Michelle Obama:Promise of Equality for Gays

Michelle Obama won thunderous applause from gay activists and officials Tuesday when she said, “discrimination has no place in a nation founded on the promise of equality.”

Speaking during a Democratic National Convention luncheon for gay delegates and dignitaries, the wife of presidential hopeful Barack Obama recalled how her husband once rallied neighborhood groups by challenging them to transform “the world as it is” into “the world as it should be.”

Read the rest of this blog at restoringlove.com.

Afterthoughts From the Democractic Convention

Here is one person’s outtake of the DNC, out of the thousands, but, A very interesting one.

I have now been home nearly 24 hours, and I’ve had a chance to digest the experience of the Convention; one of the key hallmarks of the event is that there’s so much going on that you don’t have time for a whole lot of reflection midstream. I suspect there’s more reflection to be made, but before we go to far past the event, I thought I’d recap what I now know that I didn’t a week ago.

Read the rest of this at blueoregon.com.

Yes We Can! Yes We Can! Yes We Can!

The time is 10:58 p.m. EST and Barack Obama just finished his DNC acceptance speech in front of a live audience of over 84,000 people, and I have goose bumps, a lump in my throat, tears running down my cheek and a renewed since of pride in my heart and soul.

Barack Obama just gave what I would consider to be the best speech ever given.  I agree most completely with the Presidential candidate when he said, “America, we can not turn back!”  We have so much at stake and we can not afford another year, not to mention 4 of what we have had for the past 8.  This man has not only took a stand against what he sees wrong with this country, but he stood up for what he sees can be done by all of us as citizens individually and as a whole.

He made it clear this election is not about who is more patriotic, this is not about red and blue, but this is about the United States of America and what is wrong and right, what is bad and good and what it encompasses as a whole which is the lives of all citizens as equals.  As he said, “we may not all believe in abortion, but we can all agree we need to reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies.”  And then, for me, the highlight of the speech, “We may not all agree on same-sex marriage, but certainly we can all agree that our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters deserve to have equal rights and not to be discriminated against.”

As he also mentioned, “Change doesn’t come from Washington, change comes to Washington.” He is the change that can make this country the great nation it once was.

Michelle Obama caught a lot of flack for saying earlier that for the first time, she was proud of her country, but I must admit, for the first time in 8 years, I too am finally proud to be American and am proud of my country.  I truly have a renewed sense of passion and hope for what’s to come!

In closing, he said “God bless the U.S.A and I say God bless you”.  I would like to return the thought with GOD BLESS YOU Mr. Obama, and may you be the next President of this great nation!

Gill: Helping Ant-Gay Politicians Find New Jobs

Tim Gill might be best known for his work in politics and philanthropy, but he considers himself a career counselor. Gill, the wealthy and notoriously reclusive gay founder of Gill Action Fund, told members of the Democratic National Committee’s LGBT Americans Caucus at a meeting Monday that he’s simply helping anti-gay politicians find new jobs.

Read more of this blog at gaynewsblog.net.

From a Mile High - Explore Denver’s Gay Side

You might not have noticed them at first glance — they weren’t holding hands or waiving rainbow flags — but there were gay people all around Denver as the Democratic National Convention began.

Allida Black, a lesbian from Arlington, Va., was among those who blended so well into the crowd. She sat Sunday morning along Denver’s picturesque 16th Street Mall for an interview with John Irvine, an ITN correspondent who was asking how boisterous Sen. Hillary Clinton’s supporters might become on the convention floor.

Black, a Clinton delegate who’s been asked to help keep her brethren from upstaging Sen. Barack Obama, said she expects little commotion despite the unusual precaution.

“My job is to make sure that the sense on the floor is respectful and not profane and not rude,” Black said. “I think you can make your voices heard in a way that is strong and passionate and clear. But you can’t guarantee that there won’t be uproar,” Irvine said as a helicopter whirled overhead and police officers rode motorcycles along the mall.

“No, I can’t,” she said. “But my job is to go to people and say, ‘Don’t go there with me. This is not about you. This is about Hillary. This about the people who voted for her.’ And we voted for her as a woman of character, a woman of strength, a woman of political convictions, a woman who can lead, a woman who does not pout.”

A few blocks away, atheists Jan Abbott and Debbie Lane were protesting the interfaith service DNC officials coordinated inside the Colorado Convention Center.

Read the rest at southernvoice.com.

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