Denver, Colo., Aug 26, 2008 / 12:11 pm
Several hundred Democratic National Convention delegates and observers gathered at the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgendered Caucus in Denver on Monday to discuss their political concerns and how to advance them. Focusing on the promotion of anti-discrimination laws and same-sex marriage, the delegates expressed a favorable attitude towards Sen. Barack Obama, and praised his support for many of their positions.
Caucus members and attending media received copies of an August 25 letter from Sen. Obama in which he praised the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgendered (LGBT) Caucus for “pushing our Party and our country to achieve equality for all Americans.”
Telling the delegates the Democratic Party is looking to the caucus to help reach, register, and turn out “LGBT voters” in “unprecedented numbers,” he praised their organizing abilities. Further, Obama wrote, “Our party and my candidacy are immeasurably stronger” because of such organizing.
Claiming as members at least 274 of the more than 4,000 delegates to the DNC, speakers at the LGBT caucus reported that their delegate numbers had grown between 30 and 41 percent since the last convention in 2004. They claimed about one third of their 2008 caucus is composed of youth and about 40 percent are “people of color.” One speaker welcomed the changes from past convention caucuses, which he said had been “almost entirely white.”
Many delegates and speakers addressed the gathering from a stage set up at the venue, a ballroom at the Colorado Convention Center.