 by LyleMasaki
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Leading Presidential Candidates to speak at televised LGBT forum -- are we getting our place at the table?
Judging from the political blogs I follow, I'm not the only gay voter who feels taken for granted by Democratic candidates. Too often, statements supporting LGBT rights seem to be cautiously phrased to offend the fewest number of people, trying hard to not to alienate anyone by being too friendly to our issues while reminding us there aren't many great alternatives. However, here's some news that leaves me feeling encouraged: on August 9, Logo (AfterElton.com's parent company) and the Human Rights Campaign Foundation will co-present a live forum with Democratic presidential candidates to discuss issues important to the LGBT community. This is the first time a group of Presidential candidates have addressed a queer audience in a national forum, which is a big deal. This also strikes me as the first time we're being addressed as a community of individuals instead of as a handful of leaders of "special interest" groups -- or at private fundraising dinners that don't get much media coverage. In some ways, I'm reminded of how Bill Clinton addressed young voters by appearing on an MTV News special. I guess you could say that the Democrat's support of gay issues will officially "come out" with this debate. Hillary Clinton, John Edwards and Barack Obama are confirmed as appearing at the forum, so far. Melissa Etheridge and Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese will lead the discussion. It all takes place August 9 in Los Angeles at 6:00 p.m. PT / 9:00 p.m. ET and will be broadcast live on Logo and LOGOonline.com. Plus, viewers will be able to submit questions to the candidates. Hats off to the candidates, Logo and HRC for pulling this one off! Submitted by on Tue, 2007-07-10 12:32. |
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Bravo
Hopefully...
.....this isn't just another forum of empty promises. This is a great opportunity for a dialog to really see if the Presidential Candidates can put people ahead of politics even if it isn't a populists position.
I am glad someone is finally giving us a place to bring up our issues. I was reading the full article and I do believe our voting block is more than 4% when you factor in all the people who are affected by our issues, parents of gay children in school, our military not having the best people, and corporations not having or not allowing their employees best potential because they are in fear of losing their jobs.
I hope we can all unite and start locally to change the horizon by electing officials who truly see our issues as a civil rights matter and not some agenda. Locally we have elected our first openly-gay County Council member and judges who are pro-civil-rights. It all starts with us to end the bigotry and ignorance from writing letters to the sponsors who support the bigotry media, nothing hurts them more than their sponsorship dollars, to just researching the candidates on their voting record and of course getting people, especially the young, involved. Here is to new beginnings.
~v~
Sorry Lyle, but hats off the
Sorry Lyle, but hats off the the HRC, my ass.
Mike Gravel, who is neck-and-neck with Dennis Kucinich as the most pro-gay of the presidential candidates, was not invited to speak b/c the HRC has a fund-raising minimum which candidates must meet (leave it to the HRC to focus on the money instead of the issues). http://www.advocate.com/news_detail_ektid47318.asp
I know Gravel has practically no chance of getting the Democratic nomination, but HE KEEPS THE OTHER CANDIDATES HONEST. Now all we'll get is a bunch of meaningless platitudes from a bunch of politicians who want our money but aren't willing to insure that we receive equal rights.
Remember, Hillary supports a CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT barring same-sex marriage, Bill voted for DOMA, and Edwards & Obama tepidly support civil unions but are vehemently against marriage equality.
If you demand little from the Dems, you'll receive little in return.
Hey, Joey...
Remember, Hillary supports a CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT barring same-sex marriage
While Hillary's stance on gay & lesbian marriage is far from perfect, she has stated that she is opposed to a constitutional amendment banning it; her view is that the federal government should leave the question up to the states to decide (granted, that seems a little like a cop-out to me). Like Edwards and Obama, she also supports civil unions
http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/issues/issues.samesexmarriage.html
Hillary is quite the
Hillary is quite the flip-flopper. If memory serves, as recently as last year she went on record supporting a constitutional amendment. Before she did that, I didn't have a negative opinion of Hillary. I even felt sorry for her, for the whole Monica-Bill affair. But not anymore - she deserves that bastard.
Joey, got a link?
Do you have a link showing where Hillary has ever said she supports a marriage amendment? Or will it just be log cabin talking points without anything to back it up? The whole reason the Clinton's even supported DOMA was to derail the Republican drive to get the amendment out there (Sorry Dick Morris, but you know it's true.)
Plus, lets see.."Flip flopper" Hillary v any of the Republicans who support DADT, DOMA and the amendment. HMMMMM...
Debate About the Debate
After reading your comments and an article it's taken a little away from the debate. Apparently this isn't the first debate the Democratic presidential canidates have had involving gay issues. There was one in 2003 which is actually a good thing. It means that it wasn't a one time deal. However, at that debate 7 out of 9 canidates showed up. This one has four out of 8 so far scheduled to appear. I agree with you that the top three canidates (Clinton, Obama, and Edwards) need someone to keep them honest. I would rather see Dennis Kucinch be that person. He completely supports civil rights and has a record to prove it.
http://citizenchris.typepad.com/citizenchris/2007/07/historic-presid.html
Democrats launch ‘gay day election debate’
In a first for new lows, the Democratic Party has launched ‘gay day election debate‘.
These people are heathens, they disrespect AMERICAN VALUES and peddle to the gay vote. We will be watching this with pride as they expose themselves for what they are — Liberals that are disconnected with AMERICAN VALUES.
These liberals should move their base of operations from Washington to Hollywood, because this is where their agenda is being run, from the cesspit of gay night clubs.
LOL<------
No the so called
No the so called conservatives aren't going to claim they have "American Values" ie.. Respect and consideration for our differences, decent education, healthcare and a competent government, which is the mainstream majority's opinion. The so called conservatives are buried so far down in their scum breaking the ten commandments they don't know who to strike out at next. The Liberals who built this great country, the immigrants, the gays or each other.
~v~