As the Nov. 7 election quickly approaches, a Republican incumbent known for opposing gay rights is running a television ad touting support from two gay Atlantans, a lesbian candidate fights an uphill battle for a seat in the State House, and Gov. Sonny Perdue continues to trumpet his support for banning gay marriage.
State Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine gained infamy among gay Georgians when he waged a protracted campaign against domestic partner benefits, including preventing the city of Atlanta from implementing its domestic partner benefits policy in the late 1990s.
But in Oxendine’s recent campaign commercials, two prominent gay Atlanta residents laud the Republican incumbent as a “hero” and “a public servant who remembers to serve the public.” The ad does not identify either of the two men as gay.
Lee Anisman, a gay physician in Midtown, said he agreed to appear in the campaign commercials because of his “amazingly positive experiences” working with Oxendine on behalf of Anisman’s clients living with HIV/AIDS.
“[Oxendine’s office] made it clear to me that they don’t care whether my patients are black, white, Asian, gay, purple or green — they’re all going to be treated fairly,” Anisman said. “They’ve just done above and beyond the letter of the law for everybody … and our patients who he’s helped have been astounded by what he’s done.”
Anisman said he first contacted Oxendine’s office in 2001, when insurance provider United Healthcare refused to pay for medications and lab tests for several of Anisman’s HIV-positive patients. Anisman went to Oxendine’s office “cautiously optimistic,” and said he was “pleasantly surprised” by the response he received.
“He basically got all the directors from United Healthcare to fly down from Minnesota to meet with us and find out what’s going on,” Anisman said. “He came down on them with a sledgehammer.”
Anisman said he also remembers when one of his gay clients left his job with the city of Atlanta due to HIV-related disability in 1997, and the city refused to continue the man’s insurance policy. Years later, Oxendine ordered the city to pay for the patient’s insurance retroactively, “and he had insurance until the day he passed away,” Anisman said.
Oxendine also fought insurance companies to cover hormone treatment for people living with HIV/AIDS, and helped convince Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Georgia to accept more than 100 HIV-positive Georgians who lost insurance after their insurance company stopped operating, Anisman said.
Oxendine’s record on HIV/AIDS issues dwarfs any negative impact he caused by opposing domestic partner benefits for gay and lesbian couples, Anisman said.
“If you scale the two things out, you can’t even compare,” Anisman said.
But other gay activists remain unwilling to embrace Oxendine.
“A candidate who discriminates against us doesn’t deserve to be helped,” said veteran gay rights activist Larry Pellegrini. “Even if you believe an unsupportive candidate is otherwise competent, let them get elected without your help.”
For years after the city of Atlanta approved domestic partner benefits, Oxendine rejected requests from the city’s four insurance providers seeking to offer domestic partner coverage.
After a Fulton County judge rebuked his actions in 1999 as being “arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion and not in accordance with the law,” Oxendine said DP benefits violate the “basic morality” of the state of Georgia.
Paul Zucca, a gay Grant Park resident who is active in the Fulton County and Georgia Democratic parties, said he was unaware of Oxendine’s attempts to block DP benefits when he agreed to appear in the televised campaign ad.
“I don’t remember those circumstances, but maybe if I was clearer on those circumstances, I might’ve stayed silent,” said Zucca, who nevertheless had high praise for Oxendine.
The charter school Zucca’s son attends caught fire a few years ago, and the school’s supporters fought with its insurance company for two years trying to get the claim settled before taking their case to Oxendine, Zucca said. Oxendine ordered the insurance company executives to meet with him and officials from the charter school, and each side explained their case, Zucca recalled.
“Two days later, we had our full check, the issue was taken care of, and we were able to pay our bills,” Zucca said. “Without [Oxendine’s help] those 320 students wouldn’t be in school today — we wouldn’t have survived.”
The state’s largest gay rights group skipped over the Insurance Commissioner’s race — where Oxendine is being challenged by Democrat Guy Drexinger — but continues to consider Oxendine an opponent of equality.
“Oxendine has been a bitter enemy of gay people in the past,” said Kathleen Womack, chair of the political board of Georgia Equality.
Georgia Equality is also a bit under fire for one of its endorsements, as the organization this week finalized its endorsement of Bill Loughery, a Republican, in his bid to unseat Fulton County Commissioner Robb Pitts, a Democrat.
The Georgia Equality political board voted to endorse Loughery a few weeks ago, but waited to formalize the endorsement until it received a signed pledge from Loughery indicating he will not introduce anti-gay legislation or repeal gay-friendly policies, Womack said.
Another of Georgia Equality’s endorsed candidates is entering the final weeks of her campaign to become the second open lesbian to serve in the Georgia House of Representatives. Melanie Eyre continues knocking on doors, calling her neighbors and writing letters to voters in what many consider an uphill battle to unseat incumbent Rep. Jan Jones (R-Alpharetta) in House District 46.
“It’s been a journey, and I’m learning a lot as I go,” Eyre said. “I’m getting a lot of good responses from folks who are Republican or swing voters who say they’re going to support me after having a conversation.”
Jones’s conservative credentials include speaking in favor of a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage. Jones did not respond to interview requests by press time.
Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue again touted his anti-gay stances in a second direct-mail piece to conservative voters. Appearing alongside Perry McGuire, the Republican candidate for attorney general, Perdue highlights his support for a banning same-sex marriage in the mailer.
Pellegrini characterized Perdue’s latest mailer as gratuitous.
“I think we get the message — Perdue doesn’t like gay people,” he said.
Ryan Lee can be reached at rlee@sovo.com.
