BayWindows.com – Lisa Keen
New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson wasn?t the only candidate to injure himself with LGBT voters in the Aug. 9 presidential forum. His self-inflicted wounds were just the most dramatic.
U.S. Sen. Barack Obama came across as a tad dismissive to some, uncomfortable to many. U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton hid behind the ?states rights? doctrine to support the right of state governments to discriminate against same-sex couples. And former U.S. Sen. John Edwards?s journey to accept civil marriage rights appeared to have reached a stopping point well short of equality.
Unlike its coverage of the debate sponsored by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) among the Democratic presidential candidates during the 2004 campaign, the mainstream media widely covered the live broadcast of the presidential forum sponsored by HRC and MTV Network?s LOGO channel. And coverage clearly pointed to mainstream pundits? beliefs that the forum was an example of an unprecedented desire by Democratic candidates to woo LGBT voters ? and a unanimous desire by Republicans to evade them.