Gay and lesbian caucus hits record numbers at Democratic convention, stresses action

Posted by Ilona Idlis

Labor leader Randi Weingarten delivers a speech on the importance of reelecting Barack Obama at the first gathering of the LGBT Caucus at the Democratic National Convention. (Photo by Ilona Idlis/UW Election Eye)

CHARLOTTE — There was much that the Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender Caucus celebrated when it convened for its first meeting during the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday.  For the first time, all 50 states, as well as Guam and Puerto Rico, sent an official LGBT participant. Over a dozen hailed from Washington state alone.

Together, the delegates, alternates and other sanctioned staff counted 535 strong and made up 8% of the total delegate count. Couple that with the over 30 LGBT members of the national committee and the largest transsexual delegation, and the Democrats have the most gay-friendly political convention in American history.

“We wouldn’t have needed a room this size a few years ago,” quipped speaker Tammy Baldwin to the packed hall. Baldwin, an LGBT Wisconsin state representative, is running to become the first openly gay member of the U.S. Senate in 2012.

Baldwin and many other caucus speakers praised the Obama administration for its support and advancement of the gay community: the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act and POTUS’ personal affirmation of marriage equality.

LGBT Texas delegates throw their hands in the air during the state-by-state row call at the end of the packed caucus meeting. (Photo by Ilona Idlis/UW Election Eye)

“We have to fight for a perfect union,” said Valerie Jarrett, who’s the President’s Senior Adviser. “I believe under President Obama, we’re more perfect than we were four years ago.”

The statement was met with a standing ovation and a chant of “Four more years!” But for all of the room’s excitement, the speakers did not just dwell on the community’s victories. Instead, they pointedly described how quickly they think that progress would disappear given a Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan victory.

Kathleen Sebelius — the Secretary of Health and Human services who last evening addressed the entire convention an hour before the First Lady — stressed that the changes they applauded hung on executive orders and administrative regulations. They weren’t Congress-given laws, and as such, could be reversed.

If Romney is elected, it’ll be gone in 30 days, Sebelius said gravely. “Those footprints would be gone for another decade.”

The most fiery speech of the caucus came from labor leader Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation and AFL-CIO. Her petite frame and booming voice captured attention.

“Their platform is the most repressive, anti-human being, anti-gay, anti woman, anti-children ticket,” she declared. “Are we going to reelect a president who believes that we should have the right to marry, or have a party that wants to turn back the clock on our families?”

In this room, the answer was obvious. The key to victory was staying visible and campaigning actively until election day — “the more they know us, the more they love us.”

“The people in this room have won the hearts and minds of the American people,” Weingarten said. “Because we said who we love is as important as who we are.”

Sebelius instructed the delegation to network across state lines and fine-tune their message while at the DNC, then return home energized and ready to work for the next 60 days.

“You work as hard as you can, because on November 6^th, we need to continue the march to equality and the only way to do that is to reelect President Barack Obama,”  Weingarten concluded.

Washington state delegate Chris Porter attended the LGBT caucus and left motivated to work harder. (Photo by Ilona Idlis/UW Election Eye)

The message hit home with Washington state delegate Chris Porter of the 7th Congressional District.

“[The thought of a Romney victory] makes me extraordinarily nervous,” Porter said, “but it also energizes me to make me want to do more. I have to knock on doors, answer questions, email my candidates and just put myself out there.”

Porter said in 2008 he applied to be a delegate, but hesitated to check the LGBT box on the paperwork. Now he wants to make himself a part of the conversation.

“The more people come out and the more people put themselves out there — inevitably those misconceptions go away and people realize, “Gee, that person is very much like me,” he said.

After this week, Porter plans to resume volunteering with Washington United for Marriage, the Jay Inslee campaign and the President’s reelection efforts with greater vigor.

“It’s important because our state is on the same precipice as our national agenda,” he said. “We’re more than the Evergreen State. We embrace everybody.”

Watch a clip of Randi Weingarten’s speech below.  

Read the original story at Seattle Times

Michelle Obama asks LGBT DNC guests for election help

By Matt Comer
Special to LGBTQ Nation

 

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — First lady Michelle Obama was an honored guest this afternoon at a Human Rights Campaign and Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund luncheon to honor LGBT elected officials.

Fresh off her captivating prime time convention speech kicking of events on Tuesday evening, Mrs. Obama brought LGBT supporters to their feet as she asked for their help in reelecting her husband.

Michelle Obama. Photo by David Lari.

 

“Our president, my husband, has stood strong for the values of freedom, justice and equality that make this country great,” Obama said, speaking 20 minutes late though with no discernible consternation from those gathered to see her.

When she talked about ensuring that “all Americans are treated fairly, no matter who you are or who you love,” a man called “I love Barack!”

“I do too,” Obama said. “We have something in common.”

Later, she spoke about giving everyone the right to “do what Barack and I did and marry the loves of our lives.”

In asking for help in the campaign Obama turned parental.

“You see my face,” she said. “It’s my serious first lady face.” She added, to the crowd’s laughter: “My mom face. You heard me, Sasha.”

She asked LGBT voters to find five, 10 or more additional friends who can turn out to the polls in November.

The convention, she said, would “set the stage for what is at stake in the election and what should guide us over these next four years.” She asked those gathered if the democracy they envisioned meant turning elections over to “whoever buys the most ads on TV.” The crowd booed back and said, “No!”

Several high-profile LGBT and straight ally leaders were present, including convention chair and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, DNC Treasurer Andy Tobias and U.S. Reps. Barney Frank, Jared Polis and Tammy Baldwin.

Also present were New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, Clinton White House advisor Richard Socarides and Diego Sanchez, Frank’s legislative assistant and Capitol Hill’s first out transgender staffer.

 

Democratic National Convention coverage is provided by LGBTQ Nation in partnership with Charlotte-based QNotes.

Read the original story at LGBTQNation

Milk: Barack Obama is a “no-brainer” for the LGBT community

Nephew of slain gay rights pioneer says DNC host city, state critical for fall election

by Matt Comer  Editor  editor@goqnotes.com

Stuart Milk came to Charlotte’s local LGBT Pride festival last weekend on behalf of the president’s reelection campaign. Photo Credit: Jennifer Hogan/Hogan Imaging.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — President Barack Obama’s campaign has put a premium on North Carolina, a swing state that turned blue in 2008 for the first time since Jimmy Carter first ran for president in 1976. Placing the Democratic National Convention in North Carolina’s largest city was no accident, but the campaign is doing much more to ensure the state remains in Obama’s column come November.

Convention and campaign officials on the ground have used the national political event to mobilize volunteers for the president’s reelection bid. Members of the public seeking credentials to attend Obama’s renomination speech at Bank of America Stadium on Thursday were required to complete at least three different, three-hour volunteer shifts.

The Obama campaign is also reaching out to key constituents, including LGBT voters. Campaign surrogate Stuart Milk, co-founder of the Harvey Milk Foundation named in his late uncle’s name, was called to Charlotte last week. The campaign flew him up from Florida to speak at the annual Charlotte’s annual LGBT Pride festival last weekend.

Milk told qnotes that choosing Obama this November is a “no-brainer” for members of the LGBT community. He’s been inspired by Obama and his administration’s work toward equality since first meeting the president three summers ago.

“The first lady said, ‘We have a lot of work to do,’” Milk recalled. “And, the president said, ‘We will get it done.’ Everything we talked about, they’ve gotten it done.”

The Obama Administration, Milk said has been a source of “never-ending and consistent support for the LGBT community.”

The support isn’t just given at home. Internationally, Obama’s pro-equality stances have had an impact.

“That often gets lost,” Milk said. “When they give me speaking points, they never mention or tout what they’ve done globally but I can see the faces of all the young people I’ve met in Budapest or Ankara and in Istanbul and in El Salvador who hear the president supporting them and they feel connected.”

In contrast, Republicans have offered no reason for LGBT voters to cast their support toward the GOP ticket.

“We haven’t even heard anything even remotely inclusive from the other side,” Milk said. “We have too many young people who die everyday becasue they don’t feel included. We have too many who can’t celebrate their relationship and get the full benefits of first-class citizenship because of what this Republican-led Congress has done.”

North Carolina, among other states, will be critical to Obama’s success, said Milk. In fact, Milk believes the Tar Heel State’s electoral votes — 15 in all — will be among several key deciding factors this fall.

“North Carolina is one of the most important states,” Milk asserted. “It is a state that was carried by just a few thousand votes [in 2008]. It is critical that we win in North Carolina in order to keep the White House.”

Read the original story at QNotes

 

Obama Endorsed By LGBT Magazine The Advocate

The country’s oldest LGBT magazine issued its first presidential endorsement in decades on Friday, throwing its support behind President Barack Obama for his recent show of support for marriage equality.

Under the headline “In Obama We Trust,”Advocate editor-in-chief Matthew Breen commended the president for his “enormous” statement that he thinks “same-sex couples should be able to get married” in an ABC interview last month.

In the endorsement, Breen predicted that Obama’s historic backing means that no Democratic presidential hopeful will come out of the primary season opposing gay marriage ever again.

“That position would appear too backward to have legitimacy in the 21st century,” Breen wrote.

The Advocate had less flattering words for former Massachusetts governor and presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney.

Breen accused the Republican candidate of “aligning himself with a faction of the Republican Party that does not include equality among its declared ideals.”

But the magazine has not always championed Obama as an LGBT ally.

In its August 2009 issue, a lead storyticked off various campaign promises to gays and lesbians on which Obama had failed to deliver. Its cover mocked the iconic poster behind Obama’s 2008 campaign, replacing its longtime slogan “HOPE” with a less assuring “NOPE?”

Even in Friday’s endorsement, Breen acknowledged that Obama’s evolved stance is hardly ground-breaking but simply the right thing to do at this point in American history.

“Obama’s newly declared position on marriage equality is not an extreme view, and it is consistent with the view of the majority of Americans, who believe that same-sex couples should have the right to marry,” Breen wrote.

Breen told The Huffington Post on Friday that the last time the Advocate endorsed a political candidate was in 1977, when the magazine weighed in on several non-presidential races across the country.

So, does that make Obama the first commander-in-chief to earn the magazine’s stamp of approval?

“It may be,” Breen said.

Written by Patrick Svitek

Read the original story at Huffington Post

LGBT community expected to work for Obama re-election

Goal is to make sure members show up at the polls in November

Mike Testa thinks a gay Republican is an oxymoron.

An activist for gay rights, Mr. Testa spends his down time lobbying for marriage equality and other gay rights on the state level, but these days one of his major concerns is getting President Barack Obama re-elected in November.

Mr. Obama’s campaign is taking advantage of the LGBT community’s energy during Pride Month, which takes place across the country in June. Obama Pride, an LGBT-outreach arm of the campaign, launched in May just after the president’s statement of support for marriage equality. Since then, the campaign has held voter registrations, phone banks and volunteer sign-ups in several states, including Ohio, Nevada and Florida. The goal is to make sure LGBT voters show up to vote in November.

“I’m a business owner, and I do like some Republican business thinking,” said Mr. Testa, CEO of his own consulting company. Still, he said he could never vote for Mitt Romney. “It would put us back in the Stone Age.”

But during the 2010 midterm elections, gay Republicans weren’t quite so hard to find. According to CNN exit polls, 29 percent of self-identifying LGBT voters went Republican — one of the highest percentages ever, and a change from 2008, when 81 percent of LGBT voters chose Mr. Obama. Patrick Egan, who researches the political activism of the LGBT community at New York University, said gay voters have voted between 20 and 30 percent Republican since the 1980s — “and if it’s a particularly good moment for Republicans,” Democrats can and do lose gay votes.

Gary Gates, a demographer at the Williams Institute at UCLA, concluded last year that about 3.8 percent of the population — 4 million people — are LGBT. Around 3 percent of registered couples in Pennsylvania are same-sex, according to Mr. Gates’ institute.

Mary McThomas, a professor of political science at Mississippi State, studied the possible impact of the gay vote on the election. In the wake of the shift in 2010, she said the gay vote could make a difference electorally despite the small size of the community.

“Where this community comes into play is where you have tight races,” Mr. Gates said.

LGBT citizens are already a political community, said Mr. Egan, so they are receptive to Democratic efforts to engage the base. He found in a 2008 study that gay voters are more politically active than the average straight voter is: In the past year, nearly 40 percent of gay respondents had participated in a civic activity, like writing a congressperson, compared with 30 percent of straight respondents.

But gay voters aren’t the only ones who can be reached during Pride Month — potential allies have their votes up for grabs as well. According to the latest Franklin & Marshall College poll, 47 percent of Pennsylvanians said they thought Mr. Obama’s views on gay marriage lined up with theirs, compared to 37 percent who agreed with Mr. Romney’s position. The state’s results parallel trends of greater support for same-sex marriage nationally: A May 2012 Gallup poll found that 50 percent of Americans believe same-sex marriage is moral, compared to 48 percent who do not.

Terry Madonna, who developed the Franklin & Marshall poll, said that he thinks the economy will affect more votes than gay marriage as a single issue. But the packaging of social issues collectively — of which LGBT rights are one category — still matters “to motivate a group of people who are not nearly as motivated to vote for [Mr. Obama] as they were in 2008,” he said.

And focusing on social issues can also move discussion away from tough economic territory, said Ms. McThomas. “He’s going to have to get people talking about more than the economy or it’s going to get him into trouble. What else could get people to the polls? Civil rights,” she said.

Read the original at Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Obama touts LGBT achievements at White House reception

President Obama addresses White House Pride event attendees (Blade file by Michael Key)

 

President Obama pledged at this year’s White House Pride reception that he’ll continue to be an advocate for the LGBT community for as long as he’s in the White House, calling on attendees to dream big and “as openly as you want.”

“And as long as I have the privilege of being your president, I promise you, you won’t just have a friend in the White House, you will have a fellow advocate — for an America where no matter what you look like or where you come from or who you love, you can dream big dreams and dream as openly as you want,” Obama said.

The reception comes near the conclusion of Obama’s first term — and he wasn’t shy about touting his pro-LGBT achievements over the past three-a-half years, including repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and dropping defense of the Defense of Marriage Act in court. Repealing the military’s gay ban got the most applause from the audience; the runner up was dropping defense of DOMA in court.

One other significant action by Obama was also included in his remarks: his recent endorsement of marriage equality.

“And Americans may be still evolving when it comes to marriage equality — but as I’ve indicated personally, Michelle and I have made up our minds on this issue,” Obama said.

 

Read entire story at the Washington Blade

22 LGBT Advances That (Probably) Will Disappear Under A President Romney

Under a President Mitt Romney, there are at least 22 advances in LGBT civil rights delivered by President Barack Obama that most likely will disappear. While Nancy Pelosi and, to a far lesser extent, Harry Reid, have worked to support civil rights and protections for the gay community, Barack Obama has — sometimes with great fanfare, oftentimes in the shadows — delivered important advances.

Back in 2010, at Change.org, I wrote a somewhat controversial (at the time) article, “Obama’s Gay Rights Come With An Expiration Date,” which stated:

President Obama should know better than to incrementalize gay rights, and tie them to his presidency. And yet, that’s exactly what he’s doing.

…

President Obama has slowly and quietly doled out rights to the LGBTQ community. These are rights we should have by the very nature of our existence, rights that every other American has upon birth, but the president has doled them out cautiously, meekly, without pomp or circumstance, and, worse, he has tied them to his presidency.

This tactic is problematic for two reasons.

First, by expanding our civil rights by issuing executive orders and memoranda, President Obama’s gay civil rights come with an expiration date. Yes, that’s right. The rights he has decreed, without working through Congress, are tied to his presidency. Any of his successors can, simply with the stroke of a pen, wipe out all our hard-earned rights, just because he or she wants to. Do you honestly think the next Republican president won’t do that?

Today, the Washington Blade’s Chris Johnson posts a long list of 21 LGBT advances a President Romney could — with the stroke of a pen or incrementally — make disappear into a more progressive history.

Asking, “Would President Romney undo pro-LGBT advances?,” Johnson notes:

Many of the pro-LGBT advances that have happened under the Obama administration occurred through changes made by the executive branch rather than through legislation. Changes that were made without the consent of Congress could be reversed under an administration that wanted to cozy up to the religious right.

The Washington Blade has identified five regulatory changes and 16 sub-regulatory changes enacted by the Obama administration that could be reversed if Romney were elected to the White House. These changes include giving greater recognition to same-sex couples, protecting federal LGBT workers against discrimination and ensuring the federal government recognizes the correct gender of transgender people.

The one Johnson doesn’t include in his list of “five regulatory changes and 16 sub-regulatory changes” is the most-obvious: Obama’s support of same-sex marriage equality.

Here’s the list from the Blade:

Regulations

The Administrative Procedures Act provides safeguards against politically motivated policy switches. Thus repealing the policies below would involve a multi-year process.

• The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) adopted a regulation ending the ban on HIV-positive visitors and immigrants.
• President Obama issued Presidential Memorandum in April 2010 directing HHS to issue regulations requiring all hospitals receiving Medicaid and Medicare to prohibit discrimination in visitation against LGBT people. HHS issued a final regulation that went into effect in early 2011.
• HUD issued final regulations in January 2012 prohibiting discrimination in federal public housing programs and federally insured mortgage loans.  HUD also requires its grantees to comply with LGBT-inclusive state and local housing discrimination protections.
• The Office of Personnel Management published final regulations in the Federal Register expanding the eligibility for long-term care coverage to same-sex partners and sick leave to care for a same-sex partner.
•  The federal Prison Rape Elimination Commission proposed national standards to reduce sexual abuse in correctional facilities, including standards regarding LGBT and intersex inmates. They were later instituted as a rule finalized by the Justice Department last month.

Sub-Regulatory Guidance/Policy Announcements

These are policy advances instituted by — and subject to the will of — the administration.

• The Department of Health and Human Services revised its funding guidance around abstinence-only-until-marriage sex education programs, requiring that recipient programs are inclusive of and non-stigmatizing toward LGBT youth.
• HHS, in partnership with the Department of Education and Department of Justice, launched stopbullyingnow.com.
• The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency recently released new 2011 Performance Based National Detention Standards.  These new standards provide guidance that aims to improve treatment of LGBT and HIV-positive people in detention facilities.
• In summer 2011, ICE published a memo and clarifying guidance providing that an individual’s family relationships, including a same-sex relationship, would be considered as a factor in labeling certain deportations as low-priority deportations.
• The U.S. Customs and Border Patrol announced a proposed regulatory change expanding the meaning of “members of a family residing in one household” for the purposes of the customs declaration form, which must be completed prior to re-entry to the United States.
• The DOJ issued an opinion clarifying that the criminal provisions of the Violence Against Women Act related to stalking and abuse apply equally to same-sex partners.
• The State Department revised the standards for changing a gender marker on a passport, making the process less burdensome for transgender people.
• In September 2011, the Social Security Administration confirmed that it ended the practice of allowing gender to be matched in its Social Security Number Verification System (SSNVS). This resulted in the immediate cessation of SSA sending notifications that alert employers when the gender marker on an employee’s W-2 does not match Social Security records.
• The State Department extended numerous benefits to the partners of Foreign Service officers, including diplomatic passports and access to emergency evacuation.
• The State Department reversed a Bush administration policy that refused to use a same-sex marriage license as evidence of a name change for passports.
• The Department of Education issued guidance clarifying when student bullying may violate federal law, distributed a memo outlining key components of strong state anti-bullying laws and policies and made clear to public schools that gay-straight alliances have a right to form and meet.
• The Department of Education published guidance and, in coordination with the Department of Justice, has pursued Title IX complaints filed by LGBT students experiencing harassment based on sex or sex stereotyping.
• OPM added gender identity to the equal employment opportunity policy governing all federal jobs.
• The Department of Labor issued guidance clarifying that an employee can take time off under the Family and Medical Leave Act to care for a same-sex partner’s child.
• The IRS clarified that domestic partners (and their children) can be designated beneficiaries for VEBA funding/payment purposes.
• The Census Bureau overturned the Bush administration’s interpretation of the Defense of Marriage Act and agreed to release data on married same-sex couples along with other demographic information from the 2010 Census.

Read the original story at the New Civil Rights Movement

Obama: LGBT rights are part of American story

President draws Hollywood, LGBT donors

President Obama told a Beverly Hills gathering of gay and lesbian donors from show biz, politics and activist orgs that the pursuit of equal rights “is just part of a broader fight on behalf of all Americans.”

What he didn’t mention in his remarks on Wednesday was he recent announcement that he supports same-sex marriage, but to many who were there, it was readily apparent.

As screenwriter Dustin Lance Black put it, the extended standing ovation that came when Obama appeared in the Beverly Wilshire Hotel ballroom was message enough. “He stepped on stage and said, ‘Here I am,’ and we said, ‘We heard you.’”

The sold-out event of about 600, drawing stars like Cher and her son, Chaz Bono, cast members from “Glee” and Jesse Tyler Ferguson, was moved to the bigger at Obama made his announcement last month that he had evolved and supports same-sex marriage. Obama followed it with a $25,000-per-person dinner at the Beverly Hills home of “Glee” co-creator Ryan Murphy and fiancee David Miller, with Julia Roberts, Reese Witherspoon, Jane Lynch, HBO’s Michael Lombardo and Gap President Jack Calhoun.

All told, more than $3 million was expected to be raised.

At the Beverly Wilshire event, Obama emphasized his administration’s accomplishments, most prominently ending Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.

He devoted a portion of his speech to putting gay and lesbian rights in the context of American history, saying the country has seen a “constant progression toward including more and more people in the American dream.” The crowd twice broke into chants of “Four more years!” as Obama spoke before a gigantic American flag.

Vito Imbasciani, a urological surgeon who served in the military for 26 years but had to conceal his husband until the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, introduced Obama. The President referred several times to Imbasciani’s story, as well as to one of a straight service member he met at a Honolulu Marine base who thanked him for the repeal because “I didn’t think it was right.”

Ellen DeGeneres and “Glee” star Darren Criss entertained the crowd before Obama took the stage.

A brief awkward moment came when Obama talked of the First Lady’s appearance on DeGeneres’ show. He noted DeGeneres was teased by the First Lady for not beating her in pushups but that DeGeneres “claims Michelle didn’t go all the way down.” It drew naughty laughter from this crowd, before he said, “Michelle outdoes me in pushups as well.”

Also at the event were Les Moonves and wife Julie Chen, Peter Roth, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Paris Barclay, Lance Bass, George Takei, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, White House Social Secretary Jeremy Bernard, Human Rights Campaign President Chad Griffin, and Adam Umhoefer, executive director, American Foundation for Equal Rights.

The cochairs of the event were actor Barry Karas and attorney Dana Perlman.

Some of those who were there spoke of a boost in enthusiasm.

Black said that “it is important that we get gay and lesbian people motivated. I think he did it.”

He added that he appreciated that Obama did not just focus on LGBT issues, but that he “made it about all of us out there.”

“I didn”t think we talked down to. He talked about the fact that we are all interconnected” and put the pursuit of LGBT rights in context.

Tim Robinson, a small business owner, who attended with his partner, attorney Bob Cohen, said that although Obama did not make mention of same-sex marriage, “his presence at this event said more than needs to be said. That would be stating the obvious.”

“I was moved in a way I have not been moved before,” said Robinson, who added that he and Cohen plan to offer up their home for another fundraising event.

The Courage Campaign’s Rick Jacobs said that for a President who has been knocked for being too “cerebral,” he was moved by Obama’s remarks, which he said were “spoken from his soul and he really connected.”

Read the original story at Variety

LGBT donors back President Obama, big time

Some of Obama’s prominent LGBT supporters include Neil Patrick Harris, Suze Orman, Ricky Martin, Ellen DeGeneres, and Dustin Lance Black.

(CNN) — After President Obama announced his support for same-sex marriage, a group organizing a fundraiser on his behalf suddenly had to find a bigger venue. The event, featuring the pop singer Pink, is one of two LGBT-organized fundraisers Obama is expected to attend on the West Coast on Wednesday.

A CNN analysis of President Obama’s biggest fundraisers, known as bundlers, shows that at least 33 — or about one in every 16 bundlers — is openly gay. Together, they have raised at least $8 million for the campaign between January and the end of March.

By contrast, in the same period, bundlers from the television, movie and music industry, some of whom attended a recent high-profile fundraiser hosted by actor George Clooney, raised $6.8 million, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

While campaign finance laws require donors to disclose their full names, addresses, occupations and employers, there is no box to check for sexual orientation. Nor does the law require candidates to release information about their bundlers. Under prodding from watchdog groups, presidential campaigns have released bundler data in past elections. Obama’s campaign has released its list. Republican candidate Mitt Romney’s campaign has not.
In CNN’s analysis, only bundlers who have disclosed their orientation in past CNN reporting or in trusted LGBT publications were counted as gay. The Washington Post has reported that as many as one in six bundlers supporting Obama are gay. The Advocate Magazine estimates one in five.
Glancing down the names on the bundlers list released by the Obama campaign for the first quarter, it is easy to find people known for their work on behalf of the LGBT community.
Tim Gill, a software entrepreneur who runs a large Colorado-based foundation that backs gay rights projects, has already contributed $672,800 with his partner Scott Miller to the Obama for America campaign. Fred Eychaner, who owns the Chicago-based Newsweb Corp., has donated $1,220,550 so far.
He co-hosted a $35,800-per-person LGBT organized fundraiser for Obama in February. Kathy Levinson, the former president and CEO of the Menlo Park, California-based Etrade, gave $202,150. The LA Gay and Lesbian Center Women’s Night named Levinson a “Community Role Model” in 2000. She was instrumental in raising money to stop the anti-same-sex marriage law in California.
Donations made after Obama announced his support for same-sex marriage May 9 won’t be released until mid-June, when the campaign files its second-quarter reports with the Federal Election Commission.
Many LGBT bundlers have maintained a close relationship with the president throughout his first term. A state dinner in March was attended by bundlers Gill; Eychaner; Barry Karas, a former Human Rights Campaign board member; James (Wally) Brewster, senior vice president of General Growth Properties, a real estate investment trust that owns and operates shopping malls; Dana Perlman, a corporate lawyer who has served as co-chair of the Obama/DNC LGBT Leadership Council; Joseph Falk, a Miami mortgage broker and others.
Support for Obama from the LGBT community was challenged after the initial excitement of his first campaign, largely because of what was perceived as his lukewarm support on same-sex marriage. Some say a low point came during the election in 2008, when evangelist pastor Rick Warren asked Obama how he defined marriage and he called it “a union between a man and a woman.” He added: “For me as a Christian, it is a sacred union. God’s in the mix.” He further angered the community by picking Warren to deliver his invocation at the presidential inauguration.
Actor Alan Cumming wrote in 2010, “We keep hearing that Obama is an ally, that DADT [the 'don't ask, don't tell' policy that kept LGBT people from openly serving in the military] will end under his watch, but what do we actually get? Diddly squat.”
Dustin Lance Black, who won a best screenplay Oscar for “Milk,” a movie biography of the gay San Francisco politician Harvey Milk who was gunned down because of his sexual orientation, said last year that he had been an Obama supporter before but might sit out the upcoming election. When President Obama finally signed the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” and “evolved” in his position on marriage by saying he was in favor of it for the LGBT community, both Black and Cumming did more than just say they supported the president. They donated money. They also encouraged others to do the same.
David Mixner, who started one of the first LGBT-themed PACs in the late 1970s, said the community has come a long way in being accepted in electoral politics. “We had some candidates who wouldn’t take our money back then because they didn’t want to be associated with anyone who was gay,” Mixner said. He said he believes that changed with the Clinton administration, which the PAC raised $4 million to support. “Now the community knows how to raise money and contribute on their own and we are more than welcome at the table.”
The LGBT community is such an important part of this president’s re-election effort that the Obama for America campaign hosts a special section for it on its website. It includes a video discussing the president’s support for LGBT issues narrated by actress Jane Lynch, who is openly gay. It also offers Obama merchandise like T-shirts and drink koozies to bring to Gay Pride events this summer.
The president has already attended several LGBT-organized fundraisers, including one in New York hosted by openly gay singer Ricky Martin, the Futuro Fund, and Obama for America LGBT Leadership Council.
Another event in Washington, hosted by Karen K. Dixon and her partner, Dr. Nan Schaffer, was rumored to have raised more than a million dollars for the campaign, although the Obama team won’t comment on the record about fundraising. Tickets for one of the California events were selling so well the campaign had to find a larger venue. There also is great interest in a Chicago fundraiser co-hosted by LGBT bundlers Brewster and Bob Satawake. The couple has already raised $288,663, according to the CNN analysis.
“I think there has always been a strong base of support from LGBT people for the president,” said Michael Cole-Schwartz, spokesperson for the Human Rights Campaign, whose incoming president Chad Griffin is a bundler. “He earned even more respect from the community — from repealing ‘don’t ask, don’t tell,’ to signing the hate crimes law giving the first civil rights protection for us in federal law, to coming out against DOMA,” the Defense of Marriage Act that defines marriage for federal purposes as unions exclusively between a man and a woman. “Now, with his saying he believes in full marriage equality, we have another reason for people in our community to be generous with their time and money.”
It is difficult to know if there are any openly gay bundlers for the Republicans, because Romney has not disclosed his bundler list.
The Republican candidate has, however, voiced his opposition to civil unions and supports a federal amendment to the U.S. Constitution to deny same-sex couples the right to marry.
But some gay Republicans say Romney is not totally close minded on LGBT issues.

“On gay issues, where Romney stands is not as black and white as it seems,” said R. Clarke Cooper, executive director of the Log Cabin Republicans, an organization for gay and lesbian Republicans. “One thing he has been consistent on, as governor and as a candidate for president, is he has spoken in broad terms about ending discrimination in the workplace. He has said there is no room for it.”
Cooper said the Log Cabin Republicans haven’t decided yet if they will endorse Romney. That announcement will come sometime this fall. He does believe, though, that there are gay donors to Romney’s campaign. They just might not be as outspoken.
“We joke that at Pride (festivals), the question we most often ask other Republicans we see there is, ‘Are you out?’ Meaning ‘out’ about your politics yet.”

Read the original story at CNN

President Obama’s LGBT Pride Month Declaration

On Friday, President Obama declared June LGBT Pride Month. Sure it’s just a gesture, but sometimes gestures speak volumes. Above he speaks about the declaration, and below is the official text:

A PROCLAMATION

From generation to generation, ordinary Americans have led a proud and inexorable march toward freedom, fairness, and full equality under the law—not just for some, but for all. Ours is a heritage forged by those who organized, agitated, and advocated for change; who wielded love stronger than hate and hope more powerful than insult or injury; who fought to build for themselves and their families a nation where no one is a second-class citizen, no one is denied basic rights, and all of us are free to live and love as we see fit.

The lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community has written a proud chapter in this fundamentally American story. From brave men and women who came out and spoke out, to union and faith leaders who rallied for equality, to activists and advocates who challenged unjust laws and marched on Washington, LGBT Americans and allies have achieved what once seemed inconceivable. This month, we reflect on their enduring legacy, celebrate the movement that has made progress possible, and recommit to securing the fullest blessings of freedom for all Americans.

Since I took office, my Administration has worked to broaden opportunity, advance equality, and level the playing field for LGBT people and communities. We have fought to secure justice for all under the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr.,Hate Crimes Prevention Act, and we have taken action to end housing discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. We expanded hospital visitation rights for LGBT patients and their loved ones, and under the Affordable Care Act, we ensured that insurance companies will no longer be able to deny coverage to someone just because they are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender.

Because we understand that LGBT rights are human rights, we continue to engage with the international community in promoting and protecting the rights of LGBT persons around the world. Because we repealed “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” gay, lesbian and bisexual Americans can serve their country openly, honestly, and without fear of losing their jobs because of whom they love. And because we must treat others the way we want to be treated, I personally believe in marriage equality for same-sex couples.

More remains to be done to ensure every single American is treated equally, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. Moving forward, my Administration will continue its work to advance the rights of LGBT Americans. This month, as we reflect on how far we have come and how far we have yet to go, let us recall that the progress we have made is built on the words and deeds of ordinary Americans. Let us pay tribute to those who came before us, and those who continue their work today; and let us rededicate ourselves to a task that is unending — the pursuit of a Nation where all are equal, and all have the full and unfettered opportunity to pursue happiness and live openly and freely.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim June 2012 as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month.

I call upon the people of the United States to eliminate prejudice everywhere it exists, and to celebrate the great diversity of the American people.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this first day of June, in the year of our Lord two thousand twelve, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-sixth.

BARACK OBAMA

Happy Pride everyone!

Read original story at Queerty