Cammermeyer May Run For Congress ‘Famous Lesbian’ Nearly Ready To Try To Unseat Republican In Western Washington’s 2nd District
Retired Army Col. Margarethe Cammermeyer, who once called herself “one of the most famous lesbians in the country,” said Monday she’s inclined to run for Congress and doesn’t worry about becoming a lightning rod.
Democrat Cammermeyer, who drew national attention with her successful fight to stay in the Washington National Guard despite the military’s policy of discharging homosexuals, said she is mulling a challenge of two-term Republican Rep. Jack Metcalf. The 2nd Congressional District includes northwestern Washington from Everett to the Canadian border.
“I’m quite interested,” she said. “I’m getting an enormous amount of encouragement and support.”
With a chuckle, she added, “At this point, what you hear is the support. You don’t hear the negative propaganda yet” from anti-homosexual activists.
Cammermeyer said she wouldn’t be bothered by encounters with people who oppose her strictly because she is a lesbian.
“What it feels like is that I have been under a microscope for seven years, so I’m used to that kind of scrutiny. People know about my military career, my nursing, and they may have read a book or seen a movie about me, and I hope they can judge my character based on that (lifetime record).”
Cammermeyer said a bigger challenge as a congresswoman would be “the frustration over inaction by Congress” on a host of issues.
“Having to fight an adversary is not something that’s new - standing up for what you believe in, standing up for human rights and civil rights and rights of children and the elderly and the disenfranchised. I think there are so many transferrable qualities” to politics.
Cammermeyer, 55, recently retired from the military and lives with her partner, Diane Divelbess, in a home they built on Whidbey Island. A native of Norway, she has lived in Washington state for nearly 30 years and retired as chief nurse of the Guard.
Cammermeyer is co-chairwoman of the campaign for Initiative 677, a state ballot measure to ban employment discrimination based on sexual orientation. She said she will make no final decision on her congressional bid until after next month’s election.
In an interview with The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Cammermeyer said that if she goes to Congress, it won’t be as a spokeswoman for gays and lesbians.
“If you look at what I have focused on the last seven years, it is not gays and lesbians - it is discrimination. It is civil rights for individuals,” she said. “If people make you an icon, it is their stuff - it is not mine. I have never been caught up with organizations. I am a person concerned with issues. … I would go to Washington, D.C., not to represent me, but the 2nd District.”
She said she anticipates some hostile encounters.
“My job is not to change anyone’s religious beliefs or stands,” she said. “People have an absolute right to their convictions. But when their beliefs infringe on another person’s civil rights, I must challenge that. Civil rights are fundamental to America.”