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Day 2 of DNC coverage: Historic number of LGBT delegates caucuses; Kennedy gives a primetime shout out to the gays by Lisa Keen
contributing writerTuesday Aug 26, 2008 DENVER Aug. 26 - The largest LGBT caucus ever at a Democratic National Convention celebrated its size and its prospects under an Obama administration but did little else on the first day of this week’s meeting. But even an elephant in the room has some weight to throw around.
The LGBT caucus is, noted Tom Chorlton, an alternate from South Carolina who is attending his 11th national convention, larger than "all except two states - New York and California." He may be right or he may be off by one state, Texas.
California has 503 delegates and alternates; New York has 320; and Texas has 260. The number of openly LGBT delegates and alternates as of Monday seemed to stand at approximately 255.
The numbers were a little fuzzy because LGBT caucus members were increasing every time someone did a headcount, and there were several different numbers bandied about from the podium of Monday’s caucus meeting - the first of two caucus meetings this week. Some numbers hovered around 255, but apparently counted only delegates and alternates, who have the potential to vote on the nomination. That number alone, said DNC Secretary Alice Germond, represents a 41 percent increase over 2004. Other numbers were in the 370 range and included non-voting state party officials. A tally based on the roll call vote taken during the first meeting added up to 377.
Putting things into quick perspective, Colorado’s well-known gay philanthropist Tim Gill, quipped, "The roll call at the Republican [LGBT caucus] will be much shorter."
Rick Stafford, a long-time gay Democratic activist from Minnesota and head of the LGBT caucus, noted that 40 percent of the caucus is comprised of people of color, a far cry from the mostly white caucuses of the past.
The unabridged caucus, so far, includes 63 from California, 34 from New York, 25 from Florida, 22 from Texas, 18 from Ohio, 14 from Massachusetts, 10 from Illinois, and 4 from Michigan.
Among the caucus’s best-known members is U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.) who spoke to the gathering Monday. Baldwin acknowledged that she, like many if not most of the caucus members, "started out backing Senator Clinton" for the Democratic nomination. But she noted that both Clinton and Senator Obama "jointly asked me" to serve on the party’s 15-member platform draft committee. She said the platform "reflects our values" and said it was a far cry from the 1980 platform that stated simply that "all groups" should be protected from discrimination based on their "sexual orientation."
Baldwin did not mention that this year’s platform did not explicitly reference gay and lesbian people, unlike those since 1992, when the party first included the word "gay." However, she did note that this year’s platform, for the first time in party history, explicitly opposes discrimination based on "gender identity," an historic recognition of transgender people.
Battles quiet and afar
There was no expression of any desire to put forth a minority plank to have the platform mention "gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender" people explicitly this year. And there was no effort put forth to make LGBT delegates visible to others or to the national television audience through use of signs, buttons, or other convention paraphernalia. Walking around the entire convention floor Monday evening just minutes before network television coverage began, this reporter did not see one single symbol or sign to represent anything or anyone gay or pro-gay -not even a Human Rights Campaign equal sign poster.
Around 4 p.m. Monday, openly gay Democratic official Andy Tobias -the treasurer of the Democratic National Committee- spoke briefly from the podium. He said he yearns "for a president who believes in equal rights for all Americans," but otherwise limited his remarks to economic matters.
The one explicit mention of gays from the podium did come in prime time, when U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) spoke briefly following the party’s tribute to his many years fighting for health care and rights of the less fortunate.
"Barack Obama," said Kennedy, "will close the book on the old politics of race against race, gender against gender, group against group, and straight against gay."
Echoes of those battles were heard Monday afternoon during a reception hosted by the National Stonewall Democrats at a nearby hotel. Patricia Todd, one of only two openly gay delegates from Alabama and the state’s first and only openly gay state representative, told the audience of perhaps 200 that even Democrats "are not always our friends." She recounted that it was Democratic Party officials in Alabama who challenged her narrow victory in 2006. She credited the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund and the National Stonewall Democrats with overcoming that challenge and preserving her eight-vote win.
Another speaker at the reception, Linda Ketner, asked for support in her bid to become the fourth openly gay member of Congress and the first from South Carolina. Ketner, a businesswoman, housing activist, and daughter of the founder of the Food Lion grocery chain, won her Democratic primary in June with 65 percent of the vote, compared to her competitor’s 35 percent. She now faces Republican incumbent Henry Brown for the 1st Congressi0nal District seat. Brown has a zero (on a scale of zero to 100) voting grade with HRC.
"I’m not running to make a statement," Ketner told the crowd. "I’m running to win."
Stonewall also recognized the contribution of Barack Obama’s LGBT policy adviser Tobias Wolfe who, in turn, credited the efforts of Stonewall and long-time gay Democratic activists with "making a Barack Obama possible."
As for the Democratic presidential nominee Obama was seen Monday only through a live video feed, speaking from Missouri to congratulate his wife for her electrifying speech.
Michelle Obama brought the first night of the convention to a rousing finish with a passionate speech about her and her husband’s family roots and values. Although she did not mention the LGBT community, her sentiments were almost certainly ones that any group concerned about preserving civil rights could take comfort in when contemplating a presidential candidate:
"Barack and I were raised with so many of the same values: that you work hard for what you want in life; that your word is your bond and you do what you say you’re going to do; that you treat people with dignity and respect, even if you don’t know them and even if you don’t agree with them. And Barack and I set out to build lives guided by these values and pass them on to the next generation, because we want our children and all children in this nation to know that the only limit to the height of your achievements is the reach of your dreams and your willingness to work for them."
TODAY: Tuesday at 7 p.m. ET, 6 p.m., 4 p.m. PT, U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin is scheduled to speak from the podium of the convention. Then the Human Rights Campaign stages a "Rock to Win" concert with Melissa Etheridge and Cyndi Lauper.
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