NC Gay Voters Favor Hillary Over Obama

[progressive25]

Exposed Story

If the the race continues to tighten, it appears that Clinton has the advantage of having a lock on the Gay and Lesbian vote in the state, according to a video interviewing individual gay voters posted by the Charlotte Observer. This could become a deciding factor in the race.

Link to video: http://www.exposedstory.com/my_weblog/2008/05/north-carolina.html

[MattNC]

1. My three closest gay friends

are voting for Obama. Anectodal evidence like this means very little.

[zabet]

2. Obama associates with homophobes is why the gay voters lean towards Clinton...

Take James Meeks...the New Pastor of Trinity..

Rev. James T. Meeks, an Illinois state senator who also serves as the pastor of Chicago’s 22,000 member strong Salem Baptist Church.

Described in a 2004 Chicago Sun Times article as someone Barack Obama regularly seeks out for “spiritual counsel”, James Meeks, who will serve as an Obama delegate at the 2008 Democratic convention in Denver, is a long-time political ally to the democratic frontrunner.

When Obama ran for the U.S. Senate in 2003, he frequently campaigned at Salem Baptist Church while Rev. Meeks appeared in television ads supporting the Illinois senator’s campaign. Later, according to the same Chicago Sun Times article, on the night after he won the Democratic primary, Sen. Obama attended bible study at Meeks’ church ‘for prayer’ and ‘to say thank you.’

Since that time, not only has Meeks himself served on Obama’s exploratory committee for the presidency and been listed on the Obama's campaign website as one of the senator’s ‘influential black supporters’, but his church choir was called on to raise their voices in praise at a rally the night Obama announced his run for the White House back in 2007.

Interestingly, the Chicago Sun Times has also reported that both Meeks and Obama share a history of substantial campaign contributions from indicted real estate magnate Tony Rezko.

From the same article as below excerpt.

...spring 2007 newsletter from the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) named Meeks one of the "10 leading black religious voices in the anti-gay movement". The newsletter cites him as both “a key member of Chicago's ‘Gatekeepers’ network, an interracial group of evangelical ministers who strive to erase the division between church and state” and “a stalwart anti-gay activist… … has used his House of Hope mega-church to launch petition drives for the Illinois Family Institute (IFI), a major state-level ‘family values’ pressure group that lauded him last year for leading African Americans in ‘clearly understanding the threat of gay marriage.'”

The SPLC newsletter also noted that, "Meeks and the IFI are partnered with Focus on the Family, the Family Research Council and the Alliance Defense Fund, major anti-gay organizations of the Christian Right. They also are tightly allied with Americans for Truth, an Illinois group that said in a press release last year that ‘fighting AIDS without talking against homosexuality is like fighting lung cancer without talking against smoking.’"

On a more personal level, Meeks has reportedly blamed "Hollywood Jews for bringing us Brokeback Mountain" and actively campaigned to defeat SB3186, an Illinois LGBT non-discrimination bill, while serving in the Illinois state legislature alongside Obama. According to a 2006 Chicago Sun Times article, his church sponsored a "Halloween fright night" which "consigned to the flames of hell two mincing young men wearing body glitter who were supposed to be homosexuals."

And so here we are again confronted with a situation in which Barack Obama’s choice of allies is likely to confound voters. Though his relationship with Rev. Meeks is not nearly as significant as his affiliation with “spiritual mentor” Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Sen. Obama’s ties to Meeks are nonetheless disconcerting, particularly in the wake of his recent address on race in America and his campaign’s early fumble surrounding the decision to invite homophobic gospel artist Donnie McClurkin to perform at a campaign Faith and Family Values fundraiser in South Carolina

http://www.gaywired.com/Article.cfm?ArticlePage=2&ID=18614

[Neshanic]

4. Wow, what a surprise. Meeks counsels Obama. When's the toss him off the cliff speech?

[zabet]

6. Whenever the media runs with this, look for Meeks to join the crowd

under the Hope train.

[QC]

8. How many "spiritual advisors" does one politician need? n/t

[Neshanic]

14. Apparently alot when you use them like Kleenex.

[TheDonkey]

18. But Hillary embraces homophobic and sexist speech on her stump

"pansies" and "testicles" galor. She is shameless.

[LVjinx]

23. "pansy" was referring to Obama being a coward, not gay people

[Johnny__Motown]

3. I think it is her constant cross dressing that they like (THAT WAS A JOKE)

please, don't flame me for this...


I was just kidding

[Bensthename]

5. And native Americans favor Obama... Oh snap..

:kick:

[Name removed]

7. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[bowens43]

9. Decidng factor in the race?

ROFLMAO!! Yeah right.

[JoFerret]

10. Of course they do

.

[musicblind]

11. IDK. I'm gay. and I work as a male nightclub performer (not a stripper) in local gay bars

everyone I have met so far supports Hillary. HOWEVER, that is merely anecdotal evidence. I would assume that just as many support Obama and I have just been running among a different circle.

[Seen the light]

12. A VIDEO interviewing a few?

Sounds like a definite significant causal relationship there to me...

[kwenu]

13. The gay vote is decisive in the North Carolina primary? If that's true there should be news teams

all over the place in N.C covering that because that is news.

[ccharles000]

15. I am gay

I support Hillary and live in NC.

[blm]

16. I'm bi and I support Obama. And I see a helluva lot more Obama signs in Charlotte than

I do Hillary signs - about 8 to 1.

[Tarheel_Dem]

17. Same for yardsigns here in High Point, and I have yet to see a Hillary bumpersticker.

or for that matter, I haven't seen a McCain sign/sticker. These people and one-sided their anecdotes are just priceless.

[blm]

22. And Charlotte Observer endorsed Obama today and hit HRC pretty hard.

.

[musicblind]

26. Yay! You're not alone ccharles000. I'm gay, live in NC, and support Hillary too :-)

[Palatino]

19. No poll is cited

How do they know gays favor her?

[Jamastiene]

20. Wow, for once, I am in the majority.

:wow: I'm actually stunned.

[anigbrowl]

21. We didn't have a poll, we just interviewed some gay voters and concluded a trend exists

Right. I take that really seriously.

[cbayer]

24. Since when do women or blacks or LGBT people vote as a bloc?

Maybe in certain communities. Maybe within certain demographics. But across the board, no. Perhaps if a GLBT person were running while out of the closet, you would get a pretty good coalition, but it would not be complete. The Log Cabin Republicans probably would not vote for an openly gay Democrat.

[jackson_dem]

25. Like GLBT folks do nationally. She won GLBT folks something like 63-29 in California

Cali is the only state for which we have exit poll data on GLBT voters. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21225970/