MassResistance is attempting to persuade voters to choose an anti-gay write-in candidate over State Sen. Richard Tisei, an openly gay Republican running for lieutenant governor in Massachusetts, according to a report in EDGE publications:

MR is particularly incensed about Baker’s choice of Richard Tisei as his running mate, because Tisei is openly gay.

MR has lambasted Tisei as “”probably the most left-wing Republican officeholder in Massachusetts history. He is openly homosexual and is a co-sponsor of the radical ’Transgender Rights and Hate Crimes’ bill (H1728) currently in the Legislature. He strongly supports same-sex ’marriage’ and voted NOT to let the people vote on it.”

Tisei’s further nefarious doings: “He appears in a hideous pro-homosexual ’marriage’ propaganda video produced by the homosexual lobby (complete with phony statistics). He has a 100% rating by NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts and a 100% rating by Planned Parenthood. He co-sponsored the expanded buffer zone bill. He also co-sponsored the ’emergency contraception bill’ that was vetoed by Gov. Mitt Romney.”

Photo:  Associated Press

Though the U.S. Senate race in Massachusetts was not about LGBT issues, the victory of Scott Brown over Martha Coakley at least complicates the picture for some of the community’s key legislative goals.  Is the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” still on the table?  Is ENDA possible?

Looking back at how we got here is pretty tempting, and plenty are engaged in just that this morning.  The more important question, however, is how we move forward.  Jonathan Chait, writing in The New Republic, cautions against panic and following the conventional wisdom of cable news pundits:

The difference between the parties is that Republicans ignore the establishment’s advice. After Obama’s election, conventional wisdom insisted that the GOP would have to move to the center. Instead the party moved further right. And whatever the policy merits, it has worked politically. If Republicans had cooperated more with Obama, it would have given him bipartisan accomplishments and made him even more popular.

The GOP’s ability to ignore establishment nostrums in the face of defeat is its great electoral strength. Democrats, by contrast, have a congenital tendency to panic.

Chait is talking specifically about health care reform, but many this morning are echoing his advice with regard to LGBT legislation.  Earlier this week the Advocate’s Kerry Eleveld wrote in her weekly View from Washington column, “A Democratic loss in Coakley’s race will signal nothing short of a serious enthusiasm gap, not a backlash against social progressivism.”

So, will reigniting the enthusiasm of his base and ignoring conventional wisdom to tack rightward boost President Obama’s chances of enacting the progressive agenda he outlined in the 2008 campaign?  Or should the White House seek compromises on hot button issues to draw votes in Congress and perhaps achieve partial victories?

Stay tuned.

Charlie Baker, a moderate Republican running to become the governor of Massachusetts, has chosen State Sen. Richard Tisei, who is openly gay, as his running mate.  Baker issued the following on his Twitter account this morning:  ”Want you to be the first to know: I’ve chosen State Senator Richard Tisei as my running mate. Excited about this team.”  Tisei is the Senate Minority Leader, and played a key role in the fight to retain marriage equality in Massachusetts.

The Boston Herald reports:

Baker and the Senate minority leader will take on convenience store magnate Christy Mihos in the Republican primary. The winner is set to face off against state Treasurer Timothy Cahill and incumbent Gov. Deval Patrick in a three-way contest in 2010.

Tisei, of Wakefield, was elected to the House at age 22, the youngest Republican ever elected to the legislature, according to the Baker campaign Web site.

Denise Simmons, mayor of Cambridge, Mass., and the first black lesbian to rise to that office in the United States, is engaged to marry her longtime partner according to PinkNews and a press release from Simmons. The icing on the wedding cake: the services may also be the first of its kind conducted at an African-American church.

“I believe this may be the very first African-American church to hold a same gender wedding, and that’s something that just wouldn’t have happened years ago,” says Mayor Simmons. “But times are changing, people are becoming more accepting of their fellow citizens, and we are slowly arriving at more of a ‘live-and-let-live’ kind of world.”

Rep. Barney Frank and his challenger traded terse words over the weekend during a debate at Wellesley College. Frank and Republican Earl Sholley squared off on the topic of marriage equality, with Sholley saying that the extension of marriage rights to same-sex couples “diminishes the value of the institution of marriage.”

Frank called the claim “nonsense.”

Politicker MA reports:

Sholley said he strongly opposes gay marriage and that he supports letting people vote for a constitutional amendment banning it.

“I believe having gay marriage diminishes the value of the institution of marriage,” he said. “I believe it’s a sacred pact between a man and a woman and it is so ordained by God.”

Sholley, who repeatedly referred to himself as a Christian, also said that gay marriage is not a civil rights issue because being gay is a choice.

“This isn’t a civil rights issue,” Sholley said. “This I has nothing to do with environment. This has nothing to do with genes. There is no gay gene. This has to do with choice. In fact, there is a lot of evidence to indicate…I believe that it’s obsessive compulsive behavior it’s been estimated that 80 percent of homosexuals were sexually abused as children. I think we should be helping these people.”

Sholley’s response was greeted by both boos and cheers from the crowd.

Frank, however, was quick to disagree with Sholley.

“I hope it won’t be ungracious to reject Mr. Sholley’s offer to help me overcome the nonexistent child abuse,” the Newton Democrat said, gathering his own applause from the crowd.

“Same-sex marriage is of no concern to anyone who does not choose to enter into one,” Frank went on. “The notion that it weakens the institution of marriage is nonsense. We’ve had same-sex marriage in Massachusetts for four years; there has been no negative effect.”

As far as putting the issue to a vote, Frank noted that in both the 2004 and 2006 Massachusetts statewide elections, gay marriage was a central issue on which every candidate was asked to take a side. And, Frank said, Bay State voters elected a legislature “that voted by about 77 percent in favor of same-sex marriage.”

“I believe the voters do know what they are doing and I believe the voters showed their choice,” he said.