In addition to talking about candidates' positions on the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy regarding homosexuals in the media, on the show tody I did a recap of the first Gay Forum for Presidential Candidates, help last Thursday night, August 9th, in Los Angeles.
Democrat Presidential hopefuls participated in a two-hour forum televised exclusively on the Logo Network, on gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender issues. Sponsored by the Human Rights Campaign, Logo is the nation's leading GLBT television channel. Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese, Melissa Etheridge and Washington Post journalist Jonathan Capehart were the panelists.
The following Democrat candidates participated : Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, Mike Gravel, Dennis Kucinich, Barack Obama and Bill Richardson.
Candidate positions:
Bottom line -- all the candidates support all the issues of concern to the homosexual community except one -- gay marriage. Only Kucinich and Gravel are for gay marriage.
Of course, this raised questions from the panel, such as to Obama: "Isn't this then a separate but equal position?" Obama said no, that it was a matter of 'semantics.' He said he favors all rights for gay couples afforded to government sanctioned marriage, and that it rests with the churches if they want to accept marriage for gays or not. Again, the panel said that he was then designating 'marriage' as a religious term.
Candidates positions on all gay rights issues here.
Interestingly: Mike Gravel took on Hillary Clinton’s stance on same-sex marriage after the forum (she opposes it, but is in favor of civil unions. In an article, he equated her position with those who defended slavery and segregationists.
"During last week’s historic gay debate, Hillary Clinton dredged up the old states rights argument when justifying her opposition to gay marriage. Apparently she thinks that the second class citizenship of gays and lesbians is a matter for the states to decide."
HRC Poll Results following the forum:
WHO’S YOUR CANDIDATE?
Barack Obama 45%
Dennis Kucinich 25%
Hillary Clinton 14%
Mike Gravel 8%
John Edwards 5%
Bill Richardson 3%
Next: HRC Sponsors
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