Today, I made up my mind that I am supporting and voting for Hillary Clinton. I'm sure no one is surprised. I've made a good faith effort to get excited about Barack Obama. I wanted to be a believer. But it just didn't happen. The preacher in him turns me off.
Here's what it comes down to for me. On "the issues," they are pretty close. By that I mean, their stances on ENDA, DADT, civil unions, marriage, etc. On paper, they "appear" very similar.
In action, they are nothing alike. Barack Obama has refused to interview with local gay media anywhere. Period. He gave one interview to the national gay magazine, The Advocate. How can one national interview, late in the primary season, build a relationship with the gay community? He made a speech imploring the African-American religious community to embrace gay civil rights. This after he brought notorious "ex-gay" Donnie McClurkin on board his swing through the south gospel tour or whatever it was called. He clearly has no problem affiliating with a movement that denounces homosexuality as something to be cured, a stance that taps right into the self-loathing so rampant among closeted minorities and youth. He talks like a preacher and walks like a well, like many preachers who disparage gay people.
Hillary Clinton marches in Pride parades. Her daughter visits gay bars. She worked to stop the national "marriage protection" amendment. She lifts up the gay people in her life, particularly those who touched her family personally. Hillary grants interviews to local gay media. She reaches out with intent to build relationships with our community. She has a LGBT steering committee in Pennsylvania and elsewhere.
This is not about one issue. My life is not a single issue. When our next President is working on health care, economic issues, environmental issues and so forth, I want her to be cognizant of all citizens and the impact her decisions will have on our families, including my little lesbian family.
If Obama ignores us as a constituency when he's fighting for the nomination, why should we believe he would care about us if he's nominated and elected?
This primary race has come down to the fact that one of them has to go. His name is John McCain and I believe that Hillary Clinton is the one to do it. ***************************************************
The rich white gay men is a little shout out to the hosts of today's LGBT Hillary cocktail party with the Queer as Folk celebrities. It was a modest crowd and one in which I recognized about 4 people. It turns out that the LGBT leadership, in general, is very divided. Passions flared during the Saturday night pub crawl. Steel City Stonewall and the Gertrude Stein Club leaders should really have some chat about actually showing up for events they sponsor -- that was embarrassing to me, as a member of Steel City. If your members spoke through the endorsement process, you should honor that and ensure that a few of your board members show up. No one from the GLCC board. No one from the human services sector. No one from GLENDA. Almost no lesbians or queer women at all. It was a room filled with somewhat older and a whole lotta young gay white men and it was the most camaraderie I've felt in months. Kudos to you, for making that happen.
Finally, I'll say this. How can gay people vote against their own self-interest? How can you trust a man who doesn't walk the walk? We may have no other choice come the Convention, but for now ... I'm voting for Hillary.
