B
bluecollarworker
Guest
Sen. Barack Obama waded deep into Clinton territory Thursday March 31,
2008 evening at a private LGBT fundraiser in New York City where the
price of admission was $2,300 per person. Held at the apartment of
GLSEN founder and executive director Kevin Jennings and his partner,
Jeff Davis, the event drew about 125 people and raised $170,000. No
press were admitted, but based on several accounts, attendees were
struck by the Illinois senator's candor as well as his fluency with
LGBT issues.
Johnson, who is 25, has supported Obama for about a year but prefaced
his remarks by saying he has never been an "Obama-phile." He said the
senator addressed some of the most contentious LGBT issues without
prompting, such as same-sex marriage and the inclusion of transgender
people in the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. In fact, those were
the two issues Sen. Obama singled out as being potential
disappointments to the LGBT community right now, while he signaled
that a hate-crimes bill could likely be passed and signed into law and
that repeal of "don't ask, don't tell" might be on the horizon.
According to several sources, including Johnson and Lenore, Obama said
he did not think it was "politically feasible" to secure marriage
rights for same-sex couples in the country at this point. Sen. Obama
acknowledged that the community wanted full marriage rights but said
that he favored civil unions for now while leaving open the
possibility that his position might evolve in the future.
In terms of ENDA, Obama said he supported an ENDA that included
transgender protections but that he didn't believe a fully inclusive
bill had enough votes to pass the Senate at this time.
"I don't agree -- I think we're much stronger united as a community,"
Lenore said of keeping transgender protections in the bill. "But I do
understand the politics and I do appreciate the fact that he said,
hey, it's not going to pass in this political climate. Many other
politicians haven't really done that. They make decisions but they
never really address the trans community."
2008 evening at a private LGBT fundraiser in New York City where the
price of admission was $2,300 per person. Held at the apartment of
GLSEN founder and executive director Kevin Jennings and his partner,
Jeff Davis, the event drew about 125 people and raised $170,000. No
press were admitted, but based on several accounts, attendees were
struck by the Illinois senator's candor as well as his fluency with
LGBT issues.
Johnson, who is 25, has supported Obama for about a year but prefaced
his remarks by saying he has never been an "Obama-phile." He said the
senator addressed some of the most contentious LGBT issues without
prompting, such as same-sex marriage and the inclusion of transgender
people in the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. In fact, those were
the two issues Sen. Obama singled out as being potential
disappointments to the LGBT community right now, while he signaled
that a hate-crimes bill could likely be passed and signed into law and
that repeal of "don't ask, don't tell" might be on the horizon.
According to several sources, including Johnson and Lenore, Obama said
he did not think it was "politically feasible" to secure marriage
rights for same-sex couples in the country at this point. Sen. Obama
acknowledged that the community wanted full marriage rights but said
that he favored civil unions for now while leaving open the
possibility that his position might evolve in the future.
In terms of ENDA, Obama said he supported an ENDA that included
transgender protections but that he didn't believe a fully inclusive
bill had enough votes to pass the Senate at this time.
"I don't agree -- I think we're much stronger united as a community,"
Lenore said of keeping transgender protections in the bill. "But I do
understand the politics and I do appreciate the fact that he said,
hey, it's not going to pass in this political climate. Many other
politicians haven't really done that. They make decisions but they
never really address the trans community."