In an applause-laden speech at the White House this afternoon, President Obama laid out his most detailed committment to the gay community yet. Reiterating previous promises to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, enact federal hate crimes protections, and repeal Don't Ask Don't Tell, our great orator of a president made a fantastic case for his self-professed committment to GLBTs. With Michelle by his side, Obama reminded us of what we knew him to be as a candidate: our "ally and a champion" to our community. And equally importantly, he acknowledged our frustration.

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The Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN) is organizing 265 veterans, allies and supporters to march on the White House 2 p.m. Saturday, June 27, to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall riots and urge President Obama to break his silence on “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" repeal. The 265 marchers represent the number of service members discharged since the President and the new Congress were sworn in. The marchers will be led by five of the plaintiffs in Cook v. Gates, a Supreme Court case that was filed by the plaintiffs and SLDN in December 2004 on behalf of 12 lesbian and gay veterans discharged under DADT.

SLDN will be joined by the following partner organizations:

American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
Center Link
Consortium of Higher Education LGBT Resource Professionals
International Gay & Lesbian Human Rights Commission
Knights Out
Metropolitan Community Churches
National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce
Stonewall Democrats

As Albany refuses to get its shit together with the Democrats and Republicans taking turns calling each other names and locking each other out of the State Senate chambers (yes, really) comes Gov. David Paterson demanding legislators try again today for a special session. And what's this? At the top of his list of to-do items? Same-sex marriage!

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Is it time to stop counting who is not going to the DNC's gay fundraiser, and rather figure out who will be there? For one, we know Vice President Joe Biden RSVPd … but only 'cause he's hosting the thing.

UPDATE: Stonewall Democrats drop support for the fundraiser, but stops short of a boycott.

Running a gay rights or aid organization is a noble assignment. It's also a plush gig. In return for being the public face and chief strategist for various activism and outreach organizations, the leaders are rewarded with cash. Handsomely. Just how attractive are these top posts of supposed non-profits?

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The number of gay and lesbian appointment's continue to grow on a daily basis within the Obama administration and while you can read about the most prominent in today's feature, there are three more rumored to be officially announced soon: David Medina will be Michelle Obama's Deputy Chief of Staff, Dave Noble will be the President's liaison to NASA and Karine Jean-Pierre will be liaison to the Department of Labor.

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With word that Sanjay Gupta may be Surgeon General, the arrival of a flashy new website to get Americans to serve their country and Obama arriving in D.C. to his inauguration by way of old-timey whistle stop tour, it seems pretty clear the new President embraces Marshal McLuhan's dictum that "the medium is the message."

Case in point: Two of the people invites on the whistle stop tour– and who will appear onstage with Obama — are a lesbian couple involved in grassroots activism.

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Sandi Bachom, a digital activist in nyc, made the above video in response to the church Sarah Palin attends hosting a radical 'pray away the gay' conference.

Some of the video was shot at the Marriage Equality New York March on Sunday and features Allen Roskoff (Jim Owles Club), Matt Carlin (Stonewall Democrats), and many other ny gay activists. You'll even see me (Ryan) briefly!

Celebrating its 5th anniversary, Sept. 14's Annual Wedding March gives New Yorkers the opportunity to stand in solidarity to support gay marriage and bridge the gap in the civil inequality. In New York City beginning at 11am that Sunday, participants are invited to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge and then join Scott Nevins and The Gender Offenders for a picnic with performances at the end of the march in Brooklyn. Sponsored by The Center, PFLAG FCA NYC, Stonewall Democrats, The Loft, MCCNY, Out Astoria, and Queerty. Interested? Register here. The Wedding March will also take place simultaneously in Albany. Visit Marriage Equality New York for more information.

Joe Solmonese made a big stink about the Log Cabin Republicans this morning when he blasted the gay group's support for Republican presidential hopeful John McCain. Recent reports, however, claim that Joe and his Human Rights Campaign are much closer to the McCain-backing Cabinites than they let on.

A website called Boycott HRC last week reported that a "reliable source" told them HRC had donated $10,000 to the LCR, while giving none to the National Stonewall Democrats.

TransAdvocate, meanwhile, published an email purportedly sent from NSD co-chair Steve Driscoll to executive director Jon Hoadley, among others. In this email, Driscoll derides HRC for their "high-handedness" at the 2004 Democratic National Convention and gripes that the organization had been stonewalling discussions on a possible 2008 collaboration.

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It's official!

Barack Obama announced last night that he's picked Delaware Senator Joe Biden as his running mate. Biden, who previously attempted to throw the press off track, brings 35 of Senatorial experience to Obama's ticket. And, thanks to his seat on the Foreign Relations Committee, first hand international policy knowledge, which will help even Obama's odds against John McCain.

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Almost everyone's heard the proverb, "It takes a village to raise a child." Hell, Senator Hillary Clinton loves that saying so much, she used it for a book's title – and in stump speeches! Well, if that adage proves true, then one could say it takes a nation to birth a party platform. And it may be as painful.

As we speak, operatives and politicos on both sides of the aisle are hammering out their final philosophy, the document that will guide them to November and, they hope, to the White House.

Rather than keeping the drafting internal, both party's are trying to reach out to voters, the Republicans with a website and the Democrats with community drafting committees. These structures, set up by Barack Obama and spread across the land, give ordinary citizens a bit more say in the matter. But, as with all civil negotiations, everyone wants a piece of the political pie.

Too bad no one ever said democracy's fair – or, if they did, had never heard of the Rolling Stones.

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It’s a slow road to equality, even within the “big tent” Democratic party.

Last week the Democratic Party unveiled their rough draft party platform, which lacked essentially lavender language, like almost any mention of gay folk – period.

ABC News journo Jake Tapper points out that in 2004, the Democrats included, “We support full inclusion of gay and lesbian families in the life of our nation and seek equal responsibilities, benefits, and protections for these families” in its section on marriage, but failed to include queers in this years round up, opting for the less explicit, “We support the full inclusion of all families in the life of our nation, and support equal responsibility, benefits, and protections.”

Fishy – no queers and “support,” rather than “seek.”

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Politics can be a meticulous business. There are voters to analyze, boxes to be checked, heads to be counted and put in a row. Well organized electoral campaigns require a certain amount of numeric dissection. And, as with any game, numbers matter, especially when discussing potentially divisive social constituencies, like the gays.

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The National Stonewall Democrats announced this week that there are 27% more gay Convention participants than in 2004. They estimate about 358 LGBT folks are headed to Denver later this month, while only 282 went four years ago. We'll have a full report later today. [POQ]

Barack Obama's gay team just got a face lift!

The Senator's presidential campaign announced yesterday a "significant expansion" of their national and grassroots LGBT teams, particularly the addition of new Steering Committee co-chairs members, like Tammy Baldwin. Like many other on the list, Baldwin once backed Hillary Clinton, but this week pledged her support to Obama.

Clinton looms large in the press release, and the campaign's hoping to get their gay ducks – or is it geese? – in a row ahead of the convention later this month:

Over the last few weeks, dozens of members of Clinton’s committee have joined the Steering and Policy Committee, and the committee will continue to grow between now and Election Day.
…
Also, grassroots leaders who held leadership positions in both Obama and Clinton’s primary campaigns have joined to lead the national grassroots mobilization of LGBT voters. Obama Pride will build upon the work that started in the primary [and] Obama Pride will organize networks of activists in all fifty states who are committed to identifying, registering and turning out lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender voters for Barack in November.

A total of five people have joined Obama's gay steering committee, including Baldwin, black gay activist Mandy Carter, former Task Force board co-chair Marsha Botzer and Texas-based Jesse Garcia. A former member of Clinton's queer steering committee, Garcia had this to say about the general election, "On every issue facing the LGBT community, John McCain promises a third Bush term. He’s promised to appoint judges to the Supreme Court like Scalia and Alito, and we can’t afford that."

Read the entire release after the jump…

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"Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama was poised to receive the backing from the National Stonewall Democrats Thursday when the organization planned to announce its endorsement for the candidate… The board of directors for the National Stonewall Democrats unanimously decided to support Obama with a voice vote about three weeks ago, according to John Marble, spokesperson for the organization." [Washington Blade]

Michelle Obama received loads of praise last month when, at an event for gay Democrats, the potential first lady said, "We are all only here because of those who marched and bled and died, from Selma to Stonewall, in the pursuit of a more perfect union."

The "Selma" of which Mrs. Obama spoke refers to a 1965 march in Selma, Alabama, when police beat back civil rights activists trying to march to Montgomery as a protest to a black teenager's shooting. The event immediately became known as Bloody Sunday. The "Stonewall" of which Mrs Obama spoke, of course, refers to the Stonewall Rebellion of 1969, widely seen as the launch of the contemporary gay rights movement. With that geographical reference, Obama sought to – and succeeded in – linking the civil and gay rights movements. The crowd – and the press – went wild, but not everyone agrees with Obama's optimism.

Racism and homophobia, some believe, are so completely and utterly different that drawing a comparison between the two amounts to a mortal political sin. That’s a perfectly reasonable argument. Race and sexuality have exceedingly divergent histories in the United States, and thus result in entirely different emotional experiences. White people can't understand anti-black sentiment anymore than straight people can comprehend homophobia.

Black, gay people have felt both, of course, which puts the National Black Justice Coalition in a precarious position.

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Now, in an effort to remind voters of McCain's commitment to restricting gay rights, National Stonewall Democrats are circulating a video of the candidate's most shameful moments, like how he opposes gay adoption rights, marriage and other "straight" privileges. It's not pretty.

We're in the home stretch of primary season, but that doesn't mean all's well in the Democratic party. Aside from Hillary Clinton's commendable tenacity, and the din of her vocal, though dwindling supporters, there's a new tussle a brewing: the delegate selection tussle.

Many state parties have shown resistance to the Democratic National Committee's Shay Amendment, a measure that set so-called "gay goals." These numeric marks were set to help each state or territory include gay people in their overall delegate camp. Unfortunately, things haven't worked out quite as planned. And, if you haven't read part one, you'd better catch up.

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With only six primaries left – and Barack Obama's resounding lead over rival Hillary Clinton – many people have basically declared the delegate selection over. That, however, would be premature.

While the majority of the states and overseas regions' delegate numbers have been determined, most of them must still decide which individuals will head to Denver this August. have ruled which candidate gets how many delegates, most of them still must decide who will head to Denver this August. And, like so many things in this election, there's loads of drama surrounding the process. Infighting, allegations, personal homophobia and potentially impotent DNC "gay delegate goals" may derail the whole process.

Editor Andrew Belonsky offers part one of an extensive two-part analysis, after the jump…

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Allen Roskoff's never been afraid to voice his opinion. Well, that's not true. Like so many of the lavender set, the New York-based activist once hid in the closet, but found himself out and proud after falling in with the Gay Activist Alliance, one of our city's first post-Stonewall rights groups.

Now, as president of the Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club, Roskoff remains one of the most progressive activists this side of the Mississippi. In fact, it was an email from Roskoff that spurred the following exchange with our editor.

Some of you may recall last week's story about anti-gay "cult" Aesthetic Realism. Well, Roskoff wrote to us and regaled us with tales of how he and his GAA pals used to rail against the group.

Always intrigued by tales of homo history, we asked Roskoff if he'd like to elaborate for you, our darling readers. And he graciously agreed.

Read what Roskoff has to say about the Realism movement, gay activism's golden years, why homos need to stop cheering for Hillary Clinton, how Barney Frank and HRC do more harm than good, and why Barack Obama must be the Democratic nominee – after the jump, naturally.

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Oh, girl!

Barack Obama made a play for some new gays – and won. The Senator from Illinois just enlisted an additional 40 LGBT leaders, activists and politicos to endorse his campaign. They aren't just any gays, either, but a specially selected swath of endorsees.

As Obama campainer Eric Stern tells Kerry Eleveld, "It's not just a list. It’s a group of individuals, all of whom are highly skilled and bring a tremendous amount of experience and knowledge to the campaign." And send a powerful, strategic message.

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Senator Hillary Clinton likes to paint herself as an experienced Washington political warrior, and definitely looked for the same in her staff. That said, National Director of LGBT Outreach Mark Walsh may be the best gay for the campaign's queer needs.

Though a lawyer by training, Walsh has devoted much of his adult life to getting the gay into Washington. He's worked with former Congressman Marty Meehan, who stepped down last year after taking a hard line against Don't Ask, Don't Tell.

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Homophobic incidents have a way of biting back. Just ask Buffalo-based politico Andres Garcia, who hoped to head the city's Buffalo Commission on Citizens' Rights.

Garcia's dreams were shattered, however, when a local paper uncovered Garcia's alleged anti-gay past:

Garcia won the panel’s unanimous backing for the post, and Brown endorsed the hiring. But when The Buffalo News disclosed that Garcia was named in a 2006 complaint that accused him of repeatedly taunting a gay co-worker, other accusers stepped forward.

The complaint was filed against Kaleida Health Systems, where Garcia worked as a vice president. It accused Garcia of creating a “hostile work environment” by subjecting a gay employee to “constant” negative comments that included slurs and jokes.

The matter was settled privately, and Garcia ended his 16-year career at Kaleida eight months after the complaint was filed. Mattina insisted Garcia retired to take care of his ill mother.

In recent weeks, other accusers claimed Garcia denigrated gays, females and minorities on numerous occasions. The Pride Center and Stonewall Democrats of Western New York implored the commission to rescind Garcia’s appointment.

Garcia rescinded his application following the public shaming, but denied claims that he's a hater.

The Stonewall Democrats' Texas branch officially endorsed Hillary Clinton ahead of today's primaries. [Pegasus]

John McCain and his campaign staff seem to be gay-baiting in Florida.

The National Stonewall Democrats aren't alone in defending the DNC against The Washington Blade's "race riot" emails. The International Federation of Black Prides released a statement last Friday defending Howard Dean, Leah Daughtry and the Democratic National Committee's gay policies. Read what they wrote, after the jump.

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South Carolina shows Barack Obama some major love this weekend.

Washington Blade editor Kevin Naff and his staff better watch their backs. The National Stonewall Democrats are, like, totally pissed the weekly paper published emails between DNC's Brian Bond and an anonymous Stonewaller. Those emails, which we also published, accused DNC Chief of Staff Leah Daughtry, as well as other prominent black leaders, of homophobia and a racialized bunker mentality. Read the Wallers' wails, after the jump.

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