NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)–In what some supporters are calling an “unprecedented” effort, John Kerry’s campaign launched an outreach drive to the homosexual community May 25 that includes Kerry-for-president booths in more than 60 “gay pride” events nationwide and a pro-“GLBT” (gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered) statement from the candidate himself.
The “Pride Across America” campaign will include stops at “gay pride” events in more than 20 states in an effort to get the word out on Kerry’s record on homosexual issues: He opposes a constitutional marriage amendment, supports legalizing Vermont-type civil unions, voted against the Defense of Marriage Act and supports lifting the ban on homosexuals in the military.
The drive comes with campaign paraphernalia — including “Out for Kerry 2004” buttons -– and flyers comparing Kerry’s record to Bush’s on homosexual issues. According to his campaign website, he has a 100 percent score on homosexual issues since 1995.
The website already had a special link championing his record on homosexual issues.
“As we celebrate Pride in 2004, I am excited to join the GLBT community in fighting for equal rights for gay Americans,” Kerry writes in the letter endorsing Pride Across America. “I believe that Americans should embrace the diversity that makes our nation strong and recommit ourselves to ensure that all Americans receive equal rights.
“… I am committed to using the power of the White House to advance equal rights for all Americans, including gay Americans. We don’t need a Constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. We need to find a way to provide all American families will full and equal rights.”
Bush has backed a constitutional marriage amendment in an effort to prevent a federal court from striking down the Defense of Marriage Act, thereby legalizing same-sex “marriage” nationwide. The act, often called DOMA, prevents the federal government from recognizing same-sex “marriage” and allows individual states to do the same. It passed the Senate 85-14 and was signed by President Clinton in 1996.
The Kerry campaign also launched a “Ripple of Hope” campaign in an effort to raise $500,000 within the homosexual community by June 30.
U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin, a lesbian and a Democrat from Wisconsin, said the campaign is a first for a presidential candidate.
“Bill Clinton was the first president to ever utter the words ‘gay’ or ‘lesbian,’” she said, according to the homosexual-themed website Advocate.com. “John Kerry brings that several steps further. It’s rather unprecedented, especially at a time when we have a president who is trying to write discrimination into the U.S. Constitution.
“All of us recognize that the reason this issue is before the Congress is because this president wants to rev up his right wing. Presidential candidate Kerry is going to name that.”
Polls show that more than 60 percent of Americans oppose same-sex “marriage.” Additionally, a recent poll by Wirthlin Worldwide showed that 67 percent of Americans support the language of the Federal Marriage Amendment that is before the U.S. Senate.
Mark Seifert, Kerry’s director of outreach to the homosexual community, also called the outreach “unprecedented.
“Neither the [Democratic National Committee] nor a presidential candidate have ever gotten this involved in our community,” he said, according to Advocate.com.
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For more information about the national debate over same-sex “marriage,” visit
https://www.bpnews.net/samesexmarriage
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