Obama’s Open Letter to the LGBT Community
Presidential candidate Barack Obama has stepped up his outreach to the LGBT community. Obama announced yesterday that he would be placing LGBT-focused advertisements in four major LGBT papers in Texas and Ohio, leading up to the March 4 primaries in those states.
Obama has also published an open letter to the LGBT community, which blogs have reported will be reprinted as an op-ed in Ohio LGBT newspapers. In his letter, Obama outlined his work for and with the LGBT community in the past, present and future. With various print and online outlets picking up Obama’s letter, the spotlight is once again on the LGBT community. It seemed early on that all of the Democratic candidates had similar stances on the issues: civil unions are okay, but marriage for gay and lesbian couples is too much; 'Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell' should be repealed, and people should not face discrimination on the job. These positions were pioneering in many ways, but Obama is now attempting to break out and present himself as the gay-friendly candidate. He cites pro-LGBT co-sponsored Illinois legislation and talks about plans to fund HIV prevention programs and ban workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Just yesterday, he told a group of supporters at a rally in Beaumont, Texas, “I hear people saying things that I don’t think are very Christian with respect to people who are gay and lesbian.”
It will be interesting to see if Obama’s ads and op-ed are successful in making inroads into the community, especially considering that LGBT voters have traditionally been identified as staunch supporters of the Clintons. Early in the campaign season, a poll by Hunter College found that 63 percent of lesbian, gay and bisexual likely voters supported Clinton. But part of Obama’s strategy has been to go after Hillary’s base rather than just focusing on independent and undecided voters. Clinton got a solid majority of the gay vote in New York and California, but Obama has had a string of impressive wins since Super Tuesday and other demographic groups that have traditionally supported Clinton, including women, have swung to Obama in recent primaries. The Federal Elections Committee confirmed that Obama has a small advantage, with folks in Texas’ gay neighborhoods split at 52 and 48 percent. The March 4 primaries will be an interesting measure of whether or not Senator Obama’s outreach to the LGBT community through the media will tip the scales in his favor.
Read Obama’s letter (PDF).
Paul Karr is the Director of Media Field Strategy
Obama has also published an open letter to the LGBT community, which blogs have reported will be reprinted as an op-ed in Ohio LGBT newspapers. In his letter, Obama outlined his work for and with the LGBT community in the past, present and future. With various print and online outlets picking up Obama’s letter, the spotlight is once again on the LGBT community. It seemed early on that all of the Democratic candidates had similar stances on the issues: civil unions are okay, but marriage for gay and lesbian couples is too much; 'Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell' should be repealed, and people should not face discrimination on the job. These positions were pioneering in many ways, but Obama is now attempting to break out and present himself as the gay-friendly candidate. He cites pro-LGBT co-sponsored Illinois legislation and talks about plans to fund HIV prevention programs and ban workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Just yesterday, he told a group of supporters at a rally in Beaumont, Texas, “I hear people saying things that I don’t think are very Christian with respect to people who are gay and lesbian.”
It will be interesting to see if Obama’s ads and op-ed are successful in making inroads into the community, especially considering that LGBT voters have traditionally been identified as staunch supporters of the Clintons. Early in the campaign season, a poll by Hunter College found that 63 percent of lesbian, gay and bisexual likely voters supported Clinton. But part of Obama’s strategy has been to go after Hillary’s base rather than just focusing on independent and undecided voters. Clinton got a solid majority of the gay vote in New York and California, but Obama has had a string of impressive wins since Super Tuesday and other demographic groups that have traditionally supported Clinton, including women, have swung to Obama in recent primaries. The Federal Elections Committee confirmed that Obama has a small advantage, with folks in Texas’ gay neighborhoods split at 52 and 48 percent. The March 4 primaries will be an interesting measure of whether or not Senator Obama’s outreach to the LGBT community through the media will tip the scales in his favor.
Read Obama’s letter (PDF).
Paul Karr is the Director of Media Field Strategy
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