http://www.edgeboston.com/index.php?ch=news&sc=glbt&sc2=news&sc3=&id=14505Openly gay Patricia Todd was reinstated Saturday as the Democratic Party’s nominee for a seat in the Alabama Legislature in a vote that turned more on the race of the candidates than sexual orientation.
The Alabama Democratic Party Executive Committee voted 95-87, mostly along racial lines, to reject the ruling of a subcommittee that had voted to disqualify Todd, who is white, and her black opponent, Gaynell Hendricks, in the race for the House seat from Birmingham’s predominantly black District 54.
Todd defeated Hendricks by 59 votes in the July 18 party runoff election.
The subcommittee had voted 5-0 that both candidates should be disqualified because they violated a party rule requiring candidates to file a campaign finance disclosure report with the party chairman.