“Back in 1992, I remember the Democratic Convention because me and my friends were up all night making silk screen LGBT signs for the floor,” Christine Quinn, the out lesbian New York City council member, throws her head back and laughs. “I don’t even think they had gay caucuses for the convention back then. This convention is definitely gayer then in 2004, probably the gayest I’ve ever seen.”
I’m standing next to Ms. Quinn in an elbow-to-elbow LGBT crowd waiting to get into the conference hall of the Sheraton in Denver, where over 700 people will sit down to a full lunch to celebrate gay and lesbian delegates to the 2008 Democratic Convention. The sheer scale of the event is staggering, and it’s by far the largest thing I’ve seen during my few days in Denver, save for the jam-packed Pepsi Center itself.
I sit down at Congressman Barney Frank’s table near the podium, since he is my gracious host for my time in Denver. I am literally “embedded” with Barney since I am sharing a room with a member of his staff. I glanced around the table and quickly realized that I was dining with other straight members of Congress: Lynn Woosley from California’s Sixth District, and Jerry Nadler from New York’s Eighth District, with lesbian Tammy Baldwin from Wisconsin’s Second District waving to us from the next table over.
Just this morning, Barney had had breakfast with Ted Kennedy. It was a small, intimate get-together with family and friends of his fellow Massachusetts resident. I asked how the senator was doing.
“Ted looked great, and his memory was amazing,” Barney told me. “He remembered a letter I had sent him some months ago. I think he’ll be around for a long while.”
Perhaps the Kennedy torch wouldn’t be passed as soon as people think.
At the luncheon I was bumped into David Cicilline, the openly gay and successful mayor behind the amazing renaissance of Providence, Rhode Island. He gave me a big hug (I’ve love Providence and given it a lot of good press), and invited me to a private party he was throwing later at the Denver Tea Room (it didn’t take me long to realize that in Denver it’s all about the personal invites).
“Yes, this is the gayest convention I’ve been to,” agreed Cicilline. “It’s also the youngest one I’ve been to. Lots of fresh faces, and it’s very high tech. They have a new media section which they didn’t have before, and there are so many bloggers.”
Barney gave a trademark hilarious and rousing oration at the luncheon.
“What radical homosexual agenda so they keep talking about? All we want to do is get married, have kids, join the army, and keep our jobs … We have a real chance to achieve legal equality with Obama. With McCain, never.”
The applause was predictably thunderous, but with a queer flair: A number of people shook tambourines in addition to the clapping.
Then the pièce de résistance: The crowd began to buzz with whispers that Michelle Obama was showing up to speak.
A flurry of secret service men lined the doors, and the statuesque new icon strode in, confidently and humbly at the same time. She spoke passionately about her and Barack getting public HIV tests in Kenya to help combat the stigma of the disease in Africa, and she used the words “our” and “we” when speaking about gays and lesbians.
“I want to thank the Victory Fund and the Human Rights Campaign for helping set the tone for what we area doing this weekend. We have to move people away from fear and to hope to win this election,” she implored. “Change never happens easily. We need you. I am grateful to you.”
It was impossible to imagine Laura Bush saying anything close to the same. (Matthew Link)
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