Georgia Republican Karen Handel, who is locked in a tight runoff race to represent Georgia’s 6th Congressional district, has repeatedly and intentionally misled voters about her record on LGBTQ rights in an attempt to appeal to anti-equality voters.
When Handel ran for Fulton County Commission Chair in 2002, she courted the LGBTQ community, joining the Georgia Log Cabin Republicans and backing domestic partnership rights.
But by 2010 (the beginning of her string of failed campaigns), Handel was denying it all, claiming that she was “absolutely” against the right of gay couples to adopt children, denouncing same-sex marriage, and opposing federal domestic partner benefits.
And she repeatedly denied ever being a member of the Georgia Log Cabin Republicans. When the group provided proof of her membership—including emails and a member list—PolitiFact gave her a “Pants on Fire” rating for her obvious lie. Still, she kept denying.
Well, we found more evidence proving that Handel was a member of the conservative LGBTQ organization, no matter what she tries to say now.
In July 2006, when Handel was running for secretary of state, Georgia-based conservative commentator Erick Erickson posted on his blog a questionnaire that Handel had filled out for the LGBTQ rights group Georgia Equality during her 2002 Fulton County Commission campaign. Erickson wrote that the questionnaire “could potentially give some socialcons some major qualms about voting for Karen.”
The questionnaire no longer appears on Erickson’s website, but we found a copy. Here you go:
Handel wrote that in addition to having “numerous gay and lesbian friends,” she was “a member of the Log Cabin Republicans and participated in this year’s Pride Weekend.” When asked if she supported “legislation to provide domestic partner benefits to Fulton County employees,” Handel answered: “Yes.”
It’s perfectly clear that Handel claimed to support the rights of LGBTQ Georgians in an effort to win an election back in 2002. Unfortunately, it’s just as clear that she was willing to throw them overboard when that position became politically inconvenient.
