Yesterday a supposed expert on the LGBT movement told a federal court the Victory Fund’s recent success electing its openly LGBT endorsees means the community enjoys real political power in the U.S.  Claremont McKenna College professor Kenneth P. Miller was testifying for the defense, which aims to prove California’s Prop 8 is constitutional.

As many have pointed out, plaintiff’s attorney David Boies destroyed Miller in cross-examination, exposing him as quick study who’d been fed talking points by defense counsel rather than an expert on LGBT political power.  But what about Miller’s assertion regarding the Victory Fund’s candidates?  In recent years, Miller said, the Victory Fund helped elect a clear majority of its endorsees.  But does that mean openly LGBT candidates are easily elected today?  And does it follow that we are well-represented in the halls of power?

Let’s start with where we’re really at.  Today some 460 openly LGBT elected officials are serving at all levels of government.  Are there many, many more who are serving while NOT open about their sexual orientation or gender identity?  Yes, without a doubt.  But because those people were elected while closeted and choose to remain quiet about who they are, they don’t really add to any authentic picture of true LGBT political power.

So, does 460 sound impressive?  Maybe, until you learn there are more than 511,000 elective offices in the U.S, meaning openly LGBT officeholders make up just one tenth of one percent of all elected officials in the country.  If you believe even the lowest estimates of the numbers of people who are LGBT, it becomes clear the community is vastly underrepresented in electoral politics.

Just three of 535 members of Congress are openly gay or lesbian–again, a serious underrepresentation.  Twenty states have no openly LGBT lawmakers in their state legislatures, including large states like Texas, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida, and six of those have no out elected officials anywhere at any level of government.

Yes, Houston now has an open lesbian as its mayor, but Annise Parker’s election did not happen in a vacuum.  It happened because for 12 years she sought and won progressively higher office with the help of the Victory Fund and a dedicated base of supporters who had to fight anti-gay attacks and make sure she outraised and outworked her opponents.

The truth is the Victory Fund is endorsing more candidates and its win rate is impressive among political action committees, but it is absurd to suggest the LGBT community has already reached some sort of parity with the straight political establishment.  LGBT elected officials are authentic voices for equality and true champions for their community in the legislative bodies in which they serve, but we are a long way away from a political climate in which being open about one’s sexual orientation is no longer a barrier to winning public office.  A real expert on the LGBT movement would know that.