I know I already did a Quote of the Day today, but I just stumbled across this one at Amanda Hess’s new blog, and I need to post it too.

Background: Dana Beyer was a candidate for the Maryland House of Delegates yesterday. An eye surgeon, she made health care reform a central issue in her campaign. She put up a respectable showing in the race — in that branch of the Maryland state legislature, each district is represented by multiple Delegates, and Beyer finished fourth, just a few points behind the three incumbents.

Beyer is transgender, and after she conceded, the Washington Blade asked her what effect she thought her identity had had on the race. Her answer is the Quote of the Day:

“The media didn’t bring it up other than the gay media. It was never raised in my interviews with the Post or the Gazette. With all the other media, people didn’t seem to think it was relevant. And no voter has ever, back in 2006 or this year, ever brought up the issue. And one could say, ‘Oh well they’re just being very polite,’ but it’s hard to believe that the 15,000 doors I knocked on were all just very polite people. Or that they were truly homophobic but they were just being nice to me. I don’t believe that. I think they really didn’t care.”