JACQUES HERSELF is somewhat uneasy with her status as a trailblazer. It was only a little more than a year ago that she publicly came out — in a Globe op-ed piece in which she pushed for continued funding of the state’s Safe Schools Program, which is aimed at curbing harassment of gay teenagers and preventing suicide among them.

As for the prominent role Chrisler has played in her campaign, Jacques says that’s happened primarily because she is " very politically active, " and not because of any calculations she’s made regarding what would be best for her candidacy. " Reporters have said, ‘Is it something you gave a lot of thought to?’ And I said, ‘No,’ " Jacques told the Phoenix during the closing days of the campaign. " ‘This is my family.’ "

Despite that openness, Jacques did set some boundaries. Her biographical TV ad did not mention Chrisler or any other members of her family because, Jacques says, she wanted to focus on her " credentials and experience. " Chrisler was also not available for interviews during the campaign; Jacques explains that she wanted to be held to the same standard of media scrutiny as the other candidates. (In fact, the male candidates’ wives were scarcely heard from either.) It’s not that Chrisler was off-limits. Not long after Jacques came out, she and Chrisler gave an interview to Bay Windows in their Needham home. Had she been elected, she and Chrisler would have been happy to sit down with reporters for a family-type feature.

This tightrope act of being open while setting limits is familiar to Susan Tracy, a former state representative from Brighton who, along with eight fellow Democrats, lost the 1998 Eighth District congressional race to then–Somerville mayor Michael Capuano. Tracy came out at the beginning of the campaign and, like Jacques, introduced her partner (Doris Brodhead) at her campaign kickoff. But there were no TV cameras present when Tracy announced her candidacy. Her campaign never achieved liftoff, and as a result her personal life did not receive the same level of scrutiny as Jacques’s.

Even so, Tracy — who endorsed Jacques, as Jacques endorsed her three years ago — speaks eloquently about the dilemma facing any lesbian or gay politician. " You want to be truthful, " she says, " but you don’t want your work and your professionalism to come down to some sort of discussion about sexuality. "

In fact, Tracy and other observers say, there is a qualitative difference between being open about one’s sexual orientation and taking the extra step of shining the spotlight on one’s partner. Without a visible partner, a politician can cast him- or herself almost as asexual, neutered, thus eliding the prejudices of voters who don’t object to homosexuality in the abstract but who cringe at the thought of someone in bed with a member of the same sex. Bringing a candidate’s partner into the mix offers a normal, healthy image of gay family life; but it also introduces a whiff of carnality.

" Cheryl is breaking new ground as a congressional candidate, not just as an openly gay candidate but as someone who brings her partner with her and who has integrated her partner into her public life, " says another Jacques supporter, State Representative Jarrett Barrios of Cambridge. But Barrios, who, like Jacques, is involved in a political relationship (his partner is Democratic operative Doug Hattaway), adds this note of caution: " I’d like to think, because most people are fair-minded, that that wouldn’t have a negative impact. "

The experience of Barney Frank suggests that gay and lesbian politicians might be worrying too much — at least in liberal Eastern Massachusetts. Frank, who came out only after he had arrived on Capitol Hill, and who has remained popular despite suffering through a scandal over his onetime relationship with a male prostitute, has always been open about his long-term partners, first Herb Moses and now Sergio Pombo.

" People aren’t homophobic — they just think they’re supposed to be, " says Frank, who endorsed Jacques. " By acting as she has done in such a dignified way with her partner, she has validated people’s lack of homophobia. We’re talking about giving people encouragement to act on their own lack of prejudice. I think it turns out to be reaffirming and reinforcing that way. "