Frank Joins Baldwin in Backing Hillary for President

It's official: Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) now has the support of both openly gay Members of Congress. Clinton's campaign announced yesterday that Congressman Barney Frank (D-MA) has joined Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) in supporting Hillary's bid for the White House. Frank, who is Chairman of the House Financial Services Commitee, will also serve as an economic adviser to the campaign.

"Frank specifically hailed Clinton's support for gay and lesbian rights in announcing his decision," The Nation reports. The Massachusetts Congressman told reporters that he is "convinced that Hillary Clinton is the candidate best equipped to pass laws that will treat all Americans with dignity, fairness and equality no matter who they are or who they love."

Baldwin endorsed Clinton earlier this year, and called the Senator from New York "strong and vocal" in her support of ending employment discrimination. Baldwin, who introduced Senator Clinton at an LGBT fundraiser in Washington last night, told the audience that Clinton supports "an ENDA that is fully inclusive of both sexual orientation and gender identity."

At the same event, Senator Clinton assailed the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" law that prohibits lesbian, gay and bisexual Americans from serving openly in the armed forces. Repealing the law, she told the crowd as they roared with approval, will be one of her "first priorities" for the community as commander-in-chief.

UPDATE: The Washington Blade reports that Clinton has released a list of 21 more prominent LGBT Americans who have endorsed her candidacy, in addition to the 26 names released in April. And Hillary's June statement listing members of her national LGBT steering committee contains the names of other community leaders who support her candidacy.

Brynn Craffey | November 14, 2007 1:49 PM
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well, frank's proven himself to be part of the establishment, so this isn't a surprise.

Kevin Erickson | November 14, 2007 2:57 PM
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Last week at a meeting of the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights UN Commissioner Louise Arbour of the said, “Human rights principles, by definition, apply to all of us, simply by virtue of having been born human. Just as it would be unthinkable to exclude some from their protection on the basis of race, religion, or social status, so too must we reject any attempt to do so on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. Excluding lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex persons from equal protection violates international human rights law as well as the
common standards of humanity that define us all.”

Since it's obvious that we're not going to get any relief from the Democrats or Republicans maybe we should all sign a petition asking the UN to send in some peacekeepers to accompany us when we apply for jobs, insurance, housing, a marriage license…

bill perdue | November 14, 2007 3:31 PM
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Just a bit of advise to every one just as Barney and company are signing up to support candidates.You need to find out when your primary date is and if you plan on supporting somebody from a party you normaly dont vote for make sure your state allows cross party voting and if your and independent make sure you can vote.As now is the time to do this so you wont get a nasty surprise come election day!

Cathy | November 14, 2007 5:45 PM
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Can someone explain this to me? Why aren't the gay politicians backing Edwards? Isn't he the best of the top three for us?

indigosue | November 15, 2007 1:49 AM
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Barney is backing Hillary because his sister is a key strategist for the campaign.

I agree with your sentiment--John Edwards has the most active LGBT Steering Committee of any of the presidential campaigns. And while he is not there yet on marriage equality, I believe that a candidate whose wife & daughter support equality will get there faster than a candidate whose husband signed DOMA and Don't Ask, Don't Tell into law and encouraged John Kerry in 2004 to support the Federal Marriage Amendment in order to win more votes from conservatives (which Kerry refused to do). Expect to see in the next couple of weeks more and more endorsements from state & local LGBT elected officials--especially those in the red & purple states who believe that a Clinton candidacy will not bode well for Democratic candidates in those states.

actvst75 | November 15, 2007 12:02 PM
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Repealing the law, she told the crowd as they roared with approval, will be one of her "first priorities" for the community as commander-in-chief.
Gee, where have we heard that promise before? Wasn't it from a Clinton?

Bil Browning | November 16, 2007 8:58 AM
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Not so surprising about Frank and Clinton. Birds of a feather… vultures in this case.

The idea that we’ll be better off with a victory by a ‘liberal’ Democrat or Republican is fraudulent and dishonest. People who believe that are like Little Mikey in the commercial who makes it makes it his business to ingest anything put before him. He holds his little nose, closes his eyes and swallows.

A quick look at Hillary Clinton’s web site will show that she runs on Bill Clinton’s record. Since she links herself to him and his record, and given that he ‘home trained’ Hillary, it’s reasonable to link them.

Her health care program is an example of that linkage. According to the National Nurses Organizing Committee, AFL-CIO her initial plan introduced in 1994 was written for HMO’s and insurance executives as was the plan she currently supports. Rent a copy of SICKO by Michael Moore. Find our why Clinton is the all time leader in 'donations' by insurance companies and HMO's. It’s because she’s a vulture feeding off the scraps left her by the predatory insurance industry and HMO’s.

The Democrats brought us federal DOMA and the Republicans brought us state DOMAs and they resemble each other. A lot. Both of them supported the gutting of ENDA and they resemble each other. All day and all night. Bush brought us the war in Iraq and Hillary Clinton supports him unreservedly and they resemble each other. Like birds of a feather... chickenhawks in this case.

The Democrats bust unions, give tax breaks to the rich, deregulate businesses and support NAFTA. So do the Republicans. It’s a family resemblance. That’s why they’re called the twin parties. They both oppose socialized medicine (except for Congress members) and in that too they resemble each other. That’s why tens of millions of honest working people boycott the elections. They want to vote but they will not vote for their enemies.

Fewer and fewer of us are going to waste our support, time, money or votes on the twin parties of the uberrich whose candidates and actions resemble each other so much. The gutting of ENDA was a wake up call. The likelihood that GLBT enemies Clinton or Giuliani are going to be the nominees of the twin parties is not a cause for celebration.

http://www.alternet.org/story/67234/
http://www.calnurses.org/media-center/in-the-news/2007/september/page.jsp?itemID=32072277&emc=&m=3703682&v=9597156&l=3
http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2007/09/hillary-clintons-first-health-care-non-reform/
http://www.alternet.org/workplace/64831/?page=2
http://www.calnurses.org/media-center/in-the-news/2007/september/page.jsp?itemID=32062402&emc=&m=3703682&v=9597156&l=4
http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/64433/