Letters

Clinton or Obama? A Campaign Trail Update Dear Democrat, As we approach the March 4th primaries, I wanted to take a moment to update you on the actions Stonewall Democrats continue to take to push our presidential candidates forward in their support of LGBT Americans. I will be a bit blunt. For years, many in our community have felt courted in the primary election by presidential candidates but forgotten once the general election season got underway. Knowing this, National Stonewall Democrats successfully set out early to change the way presidential campaigns interact with LGBT Democrats. We made sure to get the campaigns out of the enclaves of fundraising circles and into the communities where our members live. We've been joined by our candidates and their campaigns at community forums in New Hampshire, Black Pride events in South Carolina and Stonewall Democrats meetings in states like Iowa and Nevada. Today is the first day in a week where I find myself actually working in my office. I just returned from visiting our chapters in Oklahoma and Texas - and I'll be meeting with our members in Colorado and Florida next week. In each of these states, our chapters have done what no lobbyist in Washington has been able to do - root our presidential campaigns into local communities where they will be required to compete throughout the general election season. We firmly believe that, in order to win the White House, Senators Clinton and Obama must be able to clearly communicate their vision for the entire American family. That includes their vision for their LGBT family members as well. Presidential Campaign Town Hall Events Texas and Ohio: This week, National Stonewall Democrats held three presidential campaign forums in Ohio and Texas in conjunction with our local chapters. In Cleveland, Dallas and Houston we brought together top-level campaign staff from both the Clinton and Obama campaigns to field questions from our members. The questions were tough, the responses insightful. More importantly, these forums were an opportunity to push both campaigns into deeper participation with our community. That will prove important once our nominee is secured. So, Clinton or Obama? Many people have asked me if our Board of Directors has issued an endorsement. While we have not endorsed a candidate at this time (some of our chapters have) we have embraced an approach which will lead to our nominee being better on LGBT issues, deeper in their commitment to our community and stronger in how they speak of our families. This is important work. As tiring as it sometimes is, this work refreshes our convictions each time we see it fulfill our mission. We do it on behalf of you, but more importantly we do it with you. You should know that each person who invests in our efforts by giving to National Stonewall Democrats is helping make our eventual nominee better in their approach to LGBT issues. I wanted to share a few photos of our forums from this week (well over 100 members at each event). I look forward to updating you soon. Jon Hoadley Executive Director