MICHIGAN: Gay Activist Trevor Thomas Loses Dem House Primary

Former HRC staffer Trevor Thomas lost his U.S. House bid in Michigan's Democratic primary on Tuesday. Paul Schindler reports at Gay City News:

Thomas, who is 28, had hoped to face off in November against Justin Amash, a 32-year-old freshman Republican congressman who won election in 2010 as a Tea Party darling, but was defeated by a margin of 56-44 by Steve Pestka, a 60-year-old attorney who served four years in the State House of Representatives and six years on the Kent County Circuit Court bench. In the primary campaign, Thomas –– who worked in the communications department at the Human Campaign before leading the communications effort at the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network –– took on Pestka over his longstanding opposition to a woman’s right to choose, his votes as a legislator to defund Planned Parenthood, and his personal investment in a company acquiring land for fracking.

RELATED: With the retirement of Rep. Barney Frank and Rep. Tammy Baldwin's bid for the Senate, the two remaining incumbent gay members of the House are Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO) and Rep. David Cicilline (D-RI).

Other openly LGBT U.S. House candidates for 2012 are former Clinton White House aide and New Yorker Sean Patrick Maloney, California public school teacher Mark Takano, Minnesota physician Jeff Anderson, Massachusetts homocon and former state Sen. Richard Tisei, Wisconsin state Rep. Mark Pocan, Arizona state Rep. Matt Heinz, and Arizona state Sen. Kysten Sinema, who hopes to be the first openly bisexual member of Congress.

If you live in the home districts of the above candidates, I recommend evaluating their campaign sites and consider giving them your support. This year's House class could have as few as two of our people, but it could also have as many nine.