Hillary Spins to the Washington Blade - And Why I Support Obama

The online issue of the Washington Blade has a new article (http://www.washblade.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=16508) consisting of an interview with Hillary Clinton in which Hillary claims to be the more gay-friendly of the two remaining Democrat presidential candidates. I am not the first to discuss this article and do not mean to merely parrot what Pam Spaulding and others have done. Those who followed this blog back in October, 2007 or so know that I was anything but kind to Barack Obama when Donnie McClurkin – a supposed ex-gay black minister – joined the South Carolina gospel tour. I raised Hell and demanded that Obama fire campaign officials responsible for the insulting gaffe of having anything to do with McClurkin. Since that time I have followed the position of Hillary and Obama on gays very closely and have concluded that Barack Obama is the better candidate on gay issues regardless of Hillary’s current spin endeavors. My reasons are as follows:

1. While this may seem petty, if one goes to the official websites of both campaigns, one can easily find a LGBT link on the home page of Obama’s site that leads “Obama Pride” and various resources on Obama’s stand on gay issues, including his response to HRC’s questionnaire and other resources. In contrast, a visit to Hillary’s official campaign website reveals NO references to the LGBT community (or at least none that I could find) whatsoever. If Hillary is such a supporter of gays, why are we invisible on her campaign website? Actions speak louder than words, Hillary

2. On the Defense of Marriage Act, in his letter to the Windy City Times, Obama wrote the following: “For the record, I opposed DOMA [the Defense of Marriage Act] in 1996. It should be repealed and I will vote for its repeal on the Senate floor. I will also oppose any proposal to amend the U.S. Constitution to ban gays and lesbians from marrying. This is an effort to demonize people for political advantage, and should be resisted. When Members of Congress passed DOMA, they were not interested in strengthening family values or protecting civil liberties. They were only interested in perpetuating division and affirming a wedge issue. ... In contrast, Hillary does not support a full repeal of DOMA – she supports repealing only the section that prohibits the federal government from recognizing same-sex couples.

3. Obama has repeatedly called for equal treatment for gays in speeches and campaign addresses, including such events as his speech at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta and as recently as last night in Virginia Beach. These statements have been made even when the audience is not necessarily receptive to that message. In contrast, Hillary seems to save her supportive statements for situations where the audience is friendly and/or where she thinks she is saying what the listeners want to hear.

There is always a chance that politicians may not deliver what they have promised. However, from following Obama, talking to his local campaign coordinator throughout the day today at my office, and working with his campaign staff – people are in my office phone banking and organizing poll workers for tomorrow at the moment - my sense is that Obama will do his damnedest to deliver for the LGBT community whereas Hillary will do so only as long as it is expedient.