Aug 29, 2008  |  By: JOSHUA LYNSEN  | COMMENTS     

DENVER — Invigorated by political promises and impassioned appeals, gay attendees at the Democratic National Convention this week rallied around Sen. Barack Obama in his quest to win the White House.

Gay convention delegates, elected officials and casual observers were unabashedly enthusiastic in their support for the Democratic Party and its presidential nominee, a man who has promised to enact new rights and protections for gays at the federal level.

“There’s something that’s profoundly moving for us and touches us to the core and says this is where we belong,” said David Alan Harris, a gay Denver resident. “And here’s a man who wants to label our belonging in this country in a way that’s never happened before.”

Hopeful that the November elections could mark a historic turning point in the gay rights movement, gay Democrats like Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) talked frequently about creating change on the national level.

“This election,” he said, “if we are able to elect Barack Obama president, pick up some Senate seats, pick up some House seats, we will have the majority that will enable us to do, I think, what we want to do.”

Frank told a group of gay delegates and dignitaries who gathered for lunch Tuesday at a posh downtown hotel that the “gay agenda” could soon be achieved.

“What’s our agenda?” he said with a laugh. “We want to get married, join the Army and get a job.”

Speaking at the same gathering, Michelle Obama won thunderous applause from gay Democrats when she told them that “discrimination has no place in a nation founded on the promise of equality.”
The wife of Barack Obama recalled how her husband once rallied neighborhood groups by challenging them to transform “the world as it is” into “the world as it should be.”

She asked gay Democrats to join that quest, help her husband win in November and then rejoice together as the Defense of Marriage Act is repealed and other gay rights advancements are made.

“Barack is running for president because he believes that if we work together and we come together, that we can build that world as it should be,” she said. “We can do it. And he says that in the world as it should be — what does that look like? In the world as it should be, we can work together to repeal laws like DOMA and ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’ and we can oppose divisive constitutional amendments that would strip civil rights and benefits away from LGBT Americans because discrimination has no place in a nation founded on the promise of equality.”

Michelle Obama also reiterated her husband’s support for the Employment Non-Discrimination Act and other gay measures pending in Congress.

“In the world as it should be, anyone willing to put in an honest day’s work should make a good living and support their family,” she said. “It’s simple. And employers are held accountable for discrimination against LGBT Americans. The federal government fully protects all of us in the world as it should be, including LGBT Americans, especially against hate crimes. That’s the world as it should be.”

Stopped repeatedly during her 20-minute address by applause and cheers of support, Michelle Obama said her husband has long fought for gay civil rights.

“That’s what he did as a state senator,” she said. “Before entering the U.S. Senate, he was a champion of the law that amended the Illinois Human Rights Act in our state to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.”

She also noted her husband has long endorsed a complete repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act, a stance he adopted during his campaign for U.S. Senate.

“And when he got to the U.S. Senate, he voted to protect our Constitution from the stain of discrimination by voting against the Federal Marriage Amendment,” she said. “He’s also supported in his career full funding for the Ryan White CARE Act and has pledged to implement a national HIV/AIDS strategy to combat the continuing epidemic right here in the United States.”

But she said her husband cannot foster equality alone, and challenged gay Democrats to work with him “to make the world as it is and the world as it should be one and the same.”

Because only then, she said, would gay Americans be able to fully enjoy “a life of dignity and freedom.”

Gay delegates praised Michelle Obama’s speech for its supportive message and genuine delivery. They also commended her willingness to address a gay audience the day after she gave her primetime convention speech.

“The day after she gave ...