I support Hillary Clinton as the Democratic Party nominee and as the next President of the United States for reasons which I've expressed over the last 6 months. So, most of you here on MyDD know that I'm an ardent supporter of Hillary Clinton. But, you don't know that I'm like 1 in 10 Americans who many still refer to as a sinner, a sexual deviant, or as an abomination. So, today, in honor of Gay Pride month, I'm coming out of the closet on MyDD to share my very personal story why I will continue to support and stand by Hillary Clinton.

I grew up in a small town in central Virginia in the 1980's. Luckily, I passed. Passed? Passed as a heterosexual. It helped that I was popular and my quirkiness wasn't questioned. I wasn't subjected to the harassment, bullying, and teasing of which other tomboys or sissies became targets. But what happened to me was just as harmful. I hid. I hid from my family, my friends, and my community. In my last two years of high school, I was confused, alone, and becoming increasingly more depressed to the point of suicidal. By sheer will (and maybe a touch of grace), I made it to college. I started meeting people who were different, men and women who weren't afraid to express themselves outside of the norm, outside of social expectation, outside of heterosexuality. They didn't conform.

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When I decided to run for Congress as an openly gay man, I realized that what I was doing was groundbreaking. No non-incumbent, gay man has ever been elected to an open seat in Congress. Rep. Tammy Baldwin is the only openly lesbian woman to be elected to US Congress!

Unfortunately, the first homophobic attack occurred yesterday from a group closely- associated with my opponent Joan Fitz-Gerald's campaign. Fitz-Gerald supporter Jim Hudson, quoted in a Fitz-Gerald campaign press release and identified on Joan Fitz-Gerald's website as Vice-President of Colorado Veterans for America. His statement in today's issue of the Denver Post questioned why I never served in the US military:

I wanted to make sure that you all saw the latest action alert from Media Matters for America.

As most of you know, during a discussion Tuesday night on MSNBC Live with Dan Abrams about Sen. Larry Craig's (R-ID) arrest for "lewd conduct" and eventual guilty plea, Tucker Carlson described to fellow MSNBC hosts Dan Abrams and Joe Scarborough his assault on a man who he said "bothered" him in a Washington, D.C., public restroom.

(Cross-posted from The Bilerico Project's Alex Blaze)

The forum that the HRC and Logo are sponsoring for the presidential candidates (only the big money ones, of course, because we wouldn't want poor people attending an HRC event) probably won't produce anything worth much out of these candidate. We already know the focus-grouped and belabored policy positions that each of the major Democratic candidates is taking, the Republicans aren't going to show up but we pretty much know where they stand on Lawrence, and the only Democrat who didn't answer the HRC survey isn't invited. I don't imagine Melissa Etheridge and Joe Solmonese, the moderators, asking anything shocking or hard-hitting either. So I'm not expecting anything besides a few sound bites.

I was thrilled when I read the Hate Crimes Bill passed the House today but then I was immediately disappointed when I learned the White House issued a veto threat just hours before the bill's passage.

On what grounds?

The White House, in a statement warning of a veto, said state and local criminal laws already cover the new crimes defined under the bill, and there was ''no persuasive demonstration of any need to federalize such a potentially large range of violent crime enforcement.''

On the cusp of victims rights week last month, our attorney general appeared and spoke sympathetically for increased protections and support for victims of rape, physical abuse and homicide but now, it is apparent gay and transgendered Americans are a lower class citizen who don't deserve this type of assistance.

The Judiciary Committee cited FBI figures that there have been more than 113,000 hate crimes since 1991, including 7,163 in 1995. It said that racially motivated bias accounted for 55 percent of those incidents, religious bias for 17 percent, sexual orientation bias for 14 percent and ethnicity bias for 14 percent.

Fourteen percent is a lot if you think about it. We cannot rest until there are ZERO hate crimes committed. Ronald Reagan would be ashamed of Bush's veto threat.

crossposted at the kos

Recent reports about Disneyworld refusing to hold gay weddings should serve as a wake up call to all queer Americans that just because a company has a history of supporting our community, it does not mean that they will be there when the topic shifts to controversial issues that our community is fighting for today.

According to the Human Rights Campaign's corporate equality index, Walt Disney scores a 95 out of 100 for the protections they offer their queer workers. The item that holds them back from getting a perfect score is the fact that they do not offer diversity training including gender identity or that they do not have supportive gender transition guidelines in place, but I would argue that this recent marriage controversy may have opened up a pandora's box that ultimately should bring down Disney's rating in the Corporate Equality Index.

crossposted from the Kos

Times Square has been the scene of much protest in the past few days. Over the last week, a collection of anti-war groups such as Gold Star Families for Peace and United for Peace and Justice NYC have gathered in Times Square to read the names of American soldiers, Iraqi civilians and coalition forces who have lost their lives in the Iraq War. Today, these groups were joined by other groups protesting General Pace's recent comments- in his "Tim Hardaway" moment- denigrating our country's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) servicemen and women by calling all LGBT folk "immoral".

The Progressive Action Coalition urges all registered Democrats who live in the 42nd Assembly District of California (Hancock Park, Beechwood Canyon, Beverly Hills, West Hollywood, Hollywood Hills, Beverly Glen, Bel Air, Brentwood, Sherman Oaks, Studio City, Valley Village) to vote at the 42nd Assembly District Democratic Party delegate elections on:

Sunday, January 14 2-4pm
Beverly Hills Library Auditorium
444 N. Rexford Drive
(a $5 fee may be charged to pay for the facility)
You are permitted to vote without staying for the event program.

The Progressive Action Coalition, a group of Progressive activists including  members of the CDP Progressive Caucus, Labor groups, Stonewall Democratic Club, West Hollywood Democratic Club, Valley Grassroots for Democracy, Sherman Oaks Democratic Club, Action Democrats, San Fernando Valley Young Democrats, Los Angeles County Young Democrats, Stonewall Young Democrats  and Drinking Liberally, are proud to announce a joint coalition to fight for Progressive Values in an inclusive way, working with others instead of dividing ourselves, concentrating on action instead of merely giving opinions and organizing to keep the California Democratic Party's dedication to Progressive values strong, but united.

Here is what we believe in: