By Karen Ocamb

For the past year or so we have printed a quiet little feature in the National News section listing the number of U.S. dead and wounded in Iraq, the estimated Iraqi dead, the cost of the war, the National Debt and the U.S. Trade Deficit. It is a simple reminder that we live in a larger world—and in a troubled America—where our LGBT movement for equal rights competes for attention with an unpopular war of choice, an economy racing into recession, an environment on the brink of crisis and crumbling healthcare and education systems.

“This is preeminently the time to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly. Nor need we shrink from honestly facing conditions in our country today. This great nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper. So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror, which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.”

Those were the stirring words of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt during his inaugural address in 1933, as he tried to give hope to a country mired in the Great Depression.

But that president and that America didn’t face an unstable, nuclear-armed Pakistan, well-funded religious fundamentalists, global climate change or a country whose leaders blatantly shredded civil liberties while inching towards a theocracy.

Our fears are not nameless and unjustified: We fear the loss of habeas corpus, a constitutional right suspended by President Bush and justified by the Justice Department in the name of the “war on terror.” Right now, if the president or his representatives determine you are in some way a threat to national security, you could be “disappeared”—picked up, spirited away and jailed somewhere with no right to a phone call, a lawyer, or even knowing the charges against you.

We also fear that America will be stained with cover-ups of torture and rendition, practices that once were anathema. And we fear that economic and social inequality will be forever etched into our laws in the name of someone else’s Christian beliefs.

These are just some of the terrible truths from which we must not shrink if this country is to endure, revive and prosper.

That’s why this year’s presidential election is so important. The next president will be responsible for steering this potential Titanic ship of state away from any more calamitous icebergs and repair the damage to our once-invincible hull of principles, strength and diplomacy.

But let us exalt as well in the salient fact that for the first time in our history, a woman and an African-American are serious, viable presidential candidates. They typify a country hungry for “change,” weary of dominant Republicans beholden to over-bearing anti-gay evangelicals. And with no incumbent to back, the race for the GOP nomination is wide open and emerging as a contest to define the soul of the Republican Party.

So where do we fit in? The LGBT community spans the political, economic and social spectrum, from ultra-conservatives to radical anarchists. Some of us may decide that a candidate’s solution for fixing the economy or position on national security is more important than a platform that includes blatant homophobia. Others will only vote for a candidate who supports our full equality.

But what we all agree upon is that it is simply unfair that we are singled out and often targeted for legal discrimination based solely on whom we love.

The right wing would have mainstream voters believe that this is the whine of victim-hood—that we want “special rights.” We say we want nothing more than equal rights: the right to marry the one we love; the right to serve and even die for the country we love; the right to be hired and promoted based on merit, not be refused or fired because of our sexual orientation or gender identity or expression. We want—we demand—the rights and responsibilities of full citizenship.

But right now the terrible truth is that, as LGBT people, the only real claim we have to full equality is when we cast our ballot. In the privacy of that voting booth, we declare who we think is best suited to run the country. And as we have seen repeatedly in the past several elections, every vote—including ours—counts.

In California, and in Los Angeles in particular, LGBT votes are incredibly important. We are the second largest and most loyal group in the national Democratic Party; roughly 75 percent of LGBT people vote Democratic. In the 2004 exit poll, gays were 4 percent of the vote. But in Los Angeles, that number jumped to 8 percent who self-identified as LGBT voters. With more and more young LGBT people coming out and more LGBT people becoming politically involved, that number may rise yet again.

But we must demand that, too. Right now pollsters and the mainstream media consider us as “issues,” not a distinct social minority, making it easier for candidates to dodge our questions and elected officials to ignore our struggle in the name of political expedience. So it is imperative that we be counted! Please call or e-mail the editors of mainstream newspapers and broadcast outlets to insist that they include gay people in their exit polling.

In this issue of IN Los Angeles magazine, we give you a glimpse into the positions of some of the presidential candidates who are on the Feb. 5 California Primary ballot. But we implore you to do some homework of your own to help you make a better-informed choice. Check out www.cnn.com/politics for up-to-date information and profiles. And check out www.blackaids.org for Phill Wilson’s reports on the candidates’ positions on HIV/AIDS.

But most importantly, please exercise your right as a free LGBT American citizen and vote. You life may one day depend upon it.

Karen Ocamb is news editor of IN Los Angeles magazine.

Something in the news got you fired up? Write, or suggest, an opinion piece by e-mailing us at letters@inlamag.com