On February 23rd the Human Rights Campaign will hold their big annual NY fundraising dinner (“Gala 2008”), and they’ll be honoring the lovely Vanessa Williams with this year’s “Ally For Equality” Award.

I’m a big fan of Vanessa and certainly don’t begrudge her the honor, but it seems like the recipient of this annual HRC award is always a big name celebrity who’s appearance at the fundraiser helps to sell tickets. (Last year’s recipient was Matthew Broderick.)

Is it cynical of me to note that? How about one year they give it to some suburban housewife who tirelessly devotes her time to manning the phones at a gay youth crisis center?

Okay, okay, the tickets to this shindig run $400 and up so that may be unrealistic — but maybe at least they can give out two “Ally for Equality” awards? One for a straight celeb (to pack the house), and one for a straight private citizen — a previously unsung hero doing something amazing for the gay community. Just a thought.

There’s no doubt at least that Vanessa Williams is very gay-friendly. First, there’s her great work on the gay fabulous Ugly Betty. As far as I’m concerned, anyone connected with that show is an ally to the GLBT community. Then there’s a 2005 interview where she went on record in favor of gay marriage:

My take on last night's history making Presidential Forum on GLBT issues? Maybe I'm setting the bar too low, but I continue to be astounded by how pro-gay the whole lot of them are, and what a sharp contrast the Democratic slate is with the Republican one, none of whom are apparently even willing to share a stage with us GLBT folks.

For some historical perspective, the term "domestic partner" didn't exist until 1981. It was Michael Dukakis, back in 1988, who was the first presidential candidate to actually say the word "gay." In 1992, Bill Clinton actively campaigned on some of our issues, promising to repeal the ban on gays in the military (and trying to do just that, until the Republican Party, and Colin Powell, went nuclear on him in his third day of office). In 2000, civil unions were barely even on the radar. And in 2004, John Kerry was the first presidential nominee to refer to gay people in his convention speech.

And here it is, only 2007, and all the leading Democratic candidates are debating our issues with us personally (even actually sucking up to us!). And the number one issue they're debating is same-sex marriage!

Incredible. It's just incredible to me how much and how quickly things are changing on GLBT issues.

I also thought it was great that most of the candidates at least paid lip service to transgender issues. Talk about an issue not even being on the horizon just a few years ago!

I was disappointed in Barack Obama's performance. He's my candidate, but I thought he seemed nervous, and his answers were vague and meandering. It made me wonder if he's truly tested enough for the presidential campaign. That said, I thought it was very unfair that all four questioners asked him basically the same question, about same-sex marriage, even after he had already answered it. Maybe the reason he seemed nervous was because the questions directed at him were so adversarial.

Edwards? He's slick, I'll give him that. I loved the whole "I'm gonna level with you — we've had enough doublespeak from politicians" answer, even as I felt manipulated by it. But I just can't shake the sense that this just isn't the year of a straight white man. Basically, I think Elizabeth Edwards is right: for me, the symbolism of the first black of female president is just too cool to pass up.

I continue to be impressed by Hillary. Maybe it's because I'm a political wonk, and she clearly is too. But the contrast between her, who clearly has complete command of what seems like every issue, and our current President Bobblehead, is jarring. I remember when Bill became president after twelve years of Republican platitudes and banalities, how refreshing it was to have a president who didn't talk like the whole country was a bunch of simple-minded idiots. (I know Reagan worked for some people, but he always struck me as a completely empty suit.)

Tonight at 9PM EST/6 PM PST Logo (AfterElton.com's parent company) and the Human Rights Campaign make history when Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John Edwards, Dennis Kucinich, Bill Richardson and Mike Gravell participate in the first ever televised presidential forum addressing GLBT issues.

How cool is that? To help stimulate conversation about which issues should be discussed and are most pressing for our community, Logo established a website -- Visible Vote '08 -- and invited a wide-ranging group of GLBT voices to blog about what they find most urgent in this next election. Participants include tennis legend Billie Jean King, author Charles Kincaid, singers Melissa Etheridge and Lance Bass, and our very own Brent Hartinger.

I've been checking out the blog daily and thought I'd post a couple of quotes from some of the posts. Lance Bass writes about gay marriage and how the fact it is denied to gays and lesbians hurts today's youth because they see no place for themselves in American society.

My main fear is for the LGBT youth in America and around the world who, for one reason or another aren’t able to cope or can’t escape their prejudice cities, towns and communities. I often wonder how many teens have committed suicide because they’re struggling with their sexuality and feel the incredible weight of the shame their community puts on homosexuality? I am hoping in this election we have Democratic candidates who feel as passionately about this issue as I do.

Meanwhile our own Brent Hartinger tells how he came to believe our very democracy is at stake

I’ve completely given up on the Republicans. All the elected ones have either supported the beyond-appalling actions of the Bush administration, or they’ve enabled them by simply remaining part of the national party.

BTW, the utterly brilliant partner he refers to in his post? Yes, it's moi!

Anyway, go check out the site, and watch the debate on Logo tonight or online. Brent and I will be blogging it as well, so if you miss it check back here for our reactions!

I was at the Human Rights Campaign's annual awards dinner and gala in San Francisco Saturday night, where George Takei received HRC's Equality Award, Elizabeth Edwards gave the keynote address, and the always-gorgeous Lucy Lawless gave us three wardrobe changes and a whole lotta love for her gay fans. And I’m here to tell you it's official: Mr. Sulu loves him some Xena.

“Isn’t she fabulous?” he said of Lawless, who swished over in a low cut black gown. “I’ve never met her before.”

At the reception before the awards dinner, I told Takei I’d been a huge fan of the original Star Trek series, but had always felt excluded from the show’s Utopian vision, where queers like me – and him – were invisible.

“Well, Star Trek had as its core value what we call IDIC, Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations,” he said. “And (Trek producer and creator) Gene Roddenberry always told us the diversity of the Starship Enterprise was where its strength was. There’s a diversity that we can see: the color of one’s skin, or the shape of one’s eyes. There’s the accent of a person, diversity we can hear. But there’s another diversity that we can’t see oftentimes, but that too is a part of the strength of America.”

• Neil Patrick Harris to give a master class at the Broadway Theatre Project. He could really be giving a class on having the best gay year ever, the way he's been handling himself since coming out.
• Bill O'Reilly: gays at baseball games, bad enough; gays at baseball games when hats are distributed to children, completely unacceptable! Is this guy effing serious?!
• Yesterday we posted on the announced gay forum for Democratic Presidential candidates. Apparently Mike Gravel (who didn't meet the HRC's $100,000 funding requirement) is very upset that he wasn't invited, particularly given his outspoken support of gay issues. HRC says it's simply a matter of giving time to the candidates actually likely to make it to office (hence the funding requirement). Thoughts?
• SyFyPortal released its final noms for its annual sci-fi awards, and George Takei (yay!) and Thomas Dekker (crickets) are both there for Heroes.
• For you Xena fans: Renee O'Connor (Gabrielle) will play the lead in upcoming Sci Fi Channel original The Genesis Code, with Big Eden's Tim DeKay (pictured at top) as her hubby.
  

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!