Subscribe to Breaking NewsVIDEO: The Presidential Forum
, AfterEllen.com 08.10.2007 1:22am EDT
News & Politics
Want to watch the entire Presidential Forum in only six video clips? You’ve come to the right place!
Barack Obama:
John Edwards:
HOW TO EMBED VIDEO: See the small blue downward-facing arrow in the blue cube at the bottom of each video? Click that, then click “Embed.” Copy the code and post the video wherever you want!
Dennis Kucinich:
Mike Gravel:
Bill Richardson:
Hillary Clinton:
Voting for anyone but Kucinich in the primaries is going to send a terrible message to the Democrats: It’s okay to pay lip service to helping gays and lesbians without going all the way, 100%. When he loses the primaries, then you can go vote for Hillary or Obama, who do also have good intentions and who I like, as well.
However, Hillary has proven time and again that she is an establishment politician who is not willing to step on too many toes. Plus we don’t need to help create a new political dynasty, The Clintons. Who will be next, Chelsea? They have so much money and power already that they need not deliver on all of their promises (as seen during Bill Clinton’s presidency), a constant danger to the LGBT community. It’s just too easy to come back later on and say ‘hey, we really tried, but in the end did nothing, sorry!’ I am voting for Kucinich, and when Hillary wins, I wish us all luck. Obviously in her heart she thinks we deserve gay marriage, etc., she just can’t afford to express her true thoughts. I’d rather vote for someone who says what they really think for now.
I wonder why people aren’t taken to task for saying, “it’s a personal position.” That could mean anything! At worst it means, “Personally, I don’t think you deserve marriage, but I will try to get you equality, etc…”
Everyone wanted more time to get into the details. Great format, I hope it influences future debates, so we can see the conversation beyond the soundbites.
After listening to all the candiates, I realized we have not touched the tip of the iceberg when it comes to GLBT issues and rights.
One candidate asked the question, when did the word marraige defined a union between a man and a woman. Marriage is the unity between two people who love each each other and want to publicly and legally make that commiment to each other and have it recognized.
Our founding fathers stated that all men are created equal and have been endowed by their Creator (God which is my belief) with certain unalienable rights, one of which is the pursuit of Life, Liberty and Happiness.
In the GLBT community, some of us have had our lives taken from us because of our sexual orientation.
We do not have the Liberty to be not discriminated against in our workplace, armed forces, schools, churches or in other places and not be fired once it is known that we are gay.
We are not allowed to have happiness by marrying the one we love and have that love legally and publicly recognized and having the rights that come with such a union.
I strongly believe our unalienable Creator given rights are being trampled upon by Judgemental and Discriminatory persons in our Pulpits and Governments.
What I would like to see is that this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom (for all people regardless of race, gender or sexual orientation)and that the government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.
The question is, after hearing each of these candidates who do you think will best fight for
us. Let your finger answer that question on election day.
obama seems to be shady of on our issues. Hillary seemed to be the person most comfortable in this setting
remember that is just one setting!!!
I was disappointed to see that they just asked questions about glbt community issues and not all issues in general. Im afaid that we come of as all we care about is our issues and that is not the way
most feel. I care about all issues!!!
What about transgender rights? Why when talking about LGBT issues does everyone refer to them as exlusively ‘gay’ issues? Transgender people are a very small minority and do not have the political clout to demand anything, but it seems that people tend to forget that we are the ‘T’ in LGBT.
After seeing Hillary last night, I am convinced that she would “throw us under the bus” just as Bill did in the 90s. The Clintons both have claimed to be friends of the gay community, but Hillary’s responses last night told me that she is not someone I would want as a friend.
If Hillary is the best friend the LGBT community could get in Washington, I’d rather take my chances with our enemies. At least they don’t pretend to be our friend.
The candidate that impressed me the most, unfortunately is not one of the front runners. Before this election cycle, I was not familiar with Mike Gravel. He appeared to me to be a good person to have in our corner. He is well spoken, doesn’t come off as being a radical, seems to truly care, and has a track record as well.
I was impressed by Mr. Gravel more than all the other candidates combined. Mr. Kucinich seemed a bit of a radical and all the rest seemed unconvincing as true supporters of Equality for all Americans. They all had excuses why they wouldn’t support full equality.
Did you notice that Hillary hasn’t tried to introduce bills that would repeal DADT or DOMA? Why must she wait to be president in order to help the LGBT community? She’s a powerful Senator today; there’s a lot she could be doing now. She blames the Republicans today, who will she blame if she gets in the White House? Terrorists? Russians? Carl Rove?
OK so why would anyone vote for someone that does not want full marriage rights? The only two here are Gravel and my man Kucinich. This is coming from a straight woman who cares. But not only do I care about the gay community I also care about the environment and the war and children. The only one who gets things done on these issues and does not backtrack is Kucinich. Think about it-he is main stream-people think this war is lie -he never wanted in. He is so pro enviroment it is crazy (he is a vegan), he is the only one (besides gravel) that is truly fighting for your rights and indviduals to be married if you chose to.
To Californian:
To suggest that voting for anyone but Kucinich (!) will send a message to the Democrats is absurd. I think it’s great, wonderful, amazing that the top of the heap Democratic candidates came to this event, but let’s face it, this is a minor issue in the big scheme of things — remember a little thing called Iraq. Hillary shows her understanding of the political process more than any of the others. She knows that a politician has only so much political capital — would any of us, no matter how much we want full equality, have her use it up on these issues instead of the more pressing issues of foreign policy?
responding briefly to Donna’s question, “Why would anyone vote for someone who does not full marriage rights?”
…Judith Butler and Michael Warner have both written about the possibilities of same-sex marriage in a way that questions how desirable it really is — doubts (among queers) about legalizing same-sex marriage usually stem from concerns in Queer Theory, not “simple” “straight-forward” politics.
Simplifying greatly — marriage confers legitimacy, yes, but also implicitly delegitimizes other relationships. Queers of ALL kinds (LGBT and OTHERS) have suffered up to this point under the arrangement; the worry with same-sex marriage is that it would only extend legitimacy to CERTAIN queers, and endorse (and strengthen) the idea that the government has any place at all in deciding whose relationships ought to be valid.
Basically, even with same-sex marriage, there will still be losers… people whose relationships will STILL be under stigma… not only by straights, but possibly by newly married gays and lesbians, newly legitimized, transferring the burdens of shame to other parties.
I appreciate all of the candidates that came out last night. It really shows that they know what an impact the GLBT vote would be – IF all GLBT would register to vote and actually vote. I hope that the people that said in the last election, “… It doesn’t matter…” has realized their mistake. Support your favorite candidate – and VOTE.
I have been financially supporting John Edwards so far. I believe what he says and I like mostly what he stands for. I was hoping that by now, he would get closer to Baracks position on Gay marriage/civil unions. John Edwards still seems to be having a lot of internal conflict. I hope that he will eventually come around, but it needs to be a lot faster.
Again, I appreciate all of the candiates taking the time from last night. After last night, I’m a little less inclined to support John Edwards and much more interested in supporting Barack Obama. Especially after last night – I’m even less likely to support Hillary.
Why are they allowing multiple votes on the poll? i think its skewing the results… not to mantion the fact that i have to vote again every time i want to check up on the results. even if i want to be fair and vote once they are forcing me to vote again
I have to say, I was very disappointed with Jonathan Capehart’s question to Obama about “homophobia in the Black community”, or at least how it was framed. I think that we need to discuss that homophobia in black communities has a very complex history as it relates to black folks and gender and sexuality from the day we were brought to this country. I also think he framed it in a way that does not acknowledge that the homophobia in black communities is present in other racial/ethnic communities too… and that those peoples are homophobic, transphobic and heterosexist because America is homophobic, transphobic and heterosexist. Period. Let’s quit this whole idea of homophobia in Black communities as if it is an anomaly and not a symptom of larger issues as perpetuated by inequality, injustice and hate in the country as a whole.
the marriage issue is huge, and Dennis Kucinich is the only one that understands it from the love standpoint. I like Mike Gravel as well for many reasons, but he is not as diplomatic as Dennis. Dennis’ positions on all the issues are right on. He lives his issues–walks the talk. Yes he is a vegan. He is the only card-carrying union memeber of the lot and is the only one that will end NAFTA and protect the rights of workers here and abroad. He not only organized the house against the war but has voted against funding all nine times. He has made over 200 speeches on the house floor against our occupation. He not only talks about single government payer health care (we are the only industrialized nation without it)but has co-authored the legislation to get it (HR 676). He not only talks about privacy and constitutional rights but has introduced legislation to impeach Dick Cheney (HR333). I could go on and on. These are the same exact issues he ran on last time–he is consistent through and through. And he takes NO CORPORATE MONEY! No Strings attached!
the marriage issue is huge, and Dennis Kucinich is the only one that understands it from the love standpoint. I like Mike Gravel as well for many reasons, but he is not as diplomatic as Dennis. Dennis’ positions on all the issues are right on. He lives his issues–walks the talk. Yes he is a vegan. He is the only card-carrying union memeber of the lot and is the only one that will end NAFTA and protect the rights of workers here and abroad. He not only organized the house against the war (turning 33 votes into 125) but has voted against funding all nine times. He has made over 200 speeches on the house floor against our occupation. He not only talks about single government payer health care (we are the only industrialized nation without it)but has co-authored the legislation to get it (HR 676). He not only talks about privacy and constitutional rights but has introduced legislation to impeach Dick Cheney (HR333). I could go on and on. These are the same exact issues he ran on last time–he is consistent through and through. And he takes NO CORPORATE MONEY! No Strings attached!