Even Florida is laughing at us. It’s a circus, a dog and pony show, a mortifying blot on California’s already tarnished political landscape — it’s the Oct. 7 recall election and it’s enough to make you want to throw up your hands in disgust and turn your back on politics forever. However, it is essential that you don’t. As ludicrous as this election has become, draining taxpayers of $70 million that is badly needed elsewhere and offering a bewildering array of candidates should Davis be recalled, the outcome is extremely important — particularly for the GLBT community.

Think of the progress the GLBT community has made since Davis took office. We have domestic partner registration with more than a dozen actual rights, including inheritance rights, stepparent adoption and some state property tax advantages. We have statewide transgender protections and eight new GLBT judges — including San Diego’s first appointed openly gay judge. Meanwhile, landmark civil union legislation that will grant all of the state-level rights of marriage is being considered.

Gray Davis has been good to us.

There are many who consider the recall effort another shameless power ploy by the Republican Party — a large-scale version of the recent Republican redistricting efforts in Texas. It is certainly worth noting that the recall comes at a time when the GLBT community is making unprecedented progress in gaining civil rights, and that right wing groups threatened to recall Davis if he signed GLBT-friendly legislation, such as AB 205.

Even the New York Times is giving the recall mess considerable coverage. In the Aug. 12 edition, the Times reported that former president Bill Clinton will be advising Davis in the recall race, stating that, “One of [Clinton’s] advisers, Douglas Sosnik, who was his political director in the White House, said that ‘among the reasons that the president would have to get involved with the race is that having a recall of a governor who has been re-elected sets a terrible precedent for this democracy.’

“Several people who have talked to Mr. Clinton described him as distressed with what was taking place in California, and suggested that he, like many Democrats, saw it as part of a pattern that included the impeachment and the recent efforts by Republicans in Texas to redraw Congressional district lines in a way would eliminate some Democratic-leaning districts.

“‘There are a lot of people in the party who are connecting the dots: What’s occurring is a conscious and well-heeled effort to try to undo traditional democratic processes,’ one of Mr. Clinton’s associates said.”

Some see the recall as a chance to slide an apparently moderate Republican into office.

“It’s certainly interesting and I think that the whole process points out the need for the community to take a bipartisan approach to working for our civil rights,” Jeffrey Bissiri, chair of Log Cabin California, told the Gay and Lesbian Times. “We can’t have all our efforts in one party or one governor. It’s too soon to tell who [the Log Cabin might endorse]. Obviously, right now Arnold Schwarzenegger is using the right language in his campaign, wanting to be governor of all of California — that sort of populist inclusiveness is the sort of language that a 21st century Republican has to use to win in California, and it’s the sort of message that would indicate that he’s going to be the right kind of governor for California. We’ve not had a chance yet to talk to his campaign obviously — he’s only been a candidate since last Wednesday — but we’re looking forward to doing that. Certainly [he hasn’t defined his stand on issues] lately.… I think he could be a good governor.… It’s certainly going to be an interesting two months.”

However, Schwarzenegger has recently taken on staunchly anti-gay former governor Pete Wilson as his campaign advisor, an act that does not bode well for the future.

Overall, GLBT activists are decrying the recall. Both Equality California and the Human Rights Campaign have come out against it.

“It establishes a terrible precedent where anyone who is willing to throw a million dollars just to get signature gatherers can recall a sitting governor,” Equality California’s executive director, Geoffrey Kors told the Times this week. “It will always make the governor held hostage by a financed and very small minority, which is something that should be a great concern to the LGBT community, because, in this case, it was by people who are strongly opposed to the advances that have happened in the last five years for people in our community.”

Though Kors said Equality California had not yet taken a position on a potential replacement, he noted that Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante had endorsed all three of the GLBT bills that CAPE was supporting this year, and helped lobby several legislators who were reportedly waffling in their support. “He was very gracious and said he would do anything he could to help,” said Kors.

Locally, though the predominantly gay and lesbian San Diego Democratic Club has not made any move as to a replacement should the recall pass. SDDC President Jess Durfee said the club has resoundingly denounced the recall and will discuss “whether or not to endorse on the succession ballot” at its Aug. 28 meeting.

“If I were predicting, I would predict that we would very well be endorsing Cruz Bustamante,” said Durfee. “In all likelihood the Club will feel a need to give LGBT voters some guidance on how to vote on the succession ballot, rather than just leave it to chance.”