Hillary Clinton: April 2008 Archives

Both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama’s campaigns have been visibly courting LGBT voters in Pennsylvania in the few final days leading up to today’s primary. The media have focused attention on the LGBT electorate with prominent stories in different regional and national outlets, picking up on why LGBT voters support who they support, and highlighting each campaign’s LGBT outreach strategies.

LGBT press reported heavily on Chelsea Clinton’s Friday night out at Philadelphia’s gay bars. She was accompanied by prominent Clinton supporter and Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell. But Chelsea’s night out wasn’t all the media saw. National cable TV outlets, as well as local Pennsylvania press, picked up on her recent walking-tour, where she campaigned for gay and lesbian votes. Mainstream and gay outlets both covered Chelsea interacting with the community in a more social setting, and were just as interested in her more traditional campaigning.

Monday’s Patriot-News featured a story on why LGBT voters were voting for one candidate over another.  Nearly all of the coverage focusing on the LGBT Pennsylvania electorate has explored the reasons behind why individual voters are supporting their candidates.
 
According to the Patriot-News piece, LGBT voters seem to be expressing personal preferences that aren’t related to the candidates’ positions on LGBT issues, but rather broader issues like health care, the economy or the war in Iraq. As we have seen from the beginning of this election season, journalists are framing LGBT issues (like marriage for gay and lesbian couples) as larger social issues. In return, the media are reflecting the diversity of LGBT voters, and reporting on the fact that LGBT voters care about issues across the board, and that voters across the board care about LGBT issues.

Paul Karr is the Director of Media Field Strategy

On Monday, April 7, Ellen DeGeneres hosted Presidential hopeful Sen. Hillary Clinton on her daily talk show, Ellen. Though the two joked about Clinton’s relationship with Madonna (they’re cousins!?) and the Senator’s attempt to “bowl for voters” (you've got to see it for yourself), the conversation turned serious as Clinton told Ellen she was vowing to “defend gay rights as President and eliminate inequalities for same-sex couples in Federal law.”

Clinton went on to tell a personal story from her childhood about her family’s gay neighbors and how her close-minded father grew to love and accept them — and how the candidate herself saw firsthand how her family’s dear friends were denied hospital visitation rights when one of the men got sick. “That made such an impression on me,” she told Ellen, “and I’m going to do everything I can so that people like you and [partner] Portia have a chance to have rights...We just have to make this much more fair.” 

 

Kudos to Ellen for making sure Clinton addressed issues that are not only important to her personally, but to many in her audience as well. As we’ve seen in recent months, Ellen has spoken passionately about the shooting death of teen Lawrence King and about Oklahoma State Rep. Sally Kern's anti-gay rhetoric. With the immense popularity of Ellen the show, Ellen the entertainer is able to create a bridge that makes the discussion of LGBT issues accessible and urgent for all Americans, and to hold the candidates accountable for their support of the LGBT community.

 

Damon Romine is Director of Entertainment Media 

Though many musicians have spoken up on behalf of the candidates they support for president, many LGBT public figures — musicians and otherwise — remain tight-lipped, likely because no candidate has pledged their full support of the LGBT community. As we approach November, out celebrities have the opportunity and the platform to make a difference by publicly calling on the presidential candidates to be leaders in the quest for equality.  

Last Thursday, March 27, out rocker Melissa Etheridge participated in a national conference call for the Stonewall Democrats, along with Chelsea Clinton, out Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin and Oklahoma Corporations Commissioner Jim Roth, the state’s first openly gay public official. More than 1,000 Stonewall Democrats listened in at house parties across the country as the four discussed how the LGBT community can continue to keep its issues on the forefront of presidential politics well into the general election season.

Etheridge is no stranger to the political platform. Back in August, she participated as a panelist in the HRC/Logo Presidential Forum. At that time, she had not announced her support for any candidate, but on the Stonewall Democrats call, she spoke as a representative of Sen. Barack Obama.  

Sir Elton John has been a long-time supporter of Sen. Hillary Clinton, and is pulling out the stops to help fill Clinton’s campaign coffers. On April 9, the music legend is hosting a special concert to help raise funds for Clinton’s campaign. Elton and Hillary: One Night Only is taking place at Radio City Music Hall in New York. This will be John’s first solo concert at the venue in eight years, and seats are filling up quickly.

As November approaches, we hope to see more out celebrities play a vocal role in talking about the issues facing our community this election season. 

Damon Romine is Director of Entertainment Media