On January 23, 2009, Kirsten Gillibrand was appointed by Governor David Paterson to fill the seat in the U.S. Senate vacated by Hillary Clinton now Secretary of State in the Obama administration. At 42, Gillibrand will be the youngest member of the U.S. Senate. After a phone call from Senator Gillibrand, The Empire State Pride Agenda, the state's LGBT rights organization, said on its website: "Finally, the great state of New York has a U.S. Senator who supports marriage equality for same-sex couples." ESPA Executive Director Alan Van Capelle added that the new senator also supports the full repeal of the federal DOMA (Defense of Marriage Act) law, repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and passage of legislation outlawing discrimination against transgender people.

Senator Hillary Clinton and Joe Solmonese, Human Rights Campaign President, spoke this week-end at 2008 HRC National Dinner in Washington. U.S. Democratic Vice Presidential nominee, Senator Biden, was previously scheduled to deliver the keynote address but released a public statement cancelling his weekend political campaign activities due to the illness of his wife Jill Biden's mother. Senator Hillary Clinton has graciously offered to appear by satellite live from California to offer remarks. Watch videos...

Elton-Hillary: One Night Only. Elton John performed a benefit concert for Hillary Clinton at Radio City Music Hall in New York on Wednesday night. "I never cease to be amazed at the misogynistic attitude of some of the people of this country, and I say to hell with it," said the openly gay artist. "I love you, Hillary, and I'll be there for you just like all the times you were there for me. Hillary should be the next President of America." Clinton introduced John as "a friend of Bill's and mine for many years," and recalled how moved she was when she heard him perform "Candle in the Wind" at Princess Diana's funeral. "What I want you to know is, I'm still standing," she said. Sir Elton John has long been a Democratic supporter. In 2000, he helped Al Gore raise money with a concert where he declared, "I think you're going to win it, baby."

Source New-York Daily News

Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are targeting gay voters in the showdown Texas and Ohio primaries. To keep her candidacy afloat, Clinton needs victories March 4 in Texas - and particularly in the large gay communities in Houston and Dallas - and Ohio, which has the sixth-largest gay and lesbian population in the United States. Obama got a potential boost in Texas today as the Houston GLBT Political Caucus PAC, which claims to be the oldest gay and lesbian civil rights group in the South, endorsed the Illinois senator, the first time the organization has endorsed a presidential candidate.
Clinton and Obama oppose same-sex marriages while supporting civil unions. A major difference between the candidates is that Obama supports full repeal of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, a law signed by Bill Clinton -under pressure from a Republican-dominated Congress - that prohibits federal recognition of same-sex marriages and permits states to do the same. Hillary Clinton wants to roll back only part of the law. While many gay and lesbian voters remain loyal Clinton supporters, others remain angry over her previous support of the Defense of Marriage Act. Obama, meanwhile, prompted anger from gay-rights activists when he invited gospel singer Donnie McClurkin, who has called homosexuality a sin, to perform at a fundraiser last October. Obama later denounced McClurkin's views.

Watch Hillary Clinton's TV ad and Barack Obama's immediate response...



Source Bloomberg

The Washington Blade released an exclusive Kevin Naff's interview with Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.), in which she reiterated her "strong" support for a range of gay rights. She called for extending federal recognition to same-sex couples, repealing "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" and rejected claims that she doesn’t speak forcefully enough on gay issues — something that supporters of rival Sen. Barack Obama have asserted during the campaign. "I talk about gay issues frequently," she said. "I’ve been a longtime friend of the gay community — I’ve been talking about these issues since 1999 when I first ran for Senate and went on record as the first major candidate to say we’re going to repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. I talk about ending discrimination all the time." She responded to critics who say Obama is more likely to address gay issues in front of a non-gay audience. "I find it ironic since Senator Obama had his gospel tour with [Donnie] McClurkin that he and his supporters would take credit for that." McClurkin, a black minister who participated in a South Carolina gospel tour for Obama’s campaign, claims to be "ex-gay." When asked if her support for gay rights measures would include forceful advocacy, she replied, "absolutely." "I took the lead in ensuring that partners who died on 9/11 were given benefits. I have been very strongly in support of the Domestic Partnership Benefits Act, so I continue to take a leadership role." She also said she would become the first U.S. president to march in a Gay Pride parade and that she had not heard about former Vice President Al Gore’s recent video endorsement of same-sex marriage. Read the full interview here...

Source Washington Blade

Hillary Clinton, during a question-and-answer session, addresses the following question submitted over the Internet: "Considering the extraordinarily high incidence of depression and suicide among gay teenagers, what action will you, as President, take to encourage a more accepting and healthy educational experience for LGBT teens?" Clinton says she sympathizes with the burdens LGBT teens face, mentally and emotionally, and says that she, as President, would support a community in which its members are valued and supported as whole people. Watch a video...



Source PageOneQ

Sean Kennedy sits down with US Presidency Democrat Candidate Hillary Clinton for an interview in next Advocate issue. Kennedy says that her detractors are legion, and many people simply hate her for being a powerful woman. The animosity is such that as soon as her husband was inaugurated in 1993, rumors started circulating that she was a lesbian, “People say a lot of things about me, so I really don’t pay any attention to it,” Clinton responds. “It’s not true, but it is something that I have no control over. People will say what they want to say.”
On the fight for Gay rights: “I cannot promise results,” she says. “I can only promise my best effort. I can only promise to do everything that I can do to make the case, to put together the political majority, to take the message to the country, and I will do that. But there are no guarantees in life or politics.” Read the full article here...

Source The Advocate

Yesterday night, six candidates, including the front-runner, New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton; and her closest challengers, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama and former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, were jockeying to firm up support among gay and lesbian voters, one of the party's more active and reliable voting blocs. One candidate, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, got caught up in the most tense moment of the evening when he was asked whether he believes people are born gay or whether it is a choice. "It's a choice," he said. Richardson released a statement moments after the event, saying that he had misunderstood the question and that he does not believe people choose to be gay.
Throughout the two-hour event, sponsored by Human Rights Campaign and televised live on Logo, the candidates at turns answered questions from a panel, spoke confidently but also stepped gingerly around the edges of charged topics such as same-sex marriage. The panelists tried to draw out Clinton, Obama, Edwards and Richardson on their opposition to expanding the definition of marriage to include same-sex couples. None of them budged, all saying instead that they think gays and lesbians should be afforded the rights of married couples through civil unions. Only Ohio Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich and former Alaska Sen. Mike Gravel, both spoke strongly in favor of gay marriage. Watch Mike Gravel (top left), Barack Obama (top right), Hillary Clinton (bottom left) and John Edwards (bottom right)...




Indeed, none of the candidates made any notable departures from the well-established and nearly identical positions they have carved out. In questionnaires completed before the event, the candidates - including Sens. Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware and Christopher J. Dodd of Connecticut, who did not attend - all said, for example, that same-sex couples should be allowed to adopt. They also supported legislation pending in the Senate that would expand the definition of hate crimes to include those motivated by a victim's sexual orientation and gender.

Source Los Angeles Times & Logo

Tonight at 9 p.m. Eastern, seven of the eight leading Democratic candidates for President of the United States, Hillary Clinton, Christopher Dodd, John Edwards, Mike Gravel, Dennis Kucinich, Barack Obama and Bill Richardson will gather in Los Angeles for a forum on issues affecting the lives of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people in the United States. Gay marriages and civil unions. Hate crimes protection. “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” The Employment Non-Discrimination Act. AIDS funding and treatment. Sex education. And of course, the war in Iraq and health care. Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese, Melissa Etheridge and esteemed journalist Jonathan Capehart will appear as panelists at the event. Learn more about the candidates' positions on GLBT issues here...
The historic two-hour forum, moderated by Margaret Carlson, will be televised live on the Logo network and the Visible Vote 08 Logo website today, Thursday, August 9th starting at 6 p.m. Pacific time and 9 p.m. Eastern.

Source Logo and Human Rights Campaign

The top Democratic presidential contenders will take part in an Aug. 9 debate on gay issues, in what is being billed as a first-of-its-kind event, with Viacom's Logo cable net to air it. Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John Edwards and Christopher Dodd have agreed to participate in the forum, with questions to be posed by a panel that includes singer Melissa Etheridge and Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign. The Human Rights Campaign Foundation and Logo are sponsoring the debate, to be held in Studio City. The fact that all of the top-tier candidates agreed to the debate is perhaps a testament to the importance of the gay vote, which organizers say makes up about 4% of the voting population.
HRC spokesman Brad Luna said there will be no forum of Republican presidential candidates, even though the Human Rights Campaign did extend invites. Among HRC's criteria for holding the debate was that it would have to secure at least two top-tier contenders to participate. Mitt Romney's campaign said no, and HRC never got a response from the campaigns of John McCain and Rudy Giuliani, Luna said.
The one-hour event will be held on August 9 and broadcast on gay network LOGO at 9:00 pm ET (6:00 pm PT) and through live streaming video at LOGOonline.com.

Source Variety