If you are looking at this and it is not yet 9:30pm, go down to OilCan Harry’s where they are showing the HRC/Logo Presidential Candidate forum. The first time that presidential candidates have ever addressed an LGBT audience directly.
Brilliant gay blog Joe.My.God is liveblogging.
So far, you’ve missed Barack, Jon, Dennis. The tone is jovial, the candidates enthusiastic, and it is a refreshing change from the chock-a-block back-and-forth debate format that has ruled the airwaves.
That said: Are the candidates saying anything new? Hmmmmm… Obama called the conservatives use of gay marriage a “political football” (Was this what he was saying in 2004?) and while he declined comparing the gay struggle to that of African-Americans and civil rights, he did say that he has “lived this cause, to make sure that people are treated fairly and equally” which sort of sounds like he’s comparing it to the civil rights struggle.
Edwards didn’t exactly backtrack when confronted with his stand on gay marriage, in fact, he reiterated it, but he did clarify that he should not have said he opposed it bacause of his religious beliefs and went on to assert that unlike the current admin, he abhors the idea of imposing his beliefs and stands behind the separation of church and state.
Go watch. Or read the blogs tomorrow to see how things shake out.
This article appears in August 3 • 2007.