Pure PANDERMANIA! Exit question: Does Silky remind you of Tom Cruise? From website 365GAY: (Los Angeles, California) The Democratic candidates for President made history last night by participating in the first-ever televised forum on LGBT issues.
The most surprising comment of the evening came from Gov. Bill Richardson, who, in response to a question posed by singer/activist Melissa Etheridge said, that he believed that sexual orientation was a "choice."
"I can't believe he meant that," said forum moderator and journalist Margaret Carlson afterwards. "As someone who as governor wants to bring domestic partnerships to New Mexico , he either didn't understand the question or needs to rethink."
The candidates—Sen. Hilary Clinton, Sen. Barack Obama, Sen. John Edwards, Gov. Bill Richardson, Congressman Dennis Kucinich and Sen. Mike Gravel-each came to the stage solo for about 15 minutes to answer questions posed by Etheridge, Carlson, journalist Jonathan Capehart and HRC executive director Joe Solomonese. The conversations were broadcast live on Logo (which owns 365Gay) and online at VisibleVote08.com. Neither Sen. Joe Biden nor Sen. Chris Dodd appeared, citing scheduling concerns.
For the most part, the candidates kept to the lines they had drawn in previous debates. All of the candidates supported repealing Don't Ask, Don't Tell; all want full civil rights for LGBT's - though the category "full civil rights" includes gay marriage only for dark horses Kucinich and Gravel; all supported rolling back the Defense of Marriage Act.
Obama noted that he has made it a point to talk about gay issues to all audiences, including "the most important speech of my life [at the Democratic National Convention], in my announcement that I was running for president and to black ministers."
Capehart noted afterwards that this was an important thing for the candidate to say. "Gay people often feel that they are separated, apart. This clip from Obama says no, you are a part of America ."
One of the most emotional moments came when Etheridge told Clinton that coming out during President Bill Clinton's inauguration had made her "hopeful"—at first.
Then, she said, tears in her eyes, "our hearts were broken, we were thrown under the wheels of the bus."
Clinton responded that she disagreed with that interpretation, saying that with a very divisive Republican Congress, many issues weren't moved forward as quickly as she personally would have liked. She added that as President she would roll back the "assault" from the President and the Republicans on the LGBT community. "It's been demeaning and degrading. That will end. That is over."
Edwards said that he was wrong, in an earlier debate, to state that he was against gay marriage because of his religious background, and that he felt very strongly both about equality and about the division between church and state. However, he said, "The time for political doublespeak is over. You deserve to know the truth. My position has not changed. I do not support gay marriage."
Both Kucinich and Gravel stressed that they believed in full equality, including marriage, and that love between same-sex couples was just as valid and should be recognized the same as love between heterosexual couples.
Logo reaches 28 million homes. MTV Networks chair and CEO Judy McGrath noted that there was no consumer backlash to the presidential forum; no advertisers had pulled out.
She applauded the forum, saying, "I was humbled by it, exhilarated. It was too short. I wanted them to talk all day. This was a great moment in the history of civil rights."
Tags: Democrat gay lgbt debate logo Etheridge Margaret Carlson hillary clinton barack obama bill richardson john edwards
