Obama Makes Gay Push, Hillary Pushes Back  | Election 2008 | Advocate.com

Advocate.com health Channel
||  Election 2008  ||
< Full 2008 Election Coverage Comments (0)Post a CommentTag this page  Page: 1 | 2
 
Obama Makes Gay Push, Hillary Pushes Back
The LGBT community becomes a battleground as Obama tries to undercut Hillary's gay support.
An Advocate.com exclusive posted March 4, 2008
Obama Makes Gay Push, Hillary Pushes Back

Barack Obama’s troops have been making a push in the LGBT communities of both Ohio and Texas to cut into Hillary Clinton’s long-standing support among gays and lesbians before Tuesday's critical primary vote.

“Our goal was to really deputize the members of our steering committee to organize our community in the major metropolitan areas of those states,” said Eric Stern, an Edwards-turned-Obama supporter who has been overseeing LGBT field organizing in Ohio and Texas for the Obama campaign. Polls show the two candidates in a statistical dead heat in Texas, while Clinton has anywhere from 5- to 10-point edge in Ohio.

Comparing their strategy to the Bush/Cheney get-out-the-vote efforts in Ohio in 2004, Stern said the Obama camp has identified local LGBT folks to work gayborhoods such as Montrose in Houston and the Short North in Columbus.

“What they did, that we’re now doing, was they deputized local people to go door-to-door and serve as precinct captains, while the Kerry campaign was sending people from out of state into Ohio to run the ground game,” he said, adding that he believes that’s why the Democrats lost the Buckeye State in 2004. “Ultimately, if you’re talking to an undecided voter, if you’re their neighbor down the street, they’re more likely to listen to your argument and be persuaded by it. We’ve learned from that.”

But just as quickly as Obama has been striking, Clinton has been swinging back. No sooner had his campaign secured four full-page ads in four separate gay weeklies in Dallas, Houston, Columbus, and Cleveland, than she had conducted a conference call with reporters from three of the same weeklies. The Clinton camp also announced the formation of a 38-member LGBT steering committee in Ohio last week.

And in Houston – which has the 10th largest gay population in the nation – after the city's nonpartisan GLBT caucus endorsed Obama last week, Clinton spent 20 minutes of her Friday evening answering questions from the Houston Stonewall Democrats, who endorsed her on Saturday.

“It’s an exciting time down here in Texas, the most exciting in my lifetime,” said 45-year-old Teresa Herrin, president of Houston’s Stonewall chapter, her voice cracking from the strain of too much politicking. Herrin said they extended an offer to both candidates to speak with their five-member executive board but that the Obama campaign finally declined the offer at 10:00 a.m. Saturday morning.

“One of our members is a strong Obama supporter, so it was really disappointing,” Herrin said.

In terms of the Clinton call, Herrin added, “What really surprised us was her passion – that she understood the immediate need for our community.”

Within the first 100 days of her presidency, Herrin said, Clinton promised to extend benefits to all same-sex couples who work for the federal government with an executive order, end “don’t ask, don’t tell,” and use the bully pulpit to advocate for a fully inclusive ENDA and a fully inclusive hate-crimes bill. (Herrin and her executive board were not clear how Sen. Clinton would end “don’t ask, don’t tell” – if by executive order or some other means.)

Clinton also discussed how adamant she is about allowing everyone in America to adopt children if they are a qualified couple. “It was like she was indignant,” Herrin said of Clinton’s manner while talking about same-sex couples’ adoption rights. “Her voice just really changed, and that was the part that surprised us – her passion.”

On the Obama side, Randall Ellis, chairman of the senator’s Texas LGBT steering committee, is equally as enthused. “As Texans, we’re used to being told, ‘This is your nominee, this is who you need to support,’” said Ellis, who was quietly backing John Edwards until he dropped out of the race. “People here aren’t used to being asked the question, ‘Who are you supporting in the primaries?’ We really don’t know what hit us – all the sudden we’re a campaign stop.”

When the Obama campaign came knocking, Ellis, 38, was already engaged in reelection campaigns for two of the LGBT community’s “biggest allies” in the Texas state legislature, Reps. Garnet Coleman and Jessica Farrar. “They’re often vulnerable because they take stances on LGBT issues, and so people challenge them in primaries,” Ellis explained.

Ellis weighed his options for a couple weeks and ultimately decided to go with Obama, partly because of his stance for full repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act (Clinton supports partial repeal), but there was something more.

“It’s that certain je ne sais quoi,” Ellis said. “The people that you look at as a leader need to give you that sense of inspiration and hope, and that certainly is evident in the Obama campaign. People play that off like it doesn’t mean anything. But I think it means a lot.”

Ellis organized people this weekend to canvass in the Montrose neighborhood of Houston. According to estimates by demographer Gary Gates at the Williams Institute, that zip code, 77006, has a GLB population density of about eight times the national average – almost exactly the same density as New York’s Chelsea district, while San Francisco’s Castro holds about 20 times the national average.

After meeting up Saturday at the Starbucks on Montrose Blvd., the uniformed Obama volunteers dispersed to cafes, bars, and street corners, initiating one-on-one discussions and asking passers-by: Are you voting for Obama? Are you going to caucus? Have you told your friends?

Rebekah Lee, a volunteer from Bellingham, Wash., employed technology to give on-the-fence-voters a reason to consider Obama – using her cell phone, she pulled up a copy of Obama’s recent open letter to the GLBT community posted on Bilerico.com. “I really believe in Barack for our time,” said Lee. “He’s not afraid to answer a question with an ‘I don’t know’ or give you the tough answer. I can tell Barack wants the office to be able to serve people.”

And just as Montrose was on fire with activity, so was the Short North in Columbus, where a gallery hop that attracts thousands of people ensues the first Saturday of every month. According to locals, Columbus has the second-largest Pride celebration in the Midwest behind Chicago.

Page: 1 | 2
Emily Kim and Mehgan Sellers contributed reporting to this article.

Reader Comments

These comments are reproduced as written by visitors to this Web site. They have not been edited for content, grammar, or spelling. The viewpoints appearing here are those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the opinion or views of advocate.com, The Advocate, or its affiliates.

Be the first to comment on this story.

Back to top

Submit a comment for this story:

*Type your comment here (Required, 1000 characters max.):

*Name (Required): 

*Hometown (Required): 

*E-mail address: (Required, but will not be displayed)

Is this comment for publication? 
Yes   No

Daytime phone number: (Required for print publication only and will not be displayed)

Please enter the words you see in the box, in order and separated by a space. Doing so helps prevent automated programs from abusing this service.

  

If you would like to submit a comment for posting, please fill out the form above. 

All comments submitted via this form are subject to posting or publication. (To send a private letter to an Advocate editor or writer, please use the e-mail button at the top of the page, or use snail mail.) If you would like your comment considered for publication in The Advocate magazine, please include your full name, your city of residence, and a phone number where you can be reached during business hours so that we can confirm your identity. Your e-mail address and telephone number are strictly confidential and will not be shared or used for any purpose other than to contact you about your comment.

Comments that do not concern specific articles in The Advocate or on Advocate.com will not be posted or published. See the Contact page for sending comments for reasons other than responding to Advocate editorial and news stories.

Please note that comments sent by fax or snail mail are unlikely to be posted, although they will be considered for publication along with all letters received via e-mail or via this Web page. Comments that chiefly concern Advocate.com content will be considered for posting only on the Web site. The Advocate reserves the right to edit submitted comments for grammar, spelling, obscenities, or libel; we will, however, do our best to preserve the original comment's style and intent. Comments considered for publication in The Advocate magazine may also be edited for length.

More Exclusives
  • Building Bridges in the Wake of Prop. 8
    In the wake of finger-pointing following California's passing of Prop. 8, television writer and producer Tajamika Paxton suggests the time has come to build a bridge between the LGBT and African-American communities -- to engage in discussion rather than looking for somewhere to place blame.
  • Without Her We're Nothing
    The legendary Sandra Bernhard sits down with The Advocate before the one-night-only revival of her seminal one-woman show Without You I'm Nothing in Los Angeles to discuss Tori Amos, why Prop. 8 is "the best thing that could happen to the gay community," and how she she could possibly love both Rachel Maddow and Rachel Zoe.
  • Carmen Finds Her Spotlight
    It’s not very often that a lowly music critic gets the privilege of witnessing a glowing performance by a major new talent at the beginning of his or her career, but that is certainly what happened to yours truly on the evening of November 15 at the Los Angeles Opera. Viktoria Vizin, an astounding new mezzo-soprano making her L.A. Opera debut as Carmen this season, took my breath away.
  • Connecticut Gets Married
    This weekend, all 50 states participated in protests against the passing of antigay legislation in California, Arizona, Arkansas, and Florida. Gays and lesbians in Connecticut protested too, but they also had reason to celebrate. Last week, same-sex marriages got under way throughout the state.
  • Gay Is the New Black?
    In the wake of California’s passage of Proposition 8, protests are popping up around the country -- and so are comparisons between gays’ and African-Americans’ fights for equality. Is gay the new black? Michael Joseph Gross examines two struggles for civil rights. Plus: Photos from Wednesday night's rally in New York City.
  • The Day in Pictures
    From coast to coast, from gay to straight, from Pink to Mormon moms--a national movement to protest the passing of Prop. 8 in California rises up.
  • Smart Money
    In a time of economic calamity, one voice rises above the panic. Suze Orman is here to help -- she's offered her will and trust kit free to Advocate readers. Click the story for more info.
  • David Hyde Pierce is Gay, Married ... and Marching Against Prop. 8
    As Dr. Niles Crane on the hit sitcom Frasier, David Hyde Pierce had a great deadpan. That also extended to his own life: For years he wouldn’t confirm or deny being gay. Since then he thawed enough to thank his longtime partner, Brian Hargrove, in his 2007 Tony Award acceptance speech. And on Saturday, Pierce was one baseball-capped protester among maybe 20,000 others marching for equality in Los Angeles.
  • Gearing Up
    From Long Beach to Toronto, activists begin to prepare for a weekend of protest -- including the "Raging Grannies" in Palo Alto. See it all come together.
  • Best of Times, Worst of Times
    In the week after Barack Obama’s historic victory, gays and lesbians are pondering another historic, albeit less victorious, moment of their own. Three anti-gay marriage propositions passed -- in Florida, Arizona, and California. In Arkansas gay people were barred from adopting children. Now the real fight begins.
  • Revolution No. 8
    I've been waving a sign on street corners since H8 passed: "Black Queers." Responses have varied -- from honks of support to looks of disapproval from both blacks and whites. A black woman came up to me at a rally and asked me if I didn't think the sign was offensive to black people. I said, "It's who I am, and people should know."
  • You Can Never Go Home Again
    Eight years ago Advocate associate editor Neal Broverman packed up his car and moved from Connecticut to California to find freedom and acceptance. Now that marriage is legal in Connecticut, he's wondering if he ever should have left.
  • Prop. 8 Rally Takes Manhattan
    On the same day that the state of Connecticut began allowing same-sex marriages, thousands of New Yorkers gathered to protest the recent ruling in California taking away those same rights. Over 15,000 people gathered Wednesday night in protest of Proposition 8, the California ballot initiative that overturned a recent court ruling allowing same-sex marriage.
  • Calif. Senators Leno, Migden on Post-Prop. 8 Movement
    Forty-four California state senators and assembly members on Monday signed a friend-of-the-court brief to support lawsuits seeking to overturn Proposition 8, which voters passed last week, banning same-sex marriage. Senator-elect Mark Leno, author of the "only marriage equality bills to reach a governor's desk," and Sen. Carole Migden were among the petitioners.
  • London, 007 Style
    Bond has firmly swashbuckled into the 21st century in the form of hunky Daniel Craig, who is bursting onto screens in the brand-new Quantum of Solace. Although he's better known as a global jet-setter, James’s hometown of London holds many of the keys to his persona -- it's where he dressed, ate, slept, and had his hair done. Here’s your chance to swagger in his footsteps and imagine your travels are on Her Majesty’s Secret Service expense account.
  • Role Model
    Jack Mackenroth of Project Runway season 4 unveiled his new HIV/AIDS education campaign on Monday night at the Gay Men's Health Crisis Fashion Forward benefit in New York City. Called "Living Positive by Design" and sponsored by Merck and Co., the initiative seeks to combat the stigmatization of people living with HIV.
  • Gaga for the Lady
    Lady Gaga cavorts in couture. She only dons platinum wigs that suggest the presence of radioactivity. And she yells for you to dance, all in tribute to her favorite muse -- fame.
  • Terminated: Commercial Closet's Executive Director
    Since early this year, Commercial Closet Association has been in negotiations with GLAAD to dissolve into one advertising media program overseen by the larger nonprofit. But CCA founder Michael Wilke says he was supposed to join GLAAD in this new joint venture. Then on Monday, CCA's board announced the merger -- and Wilke's termination...which Wilke says took him completely by surprise. The board says that's hard to believe and that Wilke was told he'd been terminated November 4.
  • Side of Guac With Your Hate?
    L.A. eatery El Coyote, long known for attracting a heavily LGBT client base, is facing the heat now that bloggers have revealed one of the managers, who is a niece of the original owners, had donated to the pro-Proposition 8 campaign. El Coyote's answer: a free lunch/press conference giving her a forum to explain her decision. But the 70-some people in attendance were none too pleased with what they heard. Is a boycott the answer?