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, w
more

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
candidatesâ??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'â??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.'

Category News & Politics

Tags Democrat, gay, lgbt, debate, logo, Etheridge, Margaret, Carlson, hillary, clinton, barack, obama, bill, richardson, john, edwards