Gay Presidential Debate
Logo and HRC are hosting the first ever presidential debate focusing on gay issues tonight at 8pm Central time** (Update below). This is a pretty monumental event for the gay community, and I'm excited. It will be nice to see a debate on gay issues that is not centered around the argument that gay people are immoral (since that's where this issue has been in the last couple of elections). Hopefully it will also turn the issue from a "talking point" to something more personal. As this writer says, "I am not an issue; I am a human being," and I'm tired of having gay issues discussed as if there aren't real people be affected here.Unfortunately, the debate will only include the Democrat candidates. It's not that the Republican candidates weren't invited. You see, they just couldn't make it. Most of them couldn't even bother to respond to the invitation. I understand that they aren't interested in this particular issue, but to not respond is pretty telling of what they really think. You guys can draw your own conclusions there.
I'll admit, the debate makes me nervous because gays have been used as such a wedge issue in the past. I'm nervous about what sound bites the far right is going to come up with to attack candidates with later. In the end, though, it's the right thing to do. I just hope the right thing to do ends up paying off in the long run.
So, tonight at 8pm you know where I'll be. You guys should watch too and let me know what you think.
**Update**
Tiltsatwindmills pointed out in the comments that the HRC hosted a very similar (and some say better debate) back in 2003. Here's a post comparing the two. Very interesting. I wonder how HRC and Logo are getting away with calling this the first even of it's kind.
posted by Brady @ 8:16 AM
2 Comments:
There was a similar debate sponsored by HRC back in 2003, with 7 of the 9 Democratic candidates, so I'm not sure why they're billing this event as "the first ever." If anything, the 2007 debate is a step down. In 2003 they had Sam Donaldson asking questions, and it was aired on C-Span. Now they have Melissa Etheridge, and it's only being carried on Logo, which many people, including me, don't get.
It's better than nothing, of course, but it frustrates me when HRC seems to take one step forward and two steps back.
Oh, good catch, Tilts. I'm going to update my post about this. Very interesting. I'm wondering how on earth the HRC is claiming this to be the "first ever." Maybe because it was aired on a gay tv channel?
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