ABSTRACT
Dallas school board trustees are elected by districts, meaning candidates run for specific geographic seats. Of the nine districts, the seventh contains some of the most impoverished areas in Dallas County. In July 1994, the Hispanic trustee from the area resigned to work for the US Department of Education. Jose Plata, who had been involved in several other candidates’ campaigns, benefited from attending a Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund candidate workshop. Since Plata’s campaign was during the Christmas season, the strategy was easily put into action. During the campaign, Plata’s sexual orientation came up only once publicly. At a candidates’ forum, a Spanish-speaking woman referred to Plata’s “homosexual tendencies,” and asked him what kind of role model he would be as an elected homosexual. Plata later acknowledged that he had been unsure of how to deal with the issue, not an unusual reaction for some gay and lesbian candidates.
