Former senator
Mike Gravel of Alaska, the erstwhile Democratic
presidential candidate, announced last week that he is
leaving his party and will run for president as a
Libertarian. Skyler McKinley, a spokesman for Gravel,
told The New York Times that Gravel would seek
the Libertarian nomination at the party’s convention
in Denver, which begins May 22. A vocal supporter
of marriage equality, Gravel also criticized his
Democratic opponents’ opposition to same-sex
marriage at a Human Rights Campaign debate in August 2007.
Gravel has urged the LGBT community to stand behind
his candidacy and plans to refocus national attention
on marriage equality.
Former senator
Mike Gravel of Alaska, the erstwhile Democratic
presidential candidate, announced last week that he is
leaving his party and will run for president as a
Libertarian. Skyler McKinley, a spokesman for Gravel,
told The New York Times that Gravel would seek
the Libertarian nomination at the party’s convention
in Denver, which begins May 22.
In an e-mail
message sent to supporters on Wednesday, Gravel expressed
disenchantment with the Democratic Party. “The fact
is, the Democratic Party today is no longer the party
of FDR,” he wrote. “It is a party that
continues to sustain war, the military-industrial complex
and imperialism -- all of which I find anathema to my
views.”
A vocal supporter
of marriage equality, Gravel also criticized his
Democratic opponents’ opposition to same-sex marriage
at a Human Rights Campaign debate in August 2007.
Gravel has urged the LGBT community to stand behind
his candidacy and plans to refocus national attention on
marriage equality.
“On gay
marriage, there’s no difference between the
presumptive Republican and Democratic
nominees,” Gravel said in a press release.
“Neither of them believes you are worthy of equal
rights. This disgusts me, and it should disgust
you.”
About 15 hopefuls
are vying for the Libertarian nomination. Andrew Davis,
a spokesman for the Libertarian National Committee, told
The New York Times that it won't be easy for
Gravel: Party members might disapprove of Gravel’s
support of universal health care, funded by a national
retail tax.
“Whether
or not some of our delegates will accept Mike Gravel with
some of his positions, that has yet to be
seen,” Davis said. (The Advocate)
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