Stonewall Democrats

Stonewall Democrats, the LGBT group (http://www.stonewalldemocrats.org/ ), is having its convention here, just preceding the Democratic one. I attended their awards dinner last night. Really inspiring! Their values and supporters are progressive and right in line with Democrats Abroad, in my view. We should work with them more closely.

The featured (and only non-LGBT) speaker was Kansas Governor Kathleen Sibelius, a fantastic Democratic governor in a really red state. She is an expert in “cross-over” Republicans, who made her election possible. Even her deputy governor was a former head of the Kansas Republican Party!

Kathleen, a committed progressive, highlights the values we have in common with most Republicans. That's how she wins in a Republican state. We should learn from her. She was named as a possible vice president for Obama, and is clearly is future presidential material.

Other excellent speakers included E. Denise Simmons, the lesbian, black mayor of Cambridge, Massachusetts; a gay congressman from a very straight suburban Denver district who poked holes in the notion that people even care if their reps are gay or lesbian,; and finally an amazing man named Keith Boykin – a great thinker, journalist and speaker. The head of the California Teachers Union was there, and the AFL-CIO also sent reps.

The MC was a wonderful transgender woman named Donna Rose, whose humor, grace and intelligence left no one unmoved. She made me realize I have always skipped over the transgender part of LGBT. We shouldn’t do that.

But best of all were the hundreds of members and supporters who attended. These people are fighting in the trenches, in hand-to-hand combat with the religious hate-mongers. Wonderful people, who are doing yeoman’s work to advance human rights. Well done!

Bob

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