Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund conducts Pittsburgh boot camp for potential gay candidates

John Campbell, 23, city treasurer-elect of Harrisburg, Pa.

Sheryl Gay Stolberg, writing in the New York Times covers a strategy seminar conducted by the Gay and Lesbian Leadership Institute, funded by the Gay and Lesbian Victory fund, modeled on Emily’s List. About 500 of the 500,000 political officeholders in the US are openly gay.

The idea, said Chuck Wolfe, the fund’s president and chief executive, is to build a “back bench” of politicians who can win at the local level and work their way up. Across the country, only five statewide officeholders are openly gay.

Prospective candidates are advised to raise twice as much money as their opponents, use campaign photographs with family and kids, and avoid saying boyfriend/girlfriend in favor of "I'm in a relationship."

Joe Fuld, whose company, the Campaign Workshop, often advises gay candidates, used Houston's gay mayor as an example.

She put on her literature that she was the LGBT police liaison,” he said, using shorthand for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender. “You need to put it out there in some way, but it doesn’t have to be the ‘Joe the Gay Candidate.’ ”