A black LGBT
presidential forum in Los Angeles helps define a powerful
voting bloc
Without all the
pomp and circumstance usually involved in presidential
election events, the black same-gender–loving
community came together in Los Angeles this January
for the presidential election forum It’s a Black
Thang: The Black LGBT Vote.
You may be asking
yourself, Why do we need a black LGBT forum? Previous
presidential election forums that have attempted to address
us as constituents have been either gay and
overwhelmingly white, or black with no mention of the
word “gay.”
During South
Carolina’s Democratic debate, the term
“African-American” was used 26 times,
while the word “black” was used 13 times. The
word “race” was used 14 times, and
“women” logged 13 mentions. Sen. Barack
Obama offered the only use of the word “gay”
during the debate, and Sen. Hillary Clinton was the
only candidate to mention “sex,” just once,
not counting references to sexual abuse.
So what does all
this mean?
It means that no
matter how we cut it, slice it, spin it, and serve it
up, issues of race, gender, and sexual orientation will
continue to be as prevalent during the race to the
White House as they are among gays.
Believe it or
not, most black same-gender–loving people tend to
vote in concert with other African-Americans. And
African-Americans overwhelmingly support Obama for
president. That fact was made painstakingly clear
during the forum when panelist after panelist declared
support for Obama.
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