Milwaukee's Human Rights League Political Action Committee (HRL-PAC) was at PrideFest June 7 with a candidates forum again, this time for mayor of the city of Milwaukee. Compared to the days when HRL-PAC sponsored a mayoral forum and no candidates showed up, we have progressed significantly. The candidates who participated were supportive. But still, there was something altogether too easy about it all. No hesitations. No concerns. No problems. No difference in programs or approaches. No disagreements with each other. No different formulations. Just a big Hooray! Made your day! kind of talk. The candidates clearly needed to have gone to LGBT school to get a more complete understanding of the issues, and how our needs might be met.

That is not to say their intentions weren't good. I think they were, and it certainly looked to me like those who participated were committed to caring. They were State Representative Pedro Colón, business woman Sandy Folaron, city employee Martin Matson, and Alderman Marvin Pratt. Alderman Tom Nardelli informed PrideFest he would be out of town that day, and former U.S. Rep. Tom Barrett, who announced his mayoral bid that very day, did not attend.

If the candidates did not clearly distinguish themselves on LGBT issues, they did to judge by repeated phrases, and their short introductory comments have their own take on city politics in general. Pedro Colón was clearly the progressive candidate, urging that representatives of all peoples should sit down at the table to discuss how to put this city together. He emphasized health care, safety, and basic dignity; and saw great possibilities in Milwaukee with its historic roots in progressive policies like unemployment compensation and progressive taxation. He urged that we not shy away from this heritage in advancing the LGBT agenda.

Businesswoman Sandy Folaron approached city issues in terms of neighborhood and commercial development. A small business owner (The Great Milwaukee Coffee Company), Folaron has developed both a marketing plan and a strategic plan for city development, with a strong emphasis on neighborhood development. Active in her neighborhood association, Folaron was active in seeing that the Washington Heights Rainbow Association has a representative on the neighborhood board. She also noted that she included her home in the Gay Parade of Homes. Although taxes were not directly addressed, Folaron pointed out that she would keep property taxes low.

Martin Matson frequently referred to the need to have an open and honest government, with no surprises, making sure that government is transparent and residents have knowledge of whats going on. Humble in his own manner, Matson was the one candidate who most directly referred (by code) to the current mayor, John Norquist, noting for example that he was running against arrogance, a notion that one might say has resonance both nationally and locally. It is the purpose of the mayor's office, he believes, to focus the city on the tasks it must undertake.

Marvin Pratt was clearly the one most adept at working the audience, laughing here, being humble there, admitting that he did not know enough about the LGBT communities (though in a most un-humble posture)! Pratt's priorities included fighting off the state legislature, where the Republican majority has been outright hostile and skewed in its treatment of Milwaukee; domestic partners; financing for the police department and meeting the city's safety concerns; good jobs; and livable neighborhoods.

On LGBT issues, however, mayoral candidates expressing the caring approach without the subtlety and nuances of real politics are inadequate for today, although they might have been adequate for an earlier time when LGBTs had to scramble for almost any public support. The day has come when we must ask candidates for a more thorough knowledge of LGBT issues, needs, and priorities before we vote.

We have good reason to be skeptical of mayoral candidates who do not actively pursue and take into account LGBT issues. We have seen obvious hate crimes neglected. We have been victims of domestic violence that has not adequately been addressed. We have law enforcement officials who spurn our rights under the Constitution and the law. We have inadequate health information and services. We have continuing job discrimination.

We have good reason to insist that mayoral candidates provide concrete steps to remove discrimination in health benefits. Today we are penalized, unable to obtain the same benefits and accept the same responsibilities as married couples who work for the city. Even where these benefits have been extended in city employment, the qualifying procedures are invasive. Domestic partners must, for example, prove their relationship, as married couples do not have to do; they must pay a special fee; and most distressing they cannot cover their children because the city refuses to cover the children of domestic partners.

We pay taxes, we have helped revitalize neighborhoods, and we have contributed significantly to the economic and cultural life of Milwaukee. Yet our communities have been only minimally the recipients of city funding and city leveraging of funding.

Most telling, if not the most distressing when it comes to assessing the dignity and status of our communities, is that we have an LGBT liaison in the mayor's office who is absolutely hidden from view, so much so in fact that many in our communities have not known that such a liaison even exists.

In their presentations, all candidates supported an initiative that would make the liaison visible and accessible to the LGBT communities. They supported a more equitable domestic partners contract. They addressed police and safety issues in general. And they understood that health issues are significant for our communities, including issues related to suicide, depression, alcohol and other drug abuse, breast cancer and HIV/AIDS. So far to the good.

Colón and Folaron in particular emphasized bringing our communities in to sit down at the table, suggesting an accessibility that has not previously been forthcoming. In the absence of a genuine political debate at the forum, we should take the winner up on this suggestion, even though it is after we vote.

The last pledge of the day for the mayoral candidates was that they each would support meeting face-to-face with representatives of the LGBT communities to discuss the substance of our agendas, and would require that various department heads, including those from Police and from Health, be there as well. They all agreed this would happen within the first six months of their term.

Let's go for a little community organizing and get ready for that meeting, with some of our people both old and new. Get substantive agendas together. Make an appointment with the new mayor and his or her department heads. Sit down, talk, and work it out. Yeah!