Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama, left, pictured with
running mate Joe Biden, called for an end to discrimination against
‘our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters’ during his speech Aug. 28 in
Denver
Obama’s win represents ‘historic milestone’ for gays. Plus: McCain won 27 percent of the gay vote.
LGBT leaders criticized for being ‘very timid and soft.’
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By Chris Johnson
Friday, September 05, 2008
DENVER — Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama’s nomination speech last week impressed and excited many gay rights activists.
Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, called Obama’s speech an “emotional moment” and a “brilliant opportunity” for Obama “to speak to more Americans than he’s probably ever spoken to before or may speak to again before the election.”
Solmonese hoped people took away a sense of the candidate’s vision for America, which “very much includes GLBT Americans.”
“GLBT Americans, I hope, would feel as inspired as I do coming away from it,” Solmonese said.
Rea Carey, executive director of the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force, said Obama’s speech was extraordinary and demonstrated “the energy for a new time.”
“Certainly, we in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community are hungry for something different than what we have experienced in the last eight years, which has just been devastating to our community,” she said.
Jon Hoadley, executive director of the National Stonewall Democrats, said Obama’s speech “struck the tone of specifics with aspirations.”
Obama delivered his acceptance speech Aug. 28 in primetime at Invesco Field, home of the Denver Broncos. The speech marked the first time that a major political party has nominated a black person for the U.S. presidency.
An estimated 84,000 people came to hear Obama. Some waited for hours in a line that snaked through the area surrounding Invesco Field for miles.
The audience roared as Obama put forward his agenda for bringing change to America. Attendees waived miniature American flags and blue signs reading “Change We Can Believe In,” and chanted the Obama campaign slogan, “Yes We Can!”
“Change happens because the American people demand it—because they rise up and insist on new ideas and new leadership, a new politics for a new time,” Obama said. “America, this is one of those moments.”
Obama mentioned his commitment to gay rights when he listed several contentious issues facing the American public, such as abortion and gun ownership.
“I know there are differences on same-sex marriage, but surely we can agree that our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters deserve to visit the person they love in the hospital and to live lives free of discrimination,” he said.
Attendees responded to the line quickly with loud and sustained applause.
Solmonese said Obama made the remarks on gay rights in an attempt to bring the issues to the attention of the “middle of America.”
“He was speaking probably less to the community and trying to find common ground with the people we need to move,” he said.
Hoadley said he was “excited” that Obama included gays and lesbians in his speech.
“It was primetime inclusion of our community and I think that’s important,” he said.
Still, Hoadley said he wished Obama “would have been talking about lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues as a full spectrum.”
Leaders evaluate convention
Some advocacy leaders, however, said broader discussions of gay issues were present elsewhere at the convention.
Solmonese, who has attended every Democratic convention since 1988, said he felt that “a dialogue around GLBT issues was really sort of woven through every aspect of the convention.”
Carey, who noted the Task Force does not issue endorsements, said there was “just a sense that the participation of the LGBT community in the Democratic Party was welcome, encouraged and valued.”
The convention featured speeches from two out speakers: Democratic National Committee Treasurer Andy Tobias, who spoke in the afternoon of Aug. 25 on restoring the fiscal health of the nation, and U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.), who spoke in the early evening of Aug. 26 on health care reform.
The number of openly gay speakers was fewer than 2004, when there were six out speakers at the Democratic convention.
But numerous prominent straight speakers mentioned gay rights this year in their speeches, including Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.), former presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), former President Bill Clinton, and former Vice President Al Gore.
Gay delegates also met during two caucuses and luncheons throughout the week to discuss gay issues.
Hoadley said he wished there would have been time for more out speakers or speeches from gay advocacy leaders at the convention, but with a shorter convention than previous years “there was just less real estate to work with.”
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