In a case of life imitating art, a veteran Pennsylvania lawmaker is accusing her opponent of pretending to be bisexual in order to win votes. The real-life campaign is oddly reminiscent of one that took place on One Life to Live last year.
Last year, One Life to Live took some heat for a storyline in which Dorian Lord (played by Emmy winner Robin Strasser) pretended to be a lesbian in order to win votes in the Llanview mayoral contest.
Sometimes reality is stranger than fiction.
In Philadelphia's 182d State House district, veteran representative Babette Josephs, a Democrat, has accused her primary opponent, Gregg Kravitz, of pretending to be bisexual in order to get votes from lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender voters, a powerful voting bloc in the district. The district is just a short drive from the area that One Life to Live creator, Agnes Nixon, used as her inspiration for the setting of One Life to Live.
"I outed him as a straight person," Josephs is reported to have said during a recent fundraiser, as some in attendance laughed or gasped. "Now he goes around telling people, quote, 'I swing both ways.' That's quite a respectful way to talk about sexuality. This guy's a gem."
The 29-year-old Kravitz has stated that he is sexually attracted to both men and women and called Joseph's comments offensive.
"My sexuality is not a qualification for office," Kravitz said. "I bring it up only in the context that it's important for the LGBT community to have a seat at the legislative table."
In an interview with the Philadelphia Inquirer, Mark Segal, a gay rights advocate and the publisher of the Philadelphia Gay News, states that he's never heard of someone pretending to be gay or bisexual in order to win an election.
He's apparently not tuned into ABC's daytime lineup.
"We've hit a new high point when candidates are accused of pretending to be gay to win a seat," Segal told the Inquirer. "I've been doing this for 40 years, and I never have heard of this kind of charge in any race in the nation. I take that as flattery. It shows how far we've come."
Josephs, 70, has served more than 25 years in the Pennsylvania State House. She worked to block passage of a constitutional amendment that would have banned same-sex marriages in the state. She was also key in adding sexual orientation to the state's hate-crimes law.
Pennsylvanians head to polling places to vote in the primary election on May 18.
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