Actually, CNN’s headline was Gay Donors Back Obama Big Time. I love it that the vernacular we used as teens (that our parents would correct us about) is now a part of mainstream journalism…
But that’s beside the point! It’s not a shocker that after our President and VP publicly announced their support of same-sex marriage and struck down Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, that LGBT activists like Ellen DeGeneres and Neil Patrick Harris would publicly endorse their candidacy. Things have really changed in the last four years.
According to CNN:
A CNN analysis of President Obama’s biggest fundraisers, known as bundlers, shows that at least 33 — or about one in every 16 bundlers — is openly gay. Together, they have raised at least $8 million for the campaign between January and the end of March.
How did they come upon these numbers?
In CNN’s analysis, only bundlers who have disclosed their orientation in past CNN reporting or in trusted LGBT publications were counted as gay. The Washington Post has reported that as many as one in six bundlers supporting Obama are gay. The Advocate Magazine estimates one in five.
Interesting.
So wait, what’s a “bundler”?
As always, thank God for Wikipedia:
One consequence of the limitation upon personal contributions from any one individual is that campaigns seek out “bundlers”—people who can gather contributions from many individuals in an organization or community and present the sum to the campaign. Campaigns often recognize these bundlers with honorary titles and, in some cases, exclusive events featuring the candidate.
Okay so that makes sense. You can see why things like sexual orientation of a bundler give an indication of the general trends in campaign-backing.
So how much did the DADT and same-sex marriage positions affect the number of LGBT voters who are backing President Obama?
CNN offers a lot of examples, but these two sort of sum it up:
Actor Alan Cumming wrote in 2010, “We keep hearing that Obama is an ally, that DADT [the ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy that kept LGBT people from openly serving in the military] will end under his watch, but what do we actually get? Diddly squat.”
Dustin Lance Black, who won a best screenplay Oscar for “Milk,” a movie biography of the gay San Francisco politician Harvey Milk who was gunned down because of his sexual orientation, said last year that he had been an Obama supporter before but might sit out the upcoming election. When President Obama finally signed the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” and “evolved” in his position on marriage by saying he was in favor of it for the LGBT community, both Black and Cumming did more than just say they supported the president. They donated money. They also encouraged others to do the same.
What do you think? Should the Obama/Biden ticket receive endorsements from the LGBT community based upon a single issue (or single set of issues)?
What happens if you’re a member of the LGBT community and also a fiscal conservative?
Photo of New York Pride March courtesy of lev radin / Shutterstock.com.
As a gay man, and someone that pays attention to politics; I’m not surprised that the LGBTQI community has gotten behind President Obama. This is not a simpe “one issue”, though I understand why it may look as such. It is a important, and powerful issue. The basic issue here is the right to be treated as if you matter. The right to be a valued member of society. The basic right to love who you want, in the way you want. This may look like a single issue, but it’s more than just that.
That is a very good point, I think. By saying its like voting on a “single issue” does sort of downplay just how important lgbt rights are. It’s not ‘an issue,’ but rather about no longer being treated as second-class citizens.
Heather probably said it better but I’m thinking that its more like instead of consideration of LGBTQI being considered something special its treated like other commonplace issues.
For example the sparks don’t fly when talking something like taxes in quite the same way as they do with talking about LGBTQI people. Maybe we’ll soon be at the point where asking a politician at a debate questions LGBTQI concerns it won’t have the shock value that it does now.
One in sixteen? So… pretty close to the proportion of openly gay people actually in the population?
GAYS BACK OBAMA IN RELATIVE PROPORTION TO THEIR NUMBERS.
Not the catchiest headline in the world, I guess. Still, impressive that he’s gotten support in the gay community up to demographically-representative numbers. Turns out people care about having equal rights, I guess.
Well, as you see, other publications found higher numbers.
What do you think of the stat-collection method CNN used?
Also, if it’s appx all the LGBT population, then that’s actually impressive, as the non-LGBT population is pretty divided.
What do you think? Should the Obama/Biden ticket receive endorsements from the LGBT community based upon a single issue (or single set of issues)?
Unfortunately this is probably what a lot of people are thinking when it comes to certain politicians.
“Well I can’t their stance (or non stance) on ______ but I do agree with their stance on ______.”
“What happens if you’re a member of the LGBT community and also a fiscal conservative?” That’s basically what the Log Cabin Republicans are, and then even more so GOProud. It’s tough though, especially as LGBT rights are gaining more mainstream attention. There’s a documentary about the Log Cabin Republicans called Gay Republicans. It’s from 2004 so it’s all about how they deal with Bush, but it’s still pretty relevant. GOProud argues against same-sex marriage in favour of domestic partnerships, though, which is venturing more into social conservative rather than fiscal conservative. It’s pretty much a collection of gay Tea Partiers,… Read more »