By Jeremy Hooper
Cross-posted at Good As You

Here is a new McCain-Palin ad in which Barack Obama’s usage of the old “lipstick on a pig” cliché is being unfairly decontextualized so that it’s made to sound like a pointed reference to Palin:

But beyond the “lipstick” comment itself, there are several other points of opportunistic impropriety here. Like, for instance — what campaign was Katie Couric actually talking about when referencing sexism? Was “that campaign” referring to Obama’s, as Team McCain implies, or was it referring to…

(more…)

Billy Jean King made it clear without a doubt that she is supporting Sen. Barack Obama for president.

Last Friday, a reporter from the New York Observer asked me what I thought about Sarah Palin. I told her I thought Sarah Palin was honest and real. I believe that. But, that in no way should be viewed as an endorsement of any kind. I oppose many of the positions of Sarah Palin, particularly those tied to the LGBT community. I am supporting Barack Obama and, in fact, I have lent my name to both Women for Obama and the Obama LGBT Steering and Policy Committee.

King is one of many openly LGBT celebrities who have publicly stated their strong support for Sen. Obama because of Obama’s strong support for LGBT civil rights.

By Michael Crawford

As LGBT organizations kick their electoral efforts into high gear, a number of groups are sponsoring training sessions to recruit and strengthen the skills of volunteers. The efforts are a great chance for you to learn how to get engage with campaigns in your local community, meet new and make a difference in the fight for LGBT equality.

Here are some upcoming trainings:

NJ/NY – September 13

Organizations in New Jersey, including Garden State Equality, are holding a day of campaign training for volunteers for Barack Obama and Democratic Congressional candidates on Saturday, September 13 from 9am-1pm. The training will take place at Montclair State University, University Hall, 7th floor, One Normal Avenue, Montclair, New Jersey, a close-in suburb of Manhattan. You can take an NJ Transit train from Penn Station in Manhattan directly to the campus and back.

The training is free and breakfast will be provided. Please arrive Saturday at 8:30 am to register.

The speakers will include New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine, U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg, U.S. House candidates Dennis Shulman and Linda Stender, Newark Mayor Cory Booker and several others.

The training is coordinated by BlueWaveNJ PAC. The program will include training on:

Cleveland, OH – September 20-21 and

Long Island (Huntington), New York – September 20 – 21

The Human Rights Campaign presents Camp Equality™, an intensive, 2-day interactive training program that combines lectures, discussions, and real-life simulations. Camp Equality™ teaches both advanced and fundamental skills to help strengthen the impact our community has on the 2008 elections. Click here to register for a Camp Equality™ near you.

At the two-day training, you’ll have the opportunity to choose one of two tracks:

Advanced Track: Working on a Campaign: This track is designed for you if you are one of our more experienced campaign volunteers. This track teaches participants the modern mechanics of organizing for political campaigns. During your sessions you will learn advanced techniques of targeting, organizing, media relations, volunteer coordination, Get Out the Vote, and the latest campaign technology.

Fundamentals Track: Working on a Campaign: This track is designed for you if you want to learn the step by step fundamentals necessary to be successful at the grassroots level. Topics will include: planning, volunteer recruitment, field, planning events, canvassing, earned media, and even writing a blog. You will learn the basic skills that are essential to putting your local issue or political campaign in the best position to win.

Michelle Obama one ups Barack in the dancing category on Ellen Degeneres’ talk. Check it out.

Part 1

Part 2

The Obama campaign recently responded to a series of questions submitted by William R. Kapfer, co-president of Window Media, the Washington Blade’s parent company. In his answers to the questions, Obama committed to developing and implementing a comprehensive national AIDS strategy and emphasized his support for repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and the Defense of Marriage Act and for passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act and hate crimes legislation.

Below is an excerpt from the interview. Read the entire interview at the Washington Blade.

Blade: Important gay rights legislation unrelated to marriage has been stalled in Congress for quite some time. The gay community has high expectations for an Obama administration. What are reasonable expectations for a first-term Obama administration: How aggressively would you push for Congress to pass ENDA, the hate crimes bill, repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” and other gay-related bills in your first year in office, and would you mention those bills in your State of the Union address?

Obama: These bills are all important priorities for me. Senator Biden and I have long committed ourselves to supporting fundamental civil rights for all. In addition to the issues you mentioned, I also support full repeal of DOMA to provide equal federal rights and benefits to LGBT couples. America must live up to our founding principle of equality for all, and it’s wrong to have millions of LGBT Americans living as second‐class citizens in this nation.

I support these efforts because I know that equality is a moral imperative. Back when I was in the Illinois Senate, I co‐sponsored a fully inclusive bill that prohibited discrimination on the basis of both sexual orientation and gender identity, extending protection to the workplace, housing, and places of public accommodation. The non-discrimination bill has become law in Illinois. If I am honored to serve as your President, I will continue to do what I’ve done throughout my career and in this campaign: speak out on behalf of the cause for equal justice and opportunity for LGBT Americans.

By Joan Garry
Cross-posted at Huffington Post

I thought the Log Cabin Republicans would withhold their endorsement of John McCain. Maybe I just hoped they would. After all, they withheld their endorsement of President Bush in 2004. So I thought it was possible.

In making its endorsement today, the group pointed to the Arizona senator’s opposition to a federal constitutional amendment that would have defined marriage as being a man and a woman. The group also indicated that it had honest disagreements with Senator McCain on the subject of same sex marriage. The Log Cabin gang has traveled to St. Paul to carry the message that Republicans are on the “wrong side of history” when it comes to the right of gay and lesbian couples to marry.

Where to start?

(more…)

In this must see video Joan Garry, co-chair of the Obama campaign’s LGBT Finance Committee and former Executive Director of GLAAD, Log Cabin Republican Executive Director Patrick Sammon and Washington Blade Editor Kevin Naff discuss the presidential elections. The video is featured on Logo.

Garry gives an impassioned rationale for why LGBT voters and our friends and families must vote for Sen. Barack Obama. As expected, Sammon made excuses for Sen. John McCain’s failure to include LGBT people in his convention speech or even express any support whatsoever for LGBT civil rights.

For anyone who cares about LGBT civil rights, the choice is clear: Barack Obama for President.

By Michael Crawford

There was more than a little jaw-dropping political spin flying around last week during the Republican Convention. The blog team at LGBT for Obama is here to help cut through that spin and get to some of the real issues impacting the lives of LGBT Americans during this election cycle.

We are now less than 60 days away from the most important presidential election in a generation. To show your support for Barack Obama and Joe Biden, donate directly to the Obama campaign while having your contribution tagged as coming from the LGBT community.

Monday

Kevin Jennings Talks LGBT Voters and the Obama Campaign

Tuesday

Making True Progress – Jake Kaskey

GOP Again On Record Opposing LGBT Civil Rights – Michael Crawford

Wednesday

Log Cabin Republicans Demonstrate Their Commitment to Putting Party First – Elizabeth Birch

I’m John McCain and I Approved This Anti-Gay Message – Michael Crawford

Thursday

Time to Get Serious – Rev. Gene Robinson

Friday

Does Gold Lame Cost This Much? – John Marble

New Hampshire High School Student to McCain: “I Came Here Looking to See a Leader. I Don’t” – Chris Johnson

By Michael Crawford

The Obama campaign continues its strong outreach to LGBT voters with Michelle Obama speaking on Wednesday an event at the Los Angeles home of Bryan Lourd, managing partner of Creative Artists Agency (CAA), and Bruce Bozzi, Lourd’s partner.

The event was attended by 300 Obama supporters.

Patrick Range McDonald of L.A. Weekly’s Queer Town wrote:

Some of the entertainment industry figures who attended the fund raiser were Kevin Huvane, managing partner of CAA, actress Kate Bosworth, actress Helen Hunt, producer Paula Weinstein, actress Salma Hayek, openly gay fashion designer Tom Ford, openly gay producer Bruce Cohen, and actress Reese Witherspoon. Former South Dakota senator Tom Daschle, who was in Los Angeles campaigning for Barack Obama, was also a guest.

Los Angeles gay community leaders who attended the event were Los Angeles City Councilman Bill Rosendahl, West Hollywood City Councilman John Duran, and restaurateur David Cooley, all of whom are openly gay.

Mrs. Obama spoke about her husband’s commitment to advancing LGBT civil rights and urge the attendees to get engaged in the campaign.

Click to find out about other local LGBT Obama events.

Click to donate directly to the Obama campaign.

By Rev. Gene Robinson

Okay, it’s time to get serious. As LGBT voters, it’s time to put our differences and disappointments aside, and get behind the one candidate who has our interests at heart.

If you’re still stinging over the unsuccessful bid for nomination by Hillary Clinton, it’s time to look forward, even if the disappointment still hurts. We are faced with the most stark choice in recent memory, with ramifications for our community like no other. If nothing else convinces you to vote for Barack Obama, surely the likelihood of the next president appointing one, two, or possibly even three Supreme Court justices should do it.

With John McCain, we will see the conservative near-majority on the Court shift to a solid majority – with devastating results when the “full faith and credit clause” of the Constitution is challenged in the recognition of gay marriages. With Barack Obama, we have someone who is utterly sympathetic to our full and equal rights as citizens. I know, he won’t say he’s for equal marriage rights (neither did Hillary), but he still is the most LGBT-friendly president we will have ever had. I know from my own private conversations with him that he is totally in our court. I believe him, and I trust him, not to throw us under the bus when the election is over.

(more…)