By LOU CHIBBARO JR, Washington Blade
Aug 11 2008, 7:10 PM |
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A final draft of the Democratic Party’s 2008 platform strengthens the party’s support for gay civil rights and calls for an end to discrimination based on gender identity.
The document, which is to be presented to the Democratic National Convention in Denver later this month for final approval, also includes what party officials described as strongly worded language opposing the Defense of Marriage Act and “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” which precludes openly gay people from serving in the military.
But the platform draft approved Aug. 9 by the party’s 186-member Platform Committee apparently omits any mention of the words “gay” or “lesbian,” which had been included in the Democrats’ 2004 platform.
The document, discussed by Democratic officials and gay activists during a conference call Monday with reporters, was not publicly available. The Democratic National Committee has yet to release a final draft of the platform approved in Pittsburgh.
The document also apparently omits a provision in the 2004 platform that declared the party’s opposition to a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, which the older document called a divisive effort by President Bush to “politicize the constitution.”
Leaders of six national gay and transgender advocacy organizations, including the National Stonewall Democrats, nevertheless hailed the 2008 document as the strongest platform on gay and transgender issues ever approved by a major U.S. political party.
U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.), the only openly lesbian member of Congress and a member of the 15-member platform drafting committee, called the platform’s provisions on gay and transgender issues “historic.” Baldwin said the document would set the tone for expanding the rights of “all GLBT people” in the next several years.
She also noted the gay and transgender rights provisions were “fully supported” by Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, who is the party’s presumptive presidential nominee.
An earlier draft of the platform, which circulated among activists and party leaders last week, drew criticism from some gay activists and bloggers, who said it appeared to have weakened a provision in the 2004 Democratic platform addressing gay families.
The 2004 provision states, “We support full inclusion of gay and lesbian families in the life of our nation and seek equal responsibilities, benefits and protections for these families.”
The earlier draft of the 2008 platform stated, “We support the full inclusion of all families in the life of our nation, and support equal responsibility, benefits, and protections.”
Baldwin said she and other gay members of the platform committee proposed amendments to add “more specificity” to the gay family provision. She said the Obama campaign and the Platform Committee agreed to include the gay amendments in an omnibus “manager’s amendment” that the full committee approved on Aug. 9. The text of that amendment was not available Monday.
But in a telephone briefing held for reporters, Baldwin said the revised provision notes that “all families, including same-sex couples” should receive rights and benefits.
Baldwin acknowledged that unlike the 2004 platform, the 2008 document doesn’t specifically mention the words “gay” or “lesbian.” She said party leaders did not pressure the platform’s drafters to leave out those words, or the words “bisexual” or “transgender.”
Baldwin said that she and other gay and lesbian members of the committee believe using the terms “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” fully and adequately covered gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people.
“If the story is about four words being missing, it would not be reporting that millions of our lives are included in this document,” said John Hoadley, executive director of National Stonewall Democrats.
Hoadley said the “four words” are not specified in most gay rights legislation, including current and past versions of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which have used the terms “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” to represent gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people.
Baldwin separately noted the party remains opposed to a constitutional amendment that would ban same-sex marriage and that while there is no wording specifying that in the document, that is implied by the stated opposition to the Defense of Marriage Act.
That statute, also known as DOMA, says the U.S. government shall only recognize the unions of one man and one women, and grants states the authority to ignore same-sex marriages conferred by other states.
An earlier draft of the Democratic Party platform, when updated to reflect some of the changes announced Monday, tackles gay and transgender issues as follows:
• “Democrats will fight to end discrimination based on race, sex, ethnicity, national origin, language, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, age and disability in every corner of our country, because that’s the America we believe in.”
• “We support the full inclusion of all families, including same-sex couples, in the life of our nation, and support equal responsibility, benefits, and protections. We will enact a comprehensive bipartisan Employment Non-Discrimination Act. We oppose the Defense of Marriage Act and all attempts to use this issue to divide us.”
• “We will pass the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act because hate crimes desecrate sacred spaces and belittle all good people.”
• “We will also put national security above divisive politics. More than 10,000 service men and women have been discharged on the basis of sexual orientation since the ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy was implemented, at a cost of over $360 million. Many of those forced out had special skills in high demand, such as translators, engineers and pilots. At a time when the military is having a tough time recruiting and retaining troops, it is wrong to deny our country the service of brave, qualified people. We support the repeal of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ and the implementation of policies to allow qualified men and women to serve openly regardless of sexual orientation.”
In addition to the National Stonewall Democrat, the national gay groups that announced strong support for the 2008 platform included the Human Rights Campaign, National Gay & Lesbian Task Force, Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, National Center for Transgender Equality and Family Equality Council.
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