Date: 2008-10-03 13:34 Subject: The Gay Angle of the VP Debate. Security: Public

Last night I had a meeting at the NYC Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center, so I was unable to watch the debate from home or liveblog it. Fortunately, the Center did broadcast the debate from their large auditorium, selling booze and pizza... (Thank God for the booze!)

There were about 150 or so people watching on a large screen TV. And just to give you an idea of the political makeup of the GLBT center, earlier that day, they had a forum for the various political parties to speak to the community. The attendees were:

Tobias Wolff, Chair of Barack Obama's Democratic National LGBT Policy Committee, representing Barack Obama/Joe Biden

Dan Schaffer, Former State Committee Member of the Green Party, representing Cynthia McKinney/Rosa Clemente

Jinnette Caceres, NYC Branch Organizer and Member of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, representing Gloria La Riva/Eugene Puryear

As you can imagine, it was a very different experience watching the crowd cheer everything (well not everything) Biden said and boo, hiss and curse out at everything Palin said. At one point in the evening, when one of the more obnoxious attendees kept loudly cursing at Sarah Palin preventing anyone around her from hearing the debate, I calmly said, "She can't hear you." She lowered her voice. Note: The assumption in the room was everyone was an Obama supporter, and I did nothing stupid like indicate I would be voting for McCain.

Certainly, I expected that this location would be supportive of Obama, but I was struck by the intensity of the hatred for Sarah Palin. The best example was the question on gay marriage/civil unions. Both Biden and Palin expressed identical opinions in their support for civil unions and rejection of gay marriage. (It would have been nice had Palin mentioned her veto of a law which would have discriminated against gay couples). Of course, a chorus of boos rained down on Palin, and silence for Joe Biden when he spoke out against gay marriage. Just to have some fun, I booed Joe Biden at his anti-gay stance, and got about 20 people to join in. :)

One thing I am sure of... not a single person in that room changed their vote as a result of the debate.

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