There has never been a presidential nominee from either political party that is as supportive of LGBT civil rights as Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic nominee. He has long fought for civil and equal rights for minorities including the LGBT community. And, in the presidential campaign, Sen. Obama has included LGBT Americans numerous times in his speeches.
After the jump is a list of Sen. Obama’s positions on LGBT issues.
I recently had the chance to talk to Steve Hildebrand, the Deputy Campaign Manager for the Obama Campaign and the highest ranking gay staffer for the campaign.
Steve has spent more than twenty years organizing some of the most targeted and high profile political campaigns in the nation and is recognized as one of the best political strategists in the United States. Working extensively in South Dakota, Iowa and Minnesota, Steve has managed races and ran two political parties. He served as Midwest Political Director for the DNC during the Clinton re-elect in 1996 and as Political Director at the DSCC in 97/98. In 99/2000, Steve ran the Iowa caucuses for Vice President Gore and ran the Women Vote! Program for EMILY’s List in 2000. He managed Senator Tim Johnson’s campaign in 2002 and Senator Tom Daschle’s campaign in 2004. In 2007, decided to serve as the Deputy Campaign Manager for Senator Barack Obama’s presidential campaign.
The full interview, with discussion ranging from LGBT voter outreach to Anti-Gay Marriage Amendments to a fully-inclusive ENDA, after the jump.
Today the Chicago Tribune endorsed Barack Obama for the presidency. This is the first time in the 161 year history of the Tribune that they have endorsed a Democratic presidential candidate.
Obama is deeply grounded in the best aspirations of this country, and we need to return to those aspirations. He has had the character and the will to achieve great things despite the obstacles that he faced as an unprivileged black man in the U.S.
He has risen with his honor, grace and civility intact. He has the intelligence to understand the grave economic and national security risks that face us, to listen to good advice and make careful decisions.
When Obama said at the 2004 Democratic Convention that we weren’t a nation of red states and blue states, he spoke of union the way Abraham Lincoln did.
It may have seemed audacious for Obama to start his campaign in Springfield, invoking Lincoln. We think, given the opportunity to hold this nation’s most powerful office, he will prove it wasn’t so audacious after all. We are proud to add Barack Obama’s name to Lincoln’s in the list of people the Tribune has endorsed for president of the United States.
That is the question that popped into my mind this morning while reading yet another story about the gutter style politics of John McCain. You remember The Grinch, right? He was dead set on stopping The Whos from celebrating Christmas.
All the talk of mavericks during the Oct. 2 vice presidential debate started me humming the theme from The Magnificent Seven. There they are, a ragtag bunch of rugged loners in a wild country. Will they learn to work together in time to save the beleaguered townsfolk from the marauding villains? Hey, wait a minute — they ARE the marauding villains.
Maybe I just have movies on my mind, since Washington’s gay film fest starts next week; but the McCain campaign increasingly feels like a movie in which the director is desperately trying to make us suspend our disbelief and buy the Republican nominee as the guy to fix the wreckage wrought by the Republican incumbent over the past several years.
Barney Frank is having none of it. The congressman from Massachusetts pounds a simple point he has made for years regarding the gay dimension in politics: that the far better record of Democrats on gay rights points to a partisan conclusion.
That is all that comes to mind when I heard Cindy McCain unleash yet another low blow attack on Obama while stumping in Pennsylvania. Funny how the campaign that kept screaming “leave families out of it” when it came to very valid discussion of Palin’s teenage pregnant daughter and abstinence only teaching is now using their children as political pawns. Here’s part of Cindy’s screed:
The day that Sen. Obama decided to cast a vote to not fund my son when he was serving sent a cold chill through my body. I would suggest that Sen. Obama change shoes with me for just one day and see what it means … to have a loved one serving in the armed forces and more importantly, serving in harm’s way. I suggest he take a day and go watch our fine young men…and women deploy, get on those buses and leave with a smile.
A couple of days ago I wrote that gays won’t let their friends vote McCain and with less than four weeks before election day that message has taken on an increased urgency. This post the second is a series that I am writing urging LGBT people to talk to our family, friends and co-workers about why a vote for John McCain is a vote for discrimination against LGBT Americans.
John McCain and Sarah Palin have unleash a wave of negative attacks in speeches and ads against Barack Obama and our fight to change our country for the better. They have, as a New York Times editorial stated, moved “into the dark territory of race-baiting and xenophobia.”
What makes you think that if elected they will not turn that same mean-spiritedness and willingness to engage in divisive politics against us?
It looks like McCain and Palin are willing to do anything to win- including inciting fear, anger, and violence in their supporters.
As the McCain campaign has stepped up the negative attacks and smears, the audiences at their rallies are getting more and more outlandish. Shouts of “traitor” and even “kill him“- in reference to Obama- are popping up all over the news. I wonder where these supporters are getting this kind of anger from.
Perhaps it is from the McCain Campaign’s continued efforts to link Obama to Ayers? Maybe Palin saying Obama “pals around with terrorists”? Could it be every spokesperson from their campaign- and their negative ads- calling Obama “risky”?
Jerame turned me on to the new Obama iPhone application late last week and I wanted to share it with ya’ll. I know a lot of our readers are Mac users and several of you e-mail me from your iPhone, so this should go over like gang busters!
It’s amazing how technologically advanced the Obama campaign is. While McCain can’t get online, the Obama team is using every advantage computers can give. From their masterful use of text messaging to their campaign site where you can download your own local walk list, the Obama camp has definitely grasped the new face of politics.
The coolest feature of the application is “Call Your Friends.” The app will go through your address book and sort them by battleground states; it arranges them in order of who you should call first to urge them to vote for Barack. Once you’ve made the call, the app records it and asks you how the call went: “Considering Obama,” “Voting Obama,” “Left message,” etc. It will also provide you with the latest news, info on local volunteer activities and upcoming events in your area.
Just as friends don’t let friends drive drunk, we should declare right here, right now that as LGBT people we won’t let our friends vote McCain. At least not without a fight.
I understand that voting is a personal thing, but it is critical that we let our friends, family and co-workers know how much a McCain/Palin administration would hurt us and our families.
