Jul 27, 2007  |  By: KEVIN NAFF  | COMMENTS     

will include HRC President Joe Solmonese, gay Washington Post editorial page writer Jonathan Capehart and Etheridge as panelists; Bloomberg News columnist Margaret Carlson will moderate.

THE DEMOCRATS DESERVE high praise for addressing a gay audience in a televised forum (as they did in 2003) and for taking more progressive views on issues like repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” But the forum’s moderator should adopt an aggressive posture and demand clear answers.

If the Democrats oppose same-sex marriage, then they should be made to explain the rationale for that stance. If they support equality under the law, does that support extend to the federal benefits of marriage? If so, how would they go about changing the law to make it happen?

But more importantly, HRC’s panelists and moderator must press the senators and congressman — Clinton, Obama, Dodd, Joe Biden, Kucinich — on how they plan to push the hate crimes bill and the Employment Non-Discrimination Act through this Congress. Attaching the Senate version of the hate crimes measure to the defense authorization bill proved a doomed strategy. So what’s next? What will the Democrats in Congress who are running for president recommend as the best way to secure the bill’s passage in the Senate? And then there’s ENDA. What are the candidates doing to promote ENDA and what is the timetable for advancing those plans?

We’ve been led down this path too many times to be fooled again: No one is going to champion major gay rights legislation in a presidential election year. And so the time for action is now and the HRC/Logo forum represents our best shot at pressing Democrats for answers.

I suppose we should be grateful Logo’s Rick and Steve cartoon characters won’t be asking the questions. Let’s hope Etheridge is up to the task.