ABOVE: Jim Obergefell, photo via the Obergefell campaign’s Facebook page.
Civil rights activist Jim Obergefell, lead plaintiff in the 2015 U.S. Supreme Court case that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide, lost his bid for the Ohio Legislature 61.7% to 38.3% to Republican opponent D.J. Swearingen.
Obergefell’s defeat, however, is no indication of the extent to which his candidacy was viable, said Geoff Wetrosky, campaign director for the Human Rights Campaign, America’s largest LGBTQ organization.
Ohioans passed a constitutional amendment that was supposed to make redistricting a fairer process, but Republicans who oversaw that process flouted those new guidelines and even ignored a ruling from the Ohio Supreme Court that struck down their newly redrawn districts, Wetrosky told the Washington Blade on Tuesday.
“It was despicable what happened,” he said.
LGBTQ Victory Fund and LGBTQ Victory Institute President & CEO Annise Parker, who formerly served as mayor of Houston, having become the first LGBTQ mayor of a major American city, agreed with Wetrosky’s assessment of Obergefell’s race.
Parker told the Blade by phone that she estimates the unfair redistricting in Ohio was 90% responsible for Obergefell’s failure to capture the state legislature seat.
“The results were not what we were hoping for, but that does not mean I will stop fighting,” Obergefell said in a statement following his electoral defeat. “I will always be a champion for all Ohioans, and I will continue to fight for the issues that matter the most to our district.”
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