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JOSHUA LYNSEN
Friday, August 22, 2008
DENVER
—
Rick
Stafford,
chair
of
the
Democratic
National
Committee’s
LGBT
Americans
Caucus,
spoke
with
the
Blade
about
the
clout
gays
have
within
the
party,
what
might
happen
if
John
McCain
wins
the
White
House,
and
the
divisions
that
remain
between
supporters
of
Barack
Obama
and
Hillary
Clinton.
Washington
Blade:
The
point
of
a
convention,
ultimately,
is
to
rally
the
troops
and
get
everyone
to
vote
for
the
nominee
in
November.
LGBT
voters,
by
and
large,
are
already
there.
What
more
are
you
hoping
for?
Rick
Stafford:
Well,
I
think
it’s
not
safe
to
say
that
LGBT
voters
are
there.
I
mean
you
have
to
remember
that
we
had
about
20
percent
that
voted
for
George
Bush
just
even
in
2004.
It’s
one
of
our
jobs,
of
the
ones
who
have
voted
Democratic
in
2004
and
continue
to
vote,
those
that
are
newly
able
to
vote
from
our
community
that
were
not
able
to
vote
in
2004,
we
have
to
make
sure
that
they’re
not
missed
in
our
efforts
and
that
we’re
communicating
to
them,
too.
That’s
a
new
generation.
There’s
a
lot
of
new
generational
politics
going
on
here,
and
somehow
how
we
send
messages
to
them
is
different
than
my
generation.
And
so
that’s
a
challenge.
Another
challenge
that
we
have
to
do
is
that
we
got
to
talk
to
those
Republicans
and
those
that
have
voted
for
the
Republicans
in
the
past
that
the
smoke
and
mirrors
of
John
McCain
being
a
friend
of
our
community
is
that
—
is
not
that.
And
even
if
they
may
be
not
prioritizing
equality
issues,
that
John
McCain
is
not
with
us
on
anything.
To
say
that
their
argument
in
terms
of
economic
or
fiscal
responsibility
issues
is
there,
if
you
really
look
at
the
record,
John
McCain
does
some
very
flashy
stuff
and
a
few
cute
votes,
but
the
reality
is
this
man
supported
congressional
Republicans
when
they
were
in
the
majority,
overall,
in
terms
of
what
got
us
in
this
morass
of
deficit
spending.
And
also,
his
foreign
policy.
From
what
I’ve
seen
of
his
foreign
policy,
outside
of
the
Iraq
war,
he
supported
George
Bush
down
the
line.
Why
do
you
think
the
Russians
invaded
Georgia?
Because
we
are
so
weak.
So
we
have
to
talk
to
those
Republicans,
not
only
about
the
LGBT-equality
level,
but
we
have
to
talk
to
them
about
the
other
messages
in
terms
of
why
they
should
be
voting
for
Barack
Obama.
Bringing
them
back
into
the
fold,
and
bringing
them
into
the
fold
for
the
first
time,
if
that’s
the
case.
Blade:
By
the
time
the
convention
is
done,
do
you
think
that
there’s
going
to
be
an
adequate
amount
of
discussion
on
LGBT
issues?
Stafford:
Yeah.
There’s
always
an
ebb
and
flow.
This
is
my
ninth
convention
and
there’s
always
an
ebb
and
flow.
And
I
look
at
it
this
way.
My
first
convention
was
1972.
I
was
not
out,
but
I
was
a
page.
We
had
five
people
as
delegates
or
alternates.
Five.
Even
with
George
McGovern,
we
were
not
considered
part
of
that
table
or
really
in
the
family.
And
even
in
’84,
for
the
first
time
when
we
got
the
G
and
the
L
word
mentioned
in
the
platform,
it
was
a
struggle.
Just
look
—
alright,
’72
to
2008.
That’s
30
years.
You
look
at
other
civil
rights
movements
in
terms
of
where
they
are
from
where
they
started,
we
gained
an
awful
lot.
And
this
platform
is
the
most
inclusive
LGBT
kind
of
platform
this
party
is
ever
going
to
adopt.
Blade:
Even
if
it
doesn’t
have
the
words
gay
or
lesbian
in
it?
Stafford:
Yeah.
That’s
symbolism
and
I
think
we
should
be
past
that
symbolism.
I
really
do.
As
one
who
was
very
intimately
involved
in
’84
as
a
member
of
the
platform
committee,
and
a
vice
chair
of
the
subcommittee
there,
I
know
what
we
went
through
to
get
the
G
and
the
L
word.
But
that’s
because
we
couldn’t
get
anything
else.
So
it
was
symbolism.
It
was
symbolism
and
important
that
we
have
arrived,
that
we
have
been
recognized
that
we
are
part
of
the
Democratic
family
and
community.
And
you
know,
we’re
past
that
point.
I’d
rather
have
—
if
I
could
have
had
a
tradeoff
and
the
tradeoff
was
the
party
endorsing
full
marriage
equality
for
all
Americans,
and
especially
same-sex
Americans,
versus
having
the
G
or
an
L
word
—
duh.
Anytime,
you
know?
But
we
did
that
in
terms
of
some
of
the
language
that
was
amended.
There
were
some
tradeoffs.
That’s
politics.
And
I
know
that
there’s
some
grousing
because
of
the
G
and
the
L
word,
or
we
seem
to
hop-skip
around
the
marriage
equality
statement.
But
I
just
look
at
this
—
this
is
a
great
platform
for
our
community.
It
didn’t
shy
away
from
things.
It
was
a
very
strong
statement
on
“Don’t
Ask,
Don’t
Tell,”
on
ENDA,
on
definition
of
families
and
inclusiveness.
We
should
be
thrilled.
Compare
that
to
what’s
going
to
happen
one
week
later.
I
was
kind
of
shocked
to
see
that
Log
Cabin
Republicans
said
they
were
going
to
have,
what
was
it,
I
think
100-some
LGBT
delegates
in
their
delegation.
Well,
I’d
like
to
see
that
roster.
So,
to
me,
that’s
just
symbolism.
And
I
think
we
in
the
community
have
learned
a
lot
of
times
that
symbolism
is
important
at
times,
but
we’re
past
that,
in
my
humble
opinion.
We’re
passed
that
symbolism
that
we
have
to
have
...
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