A few months later Pocan attended--not by invitation--the convention of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a conservative organization that links business leaders with legislators to help the latter craft "model legislation" to promote special interests.

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In an article in The Progressive (Madison), Pocan compared the interaction of the business people and law-makers to a dating service, writing, "If you are a single, somewhat unattractive corporation (maybe you have a chemical dumping problem or something) and you need a little love that only a state legislator can give, ALEC is for you." Pocan made it clear that ALEC is not for him.

Pocan has also been an advocate for healthcare, successfully working to include more people in Wisconsin's BadgerCare plan and to establish the Wisconsin Quality Home Care Commission.

His efforts to protect the environment have won him numerous plaudits from the Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters and other groups dedicated to environmental protection.

Another of Pocan's causes has been ethics reform, and he reached across the aisle to enlist the support of conservative Republican Mark Gundrum. "It's really the first time I've worked with him. We were often leading the debate against each other," Pocan stated to Scott Milfred of the Wisconsin State Journal, but he saw an opportunity for a positive change and did what he could to work for it, which is consistent with the philosophy that he expressed to Jack Craver of the Capital Times: "I'm an ideologue in many ways, but I'm practical enough to know how to get things done. For our progressive values that matter most, I've often been there and done that."

As expected, Pocan achieved a solid win in the November 2012 election, defeating his Republican opponent, Chad Lee, by a margin of 68 to 23 percent.

At a victory celebration on election night, Pocan acknowledged the support of his mother and brother, who were in attendance, and especially that of his husband, who was at his side on stage. In his speech to the enthusiastic crowd, Pocan stated, "This district expects a lot from its representatives, and I plan to work hard to be another strong, progressive voice like Tammy [Baldwin]," who moves on to the United States Senate after her own successful campaign.

"Domestic partnership" is the generic term for a variety of forms of legal and institutional recognition of same-sex couples that fall short of same-sex marriage.

In the United States, glbtq candidates have achieved some significant successes at the ballot box in the last three decades, running for and winning local, state, and national elections.

The U.S. gay rights movement has made significant progress toward achieving equality for glbtq Americans, and in the process has become more inclusive and diverse, but much remains to be done.

Early in the gay rights movement activists challenged organized labor to broaden its struggle against discrimination to include sexual identity; consequently labor unions became some of the first mainstream organizations to call for equal rights.

Lesbian and gay couples have been fighting for the freedom to marry since the dawn of the modern glbtq struggle for equality; despite some success abroad, progress toward same-sex marriage in the United States has been slow.

The first out lesbian elected to the United States Congress, Democratic legislator Tammy Baldwin has been a strong supporter of glbtq rights, but she is far from a one-issue politician.

U. S. Representative David Cicilline, who made history as the first openly gay mayor of a state capital, has a long record of public service.

The Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) authorizes states to refuse to recognize same-sex marriages or domestic partnerships or civil unions and it requires that federal bureaus and agencies recognize only opposite-sex marriages.

The American glbtq movement for equality has largely allied itself with the Democratic Party.

Long a champion of glbtq and progressive causes, Sean Patrick Maloney was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 2012 to become the first openly gay U.S. Representative from New York state.

Businessman and philanthropist Jared Polis became one of only three openly gay members in Congress, and the first openly gay man elected to Congress as a freshman, when he won election to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2008.

After serving several terms in the Arizona state legislature, Kyrsten Sinema ran successfully for the United States House of Representatives in 2012, becoming the first openly bisexual person elected to that body.

In 2012, Mark Takano, a Japanese American from Riverside, California, became the first openly gay person of color to be elected to the United States House of Representatives.