At the Human Rights Campaign luncheon on Wednesday in Denver, Congressional hopeful and out lesbian Linda Ketner, vying for a traditionally Republican district in South Carolina, announced, “Hold on to your bloomers! I am up four points on my opponent … I’m not trying to make a point, or move the ball down the field, but to win.”
That kind of dogged determination could be felt all over the city as Denver wound up for the big rock star style Obama speech at the Invesco stadium on Thursday night.
It was echoed by Howard Dean at the same luncheon, when he explained how civil unions passed in his home state of Vermont against all odds.
Congressman Barney Frank then spoke about his work on LGBT issues since the ‘70s, and the prevailing thought was that three years down the line, things would always get worse.
“But this has been the most rapid change to prejudice ever seen … We are on the verge of one of the great moral victories in human history.”
I joined a live reading in a theater next to the Pepsi Hall, where easy-on-the-eyes Hollywood stars Ben Affleck, Rosario Dawson, Taye Diggs, Josh Brolin and others read excerpts from famous protest speeches throughout the course of American history, from Martin Luther King, Jr. to Cindy Sheehan. When “A Dream Deferred” by queer poet Langston Hughes was read aloud, it sent chills down my spine despite the August heat.
When I got to the convention hall, I was invited up to the skybox of Democratic mayors, hosted by gay Providence, Rhode Island mayor David Cicilline (who has single-handedly transformed the now-booming city). As I gazed down on the throngs of faithful holding signs and wearing funny hats, I could hear Melissa Etheridge belting out “Born in the U.S.A.” on stage, out and proud like the glorious dyke she is.
I jostled into San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom in the crowded skybox. The great ally of LGBT marriage chatted with me and then quickly fixed his eyes on the TV screen as Bill Clinton took the stage and commanded it like royalty.
When the former president proclaimed of Obama, “The values of freedom and equal opportunity which have given him his historic chance will drive him as president to give all Americans, regardless of race, religion, gender, sexual orientation or disability, their chance to build a decent life, and to show our humanity, as well as our strength, to the world,” I once again had chills dripping down my spine.
The night ended with bumping into out New York State Assembly member Danny O’Donnell, the brother of Rosie O’Donnell who represents Manhattan’s Upper West Side. With a wide grin, he gave me the best quote I have heard during my time in Denver: “We are blowing up the straight men of privilege paradigm." (Matthew Link)
A Democratic warrior makes his way home with some gems from the convention floor. This about sums up the night, the themes, the lingering questions. Hillary supporters... will they? won't they? Democrats... are they, aren't they?
Here's the vantage point from The Advocate's exclusive press sky box at the Pepsi Center (that's a joke, for those of you not familiar with my dry wit). That little speck of orange on the stage is Hillary, post speech tonight. Around her, the thousands of delegates she had just stirred to their feet after nearly 30 minutes of what many Democrats described as sheer oratory brilliance.
A friend, watching from home, texted me moments later, "Class act. Proud to be a woman..."
Besides the visit from Michelle Obama, one of the highlights of the luncheon was Barney simply being Barney. At some point he prescribed the following remedy for an ailing nation in need of healing: "Let's adopt as our motto, 'What would Cheney do?' and do the opposite.'"
“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)
Howard Hemsley, a delegate at large for New York, said Michelle Obama's speech Monday night was pitch perfect. "I thought she put herself smack dab in the middle of the American dream." Well put.
Hemsley was at the LGBT delegate lunch today, but gay issues were not the only thing on his mind. "I'm concerned with war, I'm concerned with Georgia, I'm concerned with attacking countries that haven't attacked us. I'm very much concerned with our standing overseas. I was in Berlin when the wall fell and I'll never forget when an elderly gentleman walked up to me, and his manner was military and he said, 'I want to thank you for keeping the spark of freedom alive for all these years.' That was the state of our reputation before Bush-Cheney trampled on it."
Marjorie Hill and Renae Ogletree were waxing poetic at the LGBT delegate luncheon today about Michelle Obama and her speech last night.
Hill, CEO of Gay Men's Health Crisis, recounted her own personal moment with Michelle Obama just before Michelle spoke to the Gay and Lesbian Leadership Council in New York in June.
"I told her, 'I can't wait until you and your daughters are in the White House,'" Hill told Obama. "And [Michelle] said, 'Well, my husband's pretty cool, can I bring him too?'"
Polis, vying to be the first openly gay man elected to the U.S. House of Representatives -- from Colorado's District 2, which includes Boulder -- received a standing O when he was introduced by Frank.
While Kennedy evoked the highest ideals of the Democratic Party past last night, Michelle Obama capped the evening by introducing America to the man tasked with driving the Party’s future.
“I come here as a wife who loves my husband and believes he will be an extraordinary president,” she said. “I come here as a Mom whose girls are the heart of my heart and the center of my world… And I come here as a daughter raised on the south side of Chicago by a father who was a blue-collar city worker and a mother who stayed at home with my brother and me.”
After framing her own humble beginnings and the love that her mom and dad “poured” into raising her and her brother, Michelle Obama said her husband, Barack Obama, shared many of the same experiences even though he had a “funny name” and was raised outside of the Midwest in Hawaii.
“Barack and I were raised with so many of the same values: that you work hard for what you want in life; that your word is your bond and you do what you say you're going to do; that you treat people with dignity and respect, even if you don't know them, and even if you don't agree with them,” said Michelle Obama.
Michelle wrapped Barack in the cloak of her all-American story last night and, in my opinion, it worked.
Of course, pundits spent the night marveling that Democrats failed to launch any attacks against the GOP, McCain, and Bush. If that's your game, I'm sure there will be plenty of that to go around tonight.
“Last year we had BenAffleck show up for our breakfast speech,” whispers the elderly lady sitting next to me at 8 AM. “He let all the ladies sit on his lap and get their picture taken.”
She giggled like a schoolgirl, wrapped in loud tropical patterns since the dress theme of the day was “Florida wear.”
I was sitting bleary-eyed at the Sunshine State’s delegates breakfast, which is mandatory to attend in order to receive their daily floor passes for the convention. Turned out that Antonio Villaraigosa, the hottie Latin mayor of L.A., was our surprise speaker instead, which was fine in my book – I think he’s cuter than Affleck anyway! He touted the Democrat party line of change, change, change, and I bought every word of it.
It was my second day at the Democratic Convention in Denver, and I was already overwhelmed with the multitude of parties, events, luncheons, caucuses, and even high teas planned all around the city.
Next I found myself at an early lunch... one thing is for sure – I was going to gain weight this week. It was for the Americans for Democratic Action, held at the Colorado Museum of History. The schedule confidently proclaimed “Liberal Victory Celebration!”
My host for the week, Barney Frank, spoke at the lunch, and the crowd ate him up with a spoon. With quotes like, “A rising tide raises all boats – that’s if you can afford a boat, but if you’re on your tip toes standing in the mud, then the tide just goes up your nose,” I could see he was going to be a crowd pleaser.
Cameras flashed throughout his speech, and afterward, there was a line to get a photo taken with the first openly gay congressman in U.S. history.
Having known Barney for years, I was surprised at how he has become a bonafide celebrity ever since becoming the Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee.
“Been in politics for four decades, and now I’m an overnight sensation,” he explained to me with some confusion.
A few hours later, I find myself gorging once again – this time on finger sandwiches and chocolates – at the Stonewall Democrats tea high above the city in a penthouse space next to the Hyatt.
“I have to be nice to everyone now and wear pantyhose. See what I do for you people?” exclaims Linda Ketner, an open lesbian running for Congress in South Carolina.
Blonde, bubbly, and with a thick drawl, Linda was a big hit. If she can actually pull off a victory in such a Republican region is another story.
Then I found myself eating a beef hot dog inside the Pepsi Center, with delegates, media, and random politicos swirling about me. (I nearly split my Sprite on a beaming George McGovern in the crowded hallways.) For such a democratic get-together, the convention hall was extremely caste-system. Each floor was strictly regimented according to what color pass you had, with color codes even displayed on the walls. I had a pink pass (don’t laugh), which meant the third and worst floor, but even there, you could still feel the energy from the podium.
Ted Kennedy first staggered out on to the stage and looked awfully feeble, but his voice boomed like a bomb through the hall, waking everyone out of their stupor. Michelle Obama’s heart could be felt in each seat as her soft side won everyone in the center over. The videotron proudly panned to gay flags waving in the Puerto Rican delegation area, and I felt that this was indeed my party after all.
Last but not least was a private ballroom soiree in honor of Nancy Pelosi (good ole Barney had slipped me a coveted invite). Inside, Tony Bennett crooned “I Left My Heart in San Francisco,” and James Taylor and John Legend also belted out some tunes. I sipped champagne with Tammy Baldwin, the only lesbian member of Congress, and she said, “This is the gayest platform you have ever seen in American history. I was on the drafting committee, so I made sure it was!”
Things are looking up – perhaps we gays have gotten out of Egypt and will soon be entering the promised land. (Matthew Link)
Recent Comments