Obama Holds LGBT
Fund-raiser in NYC

Sen. Barack Obama waded deep into Clinton territory Thursday evening at a private LGBT fund-raiser in New York City where the price of admission was $2,300 per person.

Held at the apartment of GLSEN founder and executive director Kevin Jennings and his partner, Jeff Davis, the event drew about 125 people and raised $170,000. No press were admitted, but based on several accounts, attendees were struck by the Illinois senator's candor as well as his fluency with LGBT issues.

"I've been to many events over the past 10 years of candidates running for office," said Corey Johnson, one of the hosts, "This was the most forthright, eloquent, and detailed stuff I've heard from a politician [regarding gay issues]."

Molly Lenore, 43, compared Obama's discussion of the LGBT community to the speech he gave about race in America last week. "During his race speech, everybody said afterward that he treated the American people like adults, and I felt like that's what he did," said Lenore, who is transgender and an Obama supporter. "I might not agree 100%, but I want to have an intelligent conversation with somebody."

According to those present, Obama spoke for about 30 to 35 minutes about queer issues and then fielded questions, most of which were not LGBT-specific.

Johnson, who is 25, has supported Obama for about a year but prefaced his remarks by saying he has never been an "Obama-phile." He said the senator addressed some of the most contentious LGBT issues without prompting, such as same-sex marriage and the inclusion of transgender people in the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. In fact, those were the two issues Sen. Obama singled out as being potential disappointments to the LGBT community right now, while he signaled that a hate-crimes bill could likely be passed and signed into law and that repeal of "don't ask, don't tell" might be on the horizon.

According to several sources, including Johnson and Lenore, Obama said he did not think it was "politically feasible" to secure marriage rights for same-sex couples in the country at this point. Sen. Obama acknowledged that the community wanted full marriage rights but said that he favored civil unions for now while leaving open the possibility that his position might evolve in the future.

In terms of ENDA, Obama said he supported an ENDA that included transgender protections but that he didn't believe a fully inclusive bill had enough votes to pass the Senate at this time.

"I don't agree -- I think we're much stronger united as a community," Lenore said of keeping transgender protections in the bill. "But I do understand the politics and I do appreciate the fact that he said, hey, it's not going to pass in this political climate. Many other politicians haven't really done that. They make decisions but they never really address the trans community."

Should he become president, Obama said his first three priorities would be designing a safe exit strategy for Iraq, working on affordable health care, and addressing greenhouse gases and the environment.

As Sen. Obama made his way to the door, Johnson said he asked the senator directly to do more interviews with the gay press, citing the fact that he has conducted only one interview with an LGBT outlet during his presidential campaign. "I said, 'Your speech tonight was so moving to all of us, the way you spoke about our community. You need to do more [interviews]," recalled Johnson. "And he said, 'You're right, absolutely. We do need to do more with the LGBT press.'" (Kerry Eleveld, The Advocate)