Thursday the Philadelphia Gay News web site epgn.com released a wide ranging interview with Hillary Clinton. She needs a strong win in the April 22 Pennsylvania primary to keep her candidacy alive and she hopes LGBT voters will help boost her margin of victory. The interview covers topics as varied as same-sex marriage, immigration policy, the execution of gay people in the Middle East and Africa, “Don’t Ask. Don’t Tell,” gay youth and gay seniors, and more. What’s missing? Any outreach to the LGBT press from her rival Barack Obama. The Obama campaign continues to shrug off repeated requests from the LGBT press for an interview with the candidate, despite (according to PGN Publisher Mark Segal) pressure from Sen. Bob Casey, PA, who just gave his highly sought after endorsement to Obama. To make the point that Obama is ignoring gay media, PGN left a huge section of it’s print edition Page One blank. Reportedly, Casey is stressing the fact that the LGBT vote is a critical part of the cooalition the Democratric Party will need to win in November and Obama needs to court it, not ignore.
Should we take Obama’s avoidance of us as a signal of what’s to come if he gets elected? Instead of using his power to help push forward changes needed to help our community, would he instead just shrug it off?
Hard to say, but definitely interesting to ponder. I’m glad to see that Hillary is talking openly and directly about GLBT issues. We may not agree on every single issue, but at least she’s talking to us. There’s something to be said for that.
I hope Hillary supporters in Dallas County have better luck than I. I attended my preciinct caucus meeting and signed in for Hillary. Then a precinct worker, noticing that I am elderly (71) said that I did not have to stick around. Given that I had parked three blocks away and the neghborhood was farankly somewhat scary, I headed home, only to learn later that my vote for Hillary was ignored when the precinct chair waived aside the sign-in sheet and called for a division of the house. Democarcy i(capital D for Jackson’s party) in action. Go Hillary, Go in Pennsylvania.
Hilary is a pimp, and Obama is a scared ho! She needs to put him on the corner and make him work a little harder for our vote.
Please explain to me why many in the gay community continue to vilify Barack Obama and put Hillary Clinton on a pedestal. I honestly don’t get it! Let’s see — we have a choice between a smart, forward-thinking positive candidate (Obama) and a shrill, win-at-all-cost negative candidate (Clinton). I have heard the experience argument — lame. If being a first lady makes you qualified to be president, then perhaps Laura Bush should consider a run in the future. Or Nancy Reagan, perhaps. I have heard the argument that Clinton is a bigger advocate of the GLBT community (last time I checked, Clinton has not been pushing for gay marriage rights). So what gives?