying
lawmakers
to
pass
a
constitutional
ban
on
gay
marriages.
Pellegrini
fears
gay
men
and
lesbians
may
face
a
similar
battle
inside
the
legislative
chambers
next
year
if
Republican
Nancy
Schaefer
is
elected
to
represent
state
House
District
50,
which
includes
Habersham
and
Hart
counties.
“She
was
the
Sadie
Fields
of
the
‘80s
and
‘90s,”
Pellegrini
said.
“If
it
was
anti-gay,
she
was
there,
so
it’s
unsettling
to
think
we
very
well
may
be
facing
her
every
day
in
the
General
Assembly.”
Schaefer
did
not
respond
to
repeated
interview
requests.
A
former
candidate
for
state
senate,
lieutenant
governor
and
mayor
of
Atlanta,
Schaefer
opposed
the
creation
of
domestic
partner
benefits
for
city
of
Atlanta
employees,
and
advocated
sex
education
that
treated
homosexuality
as
a
mental
deficiency,
Pellegrini
said.
Her
campaign
Web
site
is
peppered
with
endorsements
of
gay
marriage
bans
and
calls
for
“judicial
limitation
legislation”
to
curb
“judicial
tyranny.”
“We
are
at
a
pivotal
juncture
in
this
country,”
Schaefer
wrote
on
the
Web
site.
“Warnings
are
everywhere
and
the
storm
clouds
have
gathered.
We
have
sat
on
the
sidelines
while
Creator
God,
our
very
strength
and
protection,
has
been
removed
from
our
schools,
our
market
place
and
our
government.”
Schaefer’s
primary
opponent
tried
unsuccessfully
to
paint
her
as
too
extreme,
but
voters
still
have
some
reservations
about
her
arch-conservative
positions,
according
to
Charles
Bullock,
a
political
science
professor
at
the
University
of
Georgia.
“Some
people
I
have
talked
to
up
there
were
put
off
by
her,
and
they
were
Republicans,”
Bullock
said.
“She
may
be
a
bit
too
conservative
for
some
folks.”
Schaefer,
who
has
been
endorsed
by
retiring
U.S.
Sen.
Zell
Miller
(D-Ga.),
should
win
the
District
50
seat
if
she
gets
anywhere
near
what
a
Republican
is
expected
to
get
in
that
district,
Bullock
said.
But
Democrat
Bob
Stowe
has
made
a
strong
pitch
to
moderate
voters.
Stowe,
an
elementary
school
principal,
did
not
respond
to
interview
requests.
He
also
supports
a
heterosexual
definition
of
marriage,
according
to
the
Northeast
Georgian
newspaper.
“Although
he
doesn’t
profess
any
pro-gay
attitudes,
he’s
not
a
basher,”
Pellegrini
said
of
Stowe.
“He
would
be
part
of
a
Democratic
majority
and
indebted
to
the
party
for
helping
him
get
there.”
Mansell
McCord,
president
of
the
Georgia
Log
Cabin
Republicans,
a
gay
GOP
group,
said
Schaefer
and
Stowe
were
symbols
of
how
far
both
parties
still
need
to
go
in
educating
their
members
about
gay
issues.
“We’ve
got
plenty
of
folks
within
both
political
parties
that
we
need
to
continue
to
work
on,”
McCord
said.
A
crop
of
new
candidates
enthusiastically
embraced
gay-friendly
positions,
and
said
they
are
eager
to
add
their
voices
to
those
championing
full
equality
for
gay
and
lesbian
Georgians.
“Frankly
the
GLBT
community
has
become
...
