Aug 22, 2008  |  By: CHRIS JOHNSON  | COMMENTS     

Among the 4,440 delegates headed to Denver next week for the 2008 Democratic National Convention are gay delegates from Maryland, D.C. and Virginia who remain strongly devoted to the candidates they supported in the primary.

Twelve of the 239 delegates that Maryland, D.C. and Virginia are sending to the convention are openly gay, including three from Maryland, four from D.C., and five from Virginia.

Delegates will voice support for their candidates Wednesday and are expected to anoint Sen. Barack Obama as the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee. Obama edged out Sen. Hillary Clinton to secure the nomination, but some local gay delegates who supported Clinton during the primary remain loyal to her.

Allida Black, an Arlington, Va., resident, said she is “absolutely bedrock committed” to Clinton.
Black said she has worked on presidential campaigns since 1968 and called Clinton the best presidential candidate of her lifetime.

Black said she wanted to attend the convention as a delegate because “to miss the election of my lifetime with the candidate of my lifetime would be very painful for me.” She has attended Democratic conventions before as a member of the press, but not as a delegate.

Black, a 56-year-old lesbian, lives with her partner of 17 years, Judy Beak, 58. A history professor at George Washington University, Black runs the Eleanor Roosevelt Papers Project, an organization that collects the former first lady’s writings and speeches to encourage work in human rights issues.

Black said she worked her “heart and soul out for Hillary” by cashing in her retirement savings and campaigning for the candidate in 14 states for 19 months. Before the presidential campaign, Black said she worked with Clinton for 17 years on human rights and social justice issues.

“I know what this woman can do — I’ve seen her do it,” Black said.

Black said she intends to support Obama in the general election, but is “just not going door-to-door in 14 states” because she does not have the resources to make that commitment.

At the convention, Black said she hopes “Hillary gets the respect and the attention that the campaign deserves, and that people see that she is sincere in her support for Sen. Obama.”

Black said she also wants Obama to “show the country that in fact he can lead and can bring people together.”

Obama needs to show that “he is not intimidated by other strong leaders in the party,” she said.

“I think that this is a great opportunity for Sen. Obama to say, ‘Not only do I want change, but this is how I will lead and I will lead by bringing in all of my rivals into the tent and building a coalition that will take us forward,’” Black said.

‘A great candidate’

Paul Smedberg, an Alexandria, Va., resident, said he was interested in being a delegate because he “felt strongly about Sen. Clinton and thought that she would be a great candidate.”

Smedberg, 47, a gay member of the Alexandria City Council and policy director at the American Society of Nephrology, has not previously attended a Democratic convention. He lives in Alexandria with his partner of 14 years, Michael Molesky, 38.

Smedberg served on Clinton’s gay steering committee, which informed the campaign’s policy on gay issues. He also took part in grassroots activities, including sending e-mails and participating in conference calls.

The council member said he supported Clinton during the primary because he collaborated with her office on health care issues over the years and was impressed with her work.

“I think she really understood a lot of the issues,” he said. “I thought she brought a great resume.”

Smedberg said he “absolutely” intends to give Obama the same level of support he gave to Clinton. Control over domestic issues, such as determining who will sit on the U.S. Supreme Court, should be in the hands of a Democrat, he said.

“Obama won the delegates needed to be the nominee and I’m certainly going to support him when he gets the nomination,” he said. “I think we’ve all got to come together and really support the candidate in November.”

Smedberg said at the convention Democrats need to “have a clear message for what we want to bring forward” and “clearly define … why Sen. Obama is the better candidate for this time.”

A number of Obama supporters also are among the local gay delegates.

Jerry Clark, a gay D.C. resident, said he supported Obama during the campaign because D.C. for Democracy, an activist group for which he serves as political director, endorsed the candidate last year with a more than two-thirds vote.

Clark said he also believed Obama was ...