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Indianapolis-- The Greater Indianapolis Fairness Alliance has developed a Voters' Guide for the city-county council election to be held on November 4, 2003.

For the first time in Indianapolis history, the City-County Council candidates were sent a questionnaire concerning GLBT issues that could be addressed by the council. A Voters' Guide has been developed out of the responses to that questionnaire.

This year the GLBT community has the opportunity to have a huge impact on the election results. This is due to two reasons: First, the redistricting of Marion County due to the 2000 census resulted in new districts for all candidates and there are only 18 incumbents running. Secondly, since the election involves no national offices, voter turnout is expected to be low. It is projected that in at least 6 districts the margin for election could be less than 6 percent and could be as low as 170 votes. A large GLBT turnout can make the difference in any of these races.

The candidates were scored based on their response to 7 questions. They were given additional points for GLBT organizations that they were aware of. The questions did not relate to global GLBT issues, rather they related only to issues that they as City County Councilors might deal with and vote on.

The Voters' Guide, which includes each candidate's comments and specific scores on questions, can be found on the GIFA web site at www.indyfairness.org.

The questions that were asked involved the candidate's support and sponsorship of ordinances on five issues: 1) An ordinance that would forbid discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation/gender identity for City employees; 2) A Human Rights Ordinance for Indianapolis that would add "sexual orientation/gender identity" to the categories that are protected against discrimination; 3) An ordinance that would make available health care benefits for domestic partners of City employees; 4) An initiative that would authorize the City County Council to work with IPS and Charter Schools to provide a safe environment for gay youth; and 5) a City registration for domestic partners.

All Marion County residents are urged to look for your district to see where your candidates stand. If there is no score listed, that candidate chose not to respond to the questionnaire even after numerous attempts to contact them and remind them to do so. This is seen as an indication of their lack of support or understanding of GLBT issues. Some candidates in answering the survey raised their own questions indicating that they were unaware of some of our issues. A low score on the survey was usually not an indication of an anti-GLBT stance as much as a an indication that a need for specific information and education is needed.

Individuals within the GLBT community are asked to share this information with others and to post it where it will be seen by other members of the community.

The Greater Indianapolis Fairness Alliance is a local educational and non-partisan political action organization. It has evolved out of the political action generated last summer when City-County Councilor Karen Horseman introduced the Domestic Partnership Ordinance. Although the ordinance was not passed out of committee, the turnout of the GLBT community at the hearing was a turning point in the GLBT community's involvement in politics. GIFA was formed so that our community can begin to lead the efforts for legal equity and to end the community's crisis response to both political progress and potential negative backlash.

During the past year interested individuals, many from various organizations, came together during three community meetings to develop four committees. The committees worked on a structure for the organization, on methods to communicate our goals, on education of the GLBT community and the community at large, and finally on a political impact strategy. The strategy for 2003 was to impact the city-county council races and electing candidates who will be supportive of GLBT issues. GIFA has also conducted voter registration at many events throughout the spring and summer.

Some individuals are actively working on candidate's campaigns. It is not too late to call the candidate in your district and volunteer your time.