The Bay Times asked its contributors to weigh in on key election issues and races. We have compiled the results below. As the first LGBT newspaper in the Bay Area to be published by both lesbians and gays, the Bay Times has always covered diverse interests and viewpoints. Our team includes people from the farthest left of the political spectrum to close-to-the-far-right. We all respect each other’s views, however, and are dedicated to furthering the core basic rights of our community. While at least one of our contributors has voted for Romney, the majority of our team is hoping for another four years of the Obama administration- with economic recovery, marriage equality, environmental concerns and other pressing matters high on our list of political priorities.
Here are the questions our contributors were asked:

Who are you supporting in your home area for supervisor or city council? (While some of our contributors live outside of SF and the East Bay, we decided to focus on those regions due to the multiple responses pertaining to those areas. If a district/race isn’t listed, it’s because we received few or no responses for it.)

San Francisco

District 1: Eric Mar

District 3: David Chiu

District 5: Christina Olague (first pick), John Rizzo (second), London Breed (third)

Comment from one of the many who chose Olague: “I like her, her background (community organizing/central valley) and her engagement in our community giving prominence to the B in LGBT.�

District 7: Joel Engardio

District 9: David Campos

District 11: John Avalos

Rafael Mandelman for SF Community College Board

Oakland

Ignacio De La Fuente

Comment: “He supports curfews, gang injunctions and more feet (police) on the street which I agree with in Oakland. Our city has the highest violent crime rate in CA and the 3rd highest crime rate in the U.S. We voted in taxes for 830 police and we only have 600.â€�
Noel Gallo

Rebecca Kaplan

Comment from one of our male contributors: “I’m supporting every out lesbian running for office because I think, for the most part, women are better leaders than men.�

Barbara Parker for City Attorney

San Francisco Ballot Measures

Yes on A, B, C, D, E and G

No on F

State Ballot Measures

Yes on Propositions 30, 34, 36, 37 and 40

Regarding 37, one respondent wrote: “I want to know if my food is genetically modified. If it’s safe to eat, then it’s the responsibility of companies like Monsanto, Dupont, DOW, BASF, and Bayer to convince me that it is. As it is, they have given more than 17 million dollars to fight this proposition. What are they trying to hide? If this food is really safe, then it wouldn’t hurt their profits if it were labeled.â€�

No on Propositions 31, 32, 33, 35, 38 and 39

We also asked Bay Times contributors to list candidates in national or local races who will best represent LGBTQ issues. The majority named:

Tammy Baldwin (Wisconsin Senate race)

Mark Leno (CA Senate)

Tom Ammiano (CA State Assembly)

Kyrsten Sinema (Arizona Congress race)

Finally, since the majority of our team is pro-Obama, we asked why—outside of LGBTQ issues—he should remain in office. A response came in as follows:

“I support his re-election because he is a real life, middle class person who rose up by studying, being intelligent and believing in helping others. He is not ridiculously rich like his opponent, who is way too out-of-touch to understand what it’s like to have to pay back student loans. I also support him because of his position on women’s issues, like the right to make decisions about our own bodies. I support him because of the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. Personally I think there should be a law that states that equal pay for equal work is required regardless of sex or gender, but it’s a step in the right direction.â€�

So there you have it. Whatever your political views are, be sure to express them at the polls on November 6, Election Day, if you have not already voted absentee.