Can Tammy Baldwin become America's first openly gay senator?

The first out-of-the-closet lesbian elected to Congress is now running for one of Wisconsin's Senate seats

Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.)
(Image credit: Facebook/Tammy Baldwin)

Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) announced on Tuesday that she's running for the Senate seat held by retiring Democrat Herb Kohl. If she wins, Baldwin will be the first openly gay senator in U.S. history. When Baldwin won her first congressional term in 1998, she was the first openly gay politician to be elected to the House — Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) was the first congressman to voluntarily come out, but he did so in his fourth term. Will Baldwin's sexuality matter in her Senate race?

She can win, but it won't be easy: Baldwin's campaign announcement focused on her policies, from her promise to fight for the middle class to her vote against the Iraq war, says Dave Weigel at Slate. But make no mistake: At some point, the fact that she would be America's first openly gay senator will become a factor. Baldwin may be in a slightly better position than a gay man would be — "multiple studies have shown that people are marginally less biased against lesbians than they are against gay men" — but she's still sure to face some opposition from the 48 percent of Americans who view lesbians unfavorably.

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