On Thursday April 17th, a major undertaking will take place by 13 organizations that are both run by and primarily serve LGBT people of color will be holding a political forum. The forum's co-sponsors cross racial and gender lines. We will have representation from the campaigns of both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. All three Democratic candidates running for PA State Senate District 1, which encompasses Center City and South Philadelphia will speak to the audience. There will also be a special guest appearance by none other than Flashdance/The L Word sensation herself, Jessica Beals.

The co-sponosring organizations are really excited about this event as it will serve to both increase our visibility to our elected officials and also develop our capacity as people of color to have our issues be part of the political process by creating a space for ourselves. If you live in the Philly area, please attend this historical event.

Why I support Barack Obama

Below is an email that I sent to several friends expressing my support for Barack Obama. I'm posting here so that I can share my thoughts with a wider audience. I'm interested in hearing others' opinions of Barack Obama.

Hello friends. I know that some people keep their politics personal and don’t like to share who they support and/or plan to vote for, however, I have been fairly open about my support of Barack Obama for the next president of the United States of America. I don’t know who you support at this time, but I am hoping that if you’re undecided that this email will help you decide, since we are less than 3 weeks away from the Pennsylvania primary.

I have been selected to join Obama’s state wide volunteer LGBT leadership team to do outreach and educate Philadelphia’s LGBT community about his support for our communities. For those of you who live here in Philadelphia, you may have seen this weeks Philadelphia Gay News editorial slamming Obama for not giving them an interview at the time they asked for it. As a result, they call into question his support of the gay community. All I have to say about this is, in the words of the politically conscious rap group from the 90’s, Public Enemy: “Don’t believe the hype!”.

I am also not a one issue voter, and a candidate being good on LGBT issues is only part of what I look for and I believe that Barack Obama embodies the best qualities for the next President. Here are my reasons:

1. I was deeply moved by the speech he gave on March 18^th, here in our beloved city of Philadelphia, where he talked about the need to address race relations in the US in a real way. This was a risk for him as I think we all know that not all Americans want to deal with the racism that continues to exist in our country and would as soon vote for a candidate who is less direct on these issues than one who is. None the less our country would be much better off addressing race relations than denying them. Please don’t give validation to the distractions that those who don’t support Obama have drummed up to tarnish his integrity on race relations. Many of us have varying opinions on how Obama should have handled the Rev. Wright controversy, but I ask we keep our eyes on the future and ultimately whether you feel he handled it well or not so well, I feel he is the better candidate to make the progressive changes we need in America.
2. In my view, Barack Obama brings the enthusiasm, charisma and intelligence that is needed to bring our country to a more cohesive state. I don’t view his abilities unrealistically and realize that even if he were to be in office for 8 years that he can only take us so far, but I am willing to ride with him those 8 years to take us as far as we can go in healing some of the divides that exist. I think he is the better candidate to provide this kind of leadership and inspiration.
3. On several occasions Obama has stood before general audiences and included gays and lesbians as part of America’s future. What was even more striking is when he made a speech on the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. this year at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta and said

“…..we are told that those who differ from us on a few things, differ from us on all things, that the problems are the fault of those who don’t think like us or look like us or come from where we do………if we’re honest with ourselves we’ll acknowledge that our own community has not always been true to Kings vision of a beloved community; if we’re honest with ourselves we have to admit that there have been times when we’ve scorned our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters instead of embracing them”.

I don’t know about you, but to me this is a powerful thing for him to say in front of a primarily Black Baptist audience and underscores his credibility as a progressive candidate for making change in our country.

4. Barack Obama is supportive of the full repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). DOMA in essence says that if you get married as a same sex couple in one state, the rights you have been granted under that marriage are non-transferable and leaves it up to the discretion of individual states to nullify this marriage and its rights if they so choose to. Obama is the only presidential candidate that is in favor of a full repeal of this legislation.
5. If elected, Obama plans to develop a national HIV/AIDS strategy to find better ways for us to address the epidemic n the US and he is also supportive of the US increasing its presence in addressing the global HIV/AIDS crisis.
6. He is supportive of ending the war in Iraq, which has taken the lives of thousands of Americans and has cost our country trillions of dollars that have left many of those in our own country suffering evidenced by the cutting of many supportive social services, the faltering of our economy where gas prices are at an all time high, home foreclosures are up and we are on the verge of a recession. I believe Obama will surround himself with the right people to help him make good decisions about how to begin withdrawing our troops.
7. I feel that Obama brings a freshness to politics that hasn’t been seen in a long time. I admire how he’s handled the tag teaming of the Clinton’s and has done his best not to stoop to name calling and using the “kitchen sink” strategy that has been employed by his opponent. He’s not perfect, as no person is, but in my view he brings greater integrity to his politics than his opponent.
8. Analysis of voter turnouts during the primaries have shown that Obama does very well with voters who are registered as Independent and Clinton does not. This means he potentially has a better chance to beat McCain in November as he also has a strong appeal to Independent voters. A Clinton/McCain standoff could mean a much more difficult race for the Democrats than an Obama/McCain race would be.

I know this email is a bit long, but I wanted to make sure I conveyed to you why I think Barack Obama is the best candidate for the president of the United States. I have attached some documentation to support some of the things I mentioned above so that you can see for yourself where Barack Obama stands on not only LGBT issues, but others as well.

I am helping to plan outreach initiatives in the next couple of weeks and would like your help in a couple of ways:

1. Please send this email or one with your own reasons why you support Barack Obama to at least 10 of your friends and please cc me in. I promise that I won’t hijack your list and send emails out to them unless you specifically give me that permission. Plus with your forwards you can always blind carbon copy like I’m doing with this email. In your email, please request that they send your email to at least 10 of their friends.
2. For those of you who live in Philly, send me an email or call me if you’re interested in helping me do outreach in the LGBT community for Barack Obama’s campaign. I would likely only need 3-4 hours of your time one evening a week. Let’s be part of making history together!
3. Be sure to vote in the primary on April 22^nd and encourage your friends and associates to vote as well.

Thanks for your time and consideration. I hope you will give your support to helping Barack Obama win Pennsylvania and the general election in November..

Lee

* I am not an official spokesperson for the Obama campaign, just a loyal volunteer doing my part to help him win the primary and general election.