Religious right candidate defeated in Colorado Springs

A far-right candidate with a long history of anti-gay activism has lost his bid to become the mayor of Colorado Springs, the backyard of radio broadcaster James Dobson's Focus on the Family and a host of other Religious Right groups.

Will Perkins, the founder of Colorado for Family Values, was defeated by incumbent Mary Lou Makepeace by nearly 10,000 votes on April 6. Perkins authored Colorado's anti-gay Amendment 2, a constitutional amendment that was approved by the voters but ultimately struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court.

In addition, an incumbent city council member who was aligned with the Religious Right lost his seat. Dawson Hubert finished fifth in a race for four open council seats. Hubert had opposed a plan to rename a highway bypass in honor of Martin Luther King and twice tried to change the city's Zero Tolerance for Discrimination resolution, which says that Colorado Springs denounces "discrimination of a racial, ethnic, sexual or religious nature."

Observed Richard Conway of Citizens Project, a local pro-tolerance group, "Following last November's national elections, Gary Bauer, head of the Family Research Council, a Focus on the Family spin-off, and Christian Coalition head Randy Tate claimed many right-wing candidates lost because they were not clear enough on the `profamily' agenda and therefore failed to excite the conservative Christian voters, who stayed home. However, local candidates Hubert and Perkins are well known for their right-wing views. Their defeats at the polls were not due to their constituents staying home, but to the fact that the majority of Colorado Springs' residents want to live in a community that upholds the traditional American values of diversity, pluralism and separation of church and state."

Gay bashing may not be as popular with conservative Christians as some Religious Right leaders seem to think. A public opinion poll released in May by the Gay & Lesbian Victory Foundation found that 70 percent of fundamentalist Christians thought it should be illegal to fire people from their jobs just because they are gay. Sixty-four percent also said they would consider voting for gay candidates for office based on the candidates' stands on the issues.

Meanwhile, Colorado for Family Values is struggling to come up with a new message. In April the organization put together a 1999 strategic plan, copies of which were obtained by Citizens Project and the news media. To deflect charges of "homophobia," group supporters plan to start calling themselves "homoseptic," meaning they are "free from the evil influence of homosexual behavior."