The Arizona state legislature is likely to keep its five-member caucus of openly LGBT lawmakers after important primary elections Tuesday night.

Jack Jackson, Jr., a member of the Navajo Nation, was the top vote-getter in a three-way race for a seat in the Arizona Senate.  He would join State Sen. Paula Aboud, an out lesbian, Sen. Robert Meza, who is openly gay, and primary winner Kyrsten Sinema, an openly bisexual member of the State House who is likely to move up to the Senate.

In 2005, Jackson, a former member of the State House, was appointed by Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano as the Executive Director of the Arizona Commission of Indian Affairs.  In April 2000, he was appointed by Secretary Donna Shalala to serve on President Clinton’s Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS.   Today Jackson serves on the Navajo Nation Gaming Enterprise Board and the Obama Administration has selected him to once again serve on the President’s Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS.

In other primary races Tuesday, Steve Howard, an openly gay man, won the Democratic nomination to become Vermont’s next lieutenant governor.

Elsewhere, out candidates faced tough losses in some tough states.  In Florida, which has never elected an openly LGBT candidate to the state legislature, Justin Flippen came up short in his bid to unseat the incumbent District 92 State House member.  Also in Florida in the race to fill Rep. Kendrick Meek’s seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, Scott Galvin was unable to overcome a significant fundraising disadvantage in his Democratic primary.

Rodney Glassman, a candidate in the Arizona Democratic primary race for U.S. Senate, reportedly once told a gathering the toughest thing about serving on the Tuscon City Council was that he might have to sit next to an openly gay colleague.

Karen Uhlich, an out lesbian who served with Glassman on the council, confirmed the story and said he did not deny making the comment when she first approached him to discuss the matter, according to the Arizona Star.

Glassman’s rival for the party’s nod, John Dougherty, said Glassman needs to explain the statement.  In a statement this week, Glassman denied the charge, saying,”I respect Karin Uhlich and was proud to sit next to her.”

Photo:  Arizona Daily Star

At an official Memorial Day event, Yuma, Ariz., Mayor Al Krieger spoke out against allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military, saying, “I cannot believe a bunch of lacey-drawered, limp-wristed people could do what those men have done in the past.”  Krieger was presumably referring to U.S. military veterans.

KYMA-TV, a local NBC affiliate, reported on the comments.

Krieger said he believes George Washington and Abraham Lincoln would have said the same thing, and that he was simply speaking from the heart.

“We need solid, strong men to fight those battles.  Not pacifists,” Krieger told KYMA.

Watch the full report here.

Twenty national LGBT organizations today issued a joint statement condemning a new Arizona immigration law they say unfairly targets Latinos. The statement calls on state lawmakers to repeal the law, and announces the groups have joined a boycott of the state along with major labor, immigration and Latino organizations.

From the statement:

S.B. 1070 essentially declares an entire class of people to be inherently criminal on the basis of their race and appearance. The consequences of S.B. 1070 are grave and troubling: the inevitability of racial profiling and infringement of civil liberties; the strong probability of violence and harassment against individuals and their families; and the reversal of progress toward creating a more inclusive society.

We also note that this bill was signed into law by Gov. Jan Brewer, the same governor who last year stripped away earned health insurance benefits from the same-sex domestic partners of state employees. Brewer’s actions as governor demonstrate, at best, callous indifference — and at worst, willful malice — toward immigrants and LGBT people alike.

Yesterday, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signed into law a bill that out state representative Kyrsten Sinema called “mean-spirited,” defining domestic partners as unable to collect benefits as state employees.  The bill changed the state’s definition of the term “dependent” to mean “a spouse under the laws of this state.”

In a short interview with GayPolitics, Rep. Sinema had strong words about the discriminatory bill, stating that “In 2006, Arizonans sent a clear message when they voted to protect domestic partnerships and partner benefits.”  Sinema continued, “Some Arizona leaders have acted in contrary to the will of the people, approving a bill that really negatively affects us all.”

Back in 2006, Arizona became the first state to defeat an anti-marriage amendment, largely because the far-reaching language of the amendment stripped domestic partner benefits beyond LGBT couples.

Now, this regressive legislation has caught more than LGBT couples in its fire.  The bill, much like Arkansas’s adoption ban which barred “unmarried couples,” catches heterosexual couples in its broad net, as well.  Children of heterosexual state employees registered as domestic partners will no longer be able to collect benefits either, stripping a large number of college-aged young Arizonans of health care benefits.

Sinema went on to explain that while the bill was passed ostensibly to cut costs, the new wave of uninsured Arizonans will actually end up costing the state more.

“We warned then and it has proven true today that this kind of discriminatory law would present dangerous, far-reaching consequences for all Arizonans,” she said.