Coakley and Competitors Vie for Gay Vote Kennedys Seat

Massachusetts voters will flock to the polls Tuesday to choose the Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate in a special election to fill the seat of late senator Ted Kennedy, who died in August after a battle with brain cancer.

Martha Coakley, the front-runner in the race, faces U.S. representative Mike Capuano, City Year cofounder Alan Khazei, and Steve Pagliuca, the co-owner of the Boston Celtics. Since she started the campaign in September, just days after Kennedy's death, she has outraised her three Democratic opponents, and her favorability ratings have reached 71% of Democratic primary voters, according to a Boston Globe poll from November. Notably, she has garnered endorsements from President Bill Clinton as well as women's rights pioneer Gloria Steinem, and several local gay rights organizations.

And her campaign has accomplished the hundreds of endorsements and high poll numbers even after her key role in her state's recognition of same-sex marriage. As Massachusetts attorney general, Coakley filed a lawsuit in July against the federal government on behalf of the 16,000 married same-sex couples in the state who were denied rights under the Defense of Marriage Act.

"It is unconstitutional for the federal government to discriminate, as it does because of DOMA's restrictive definition of marriage," Coakley said in a statement. "It is also unconstitutional for the federal government to decide who is married and to create a system of first- and second-class marriages. The federal government cannot require states, such as Massachusetts, to further the discrimination through federal programs, either. The time has come for this injustice to end."

If elected, Coakley may face some of the gay rights issues that have bubbled to the surface of the national political conversation, like repealing DOMA, and ending the military's ban on openly gay service members. She has also been a vocal proponent of safety in schools, and was honored by the Gay Officers Action League of New England for her work as attorney general.

Rep. Capuano, her opponent closest in the polls, is a co-sponsor of New York Rep. Jerrold Nadler's bill to repeal DOMA, and says that a proposed constitutional amendment to define marriage for only heterosexual couples "would supersede the law in Massachusetts and other states which permit same-sex marriage, and interfere with the right of consenting adults to enter into a legal relationship, with the rights and responsibilities of marriage. Clergy who object to such unions need not sanctify them, but civil authority should not discriminate against them."

He is also a co-sponsor of the Military Readiness Enhancement Act, as well as a co-sponsor on the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act.

Khazei, who was endorsed by the Boston Globe, says that he supports repealing "don't ask, don't tell," and DOMA. He also said that he wants to ensure protection for LGBT Youth, as well as protect LGBT workers by endorsing a trans-inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act.

Pagliuca said on his website that he supports marriage equality, and would support the overturning of DOMA, as well as "don't ask, don't tell."

"[M]uch like Senator Kennedy, I abhor discrimination of any kind," Pagliuca wrote.

It's clear that in a state where marriage equality has been on the books for five years, Massachusetts' Democratic candidates may find it less difficult to be vocal on gay rights than those in other states. In either case, each candidate will have to prove that they will go to bat for these issues, much like the late Sen. Kennedy.