The Democrats Weigh In On LGBTQ Equality

History will be made tomorrow when the Democratic Presidential Candidates debate issues that are front and center in the lives of LGBTQ families.

The debate will air on August 9th at 9:00 PM Eastern time on LOGO TV (cable) and will also be streaming live online at visiblevote08.com. If you log on today, you can submit a question you want the moderator to ask the candidates.

That this debate is possible -- only 4 years after LGBTQ rights was made a major issue in the 2004 presidential elections -- is a testament at how important it is/was to be visible and keep the conversation going. As long as we are willing to stay hidden in our closets, we allow the opposition speak for us.

And when that happens, they make up wild stories about equal marriage rights causing people to have sex with dogs and children - which forces us to defend our dignity rather than demand our rights!

Now the truth is out: LGBTQ people are just people. Our agenda is simple: we want and deserve to have the very same freedoms enjoyed by every other American citizen.

Of the 2008 candidates, only Kucinich and Gravel support Same-Sex Marriage - allowing civil marriage rights for same-sex couples.

All the rest, including Biden, Clinton, Obama, Richardson, Dodd, Kucinich, Gravel and Edwards, support the following:

• Federal Recognition of State-Level Same-Sex Unions - This position would override Section 3 of the so-called “Defense of Marriage Act,” which provides that for federal purposes, “The word ‘marriage’ means only a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife, and the word ‘spouse’ refers only to a person of the opposite sex who is a husband or a wife.” 1 U.S.C. § 7

• ENDA - Supports passage of a federal bill prohibiting job discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity

• Hate Crimes - Supports passage of a federal bill that gives authority to the federal government to investigate and prosecute violent crimes motivated by bias against the victim because of their sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or disability

• Civil Unions - Supports civil unions for same-sex couples

• Federal Benefits for Same-Sex Couples - Supports extending federal benefits, rights, privileges and responsibilities to same-sex couples and their children provided the partnership meets certain federal standards of commitment and mutuality of interest

• Coverage Under the FMLA - Supports expansion of the Family and Medical Leave Act to cover domestic partners and their children

• Access to Survivor Benefits - Supports paying survivor benefits to the same-sex partners of gay and lesbian people

• Equal Tax Treatment for Same-Sex Couples - Supports fair and equal tax treatment of same sex couples on the same basis as married couples

• Domestic Partner Benefits for Federal Employees - Supports domestic partner coverage of health insurance and other employee benefits for gay and lesbian employees of the civilian federal workforce

• Adoption - Opposes bans on adoption based solely on sexual orientation

• Immigration - Supports the Uniting American Families Act, which would allow an American citizen to petition for immigration sponsorship for a same sex partner

• Repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” - Supports repeal of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” Policy

• Funding for HIV/AIDS - Supports funding for the Ryan White Care Act to provide access to life-saving treatment and care for more than half a million low-income Americans with HIV/AIDS Supports passage of federal legislation that would allow states the option to provide Medicaid coverage to low-income, HIV positive Americans Supports increased funding for HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and research

  Candidate information courtesy of HRC

We hope you will tune in because we need to pay attention to what these candidates say. We need to hold them accountable to keeping promises they make and to watch for evasive answers that could mean many different things.

A few recent articles published in RainbowZine highlight some of the reasons why this debate should matter to YOU:

Battle Between Gay Man And Sick Partner's Family Highlights Lack Of Same-Sex Couple Rights

For a quarter century Patrick Atkins and Brett Conrad shared their lives including a home and bank accounts but when Atkins fell near fatally ill Conrad discovered he had no rights in determining the care or who would deliver it to his ailing partner.

An Ohio Supreme Court Case Interprets The State's Anti-Same-Sex Marriage Amendment

Voters and legislatures should be cautious lest they discover that they have allowed irrational fear and hostility to menace the integrity of their state codes and constitutions.

The "What is a Family?" Question

A surprisingly large number of state and local laws - in areas ranging from zoning, to housing assistance, to rent control, to wrongful death, to name just a few -- make benefits, burdens, or criminal responsibility turn on family or marital status. The applicable statutes often use terms like "household member," "spouse," or "family" without defining them. Thus, courts are left to supply their own definition, and the definition often properly varies along with the purpose of the statute at issue.

Ohio's domestic violence law prohibits harming a "family or household member." The statute goes on to define those terms to include, among others, "a spouse, a person living as a spouse, or a former spouse of the offender."

A person "living as a spouse" is defined, in turn, as someone "who is living or has lived with the offender in a common law marital relationship, who otherwise is cohabiting with the offender, or who otherwise has cohabited with the offender within five years prior to the date of the alleged commission of the act in question."

School System Allows Group To Promote 'Gay Conversion' To Students

(McLean, Virginia) The School board in Arlington County, Virginia has agreed to allow a so-called ex-gay group to post material for high school students claiming homosexuality can be reversed.

Immigration laws make it doubly difficult for foreign-born partners to remain in the U.S.

Are The Gays A Political Issue?

It seems plainly evident that Republican presidential candidates Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani are putting all their money in the gay basket.

Detecting Lies

According to an article in RainbowZine, a group of gay veterans former are touring America to share their military experiences under the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT) policy.

As you probably know, the DADT policy was enacted during Bill Clinton’s presidency – with his blessing – and AFTER his campaign promises to the LGBTQ community that he would end discrimination of gays in the military.

Adding insult to THAT injury – and spitting in the face of the thousands of LGBTQ people and our supporters who believed his promises – Bill Clinton signed the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) which effectively bans federal and state recognition of our LEGAL Canadian and Massachusetts marriages, our New Jersey and Vermont civil unions and our California domestic partnership registrations by every other state.

Of course, Clinton made those campaign promises to GET ELECTED in the first place -- before reneging on those promises – doing a 180 – in order to get RE-ELECTED in the second place.

Which brings us to the point of this blog:

On August 9th, Logo TV will broadcast a Democratic Presidential Debate where candidates will discuss issues like DADT, DOMA and marriage equality. We will be watching eagerly for promises to end governmentally sanctioned inequality for our families.

Thrilled as we are about that, we will NOT be holding our breath waiting for campaign promises to come true after a candidate is elected.

Candidates make promises they do not intend to keep – in other words, they LIE in order to get elected.

Our question to the candidates is – why should we believe you? What’s the difference between you and every other candidate who made empty promises to us?

That question is especially poignant for Hillary who may be hard pressed to question – let alone overturn – legislation and policy enacted and supported by her husband.

LOGO should hook all of the candidates up to lie detectors so that we can see whether the little needle goes crazy when they say they would appeal DADT or they support equal rights but not equal marriage!

But we digress…

The article about the gay vets reveals that since 1993 – when DADT was adopted:

“11,082 members of the Marines, Navy, Army, Coast Guard and Air Force have been discharged. Among them were highly-trained linguists. “

With the so-called Global War on Terror raging, one would hope that the US policy would see the need to end this obscene injustice. (Frankly, we don’t understand why anyone in their right mind would WANT to serve under this administration – especially given its inability to manage an effective military campaign.)

A truly progressive democracy should welcome any able-bodied person who is willing to serve.

Just as truly democratic societies should recognize the benefit of encouraging its citizens to create stable and legally recognized families.

LGBTQ equality on every level in society is a win-win situation for our democracy and our families.

Opponents of our equal right to participate fully as American citizens should be seen for what they are:

UNPATRIOTIC IGNORAMUSES!

Why, then, would candidates for office cater to THEM?

We hope Joe and Melissa will ask the candidates tough questions!

We will be watching the debate on LOGO and will keep you posted as to how you can watch it too!