CHRIS JOHNSON

DNC Chair Howard Dean talks with Leah Daughtry, the lead convention planner, at Invesco Field in Denver. Obama is scheduled to deliver his acceptance speech at the stadium on Thursday. (Photo by Ed Andrieski/AP)

Tens of thousands of Democrats, including an estimated 360 openly gay participants, will flock to Denver next week for the 2008 Democratic National Convention.

Convention delegates are set to participate in caucuses and hear speeches from party leaders. The 4,400 delegates, including about 277 gay delegates, are expected to anoint Barack Obama as the party’s nominee for the presidential race, but only after Hillary Clinton’s name is placed in nomination.

On Monday, Michelle Obama will be the headline primetime speaker. U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is also scheduled to talk. A tribute to ailing Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), a lead sponsor for the Employment Non-Discrimination Act and hate crimes legislation in the Senate, also is planned for Monday.

On Tuesday, former presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) will be the headline primetime speaker. Other featured speakers are Mass. Gov. Deval Patrick (D) and Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D).

Former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner (D), who is running for the open U.S. Senate seat in Virginia, will give the convention’s keynote address.

Warner spokesperson Kevin Hall said Warner is still working on his speech, but the former governor intends to “talk about bringing people together and giving individuals and communities the tools they need to compete in a global economy.”

On Wednesday, featured speakers will include former President Bill Clinton, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D), New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson (D), Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) and Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.). Obama’s running mate, who had not yet been announced as of Blade press time, is also slated to talk.

The roll-call vote for the nomination the will also take place Wednesday. Delegates are expected to nominate Obama, but Hillary Clinton’s name will also be placed in nomination.

On Thursday, Obama plans to give his acceptance speech at Invesco Field at Mile High, the football stadium for the Denver Broncos. The stadium seats about 76,000 people.

As of Wednesday, the number of gay speakers scheduled to talk on the floor is fewer than the number of gays who spoke at the convention in 2004. The 2004 convention in Boston featured six openly gay speakers, but only one gay speaker was slated to talk in Denver this year as of Wednesday: Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.), the only out lesbian in Congress, is co-chair of Obama’s gay steering and policy committee.

Baldwin, who plans to speak Tuesday night, is not expected to focus on gay issues and will talk instead about women and health care. She is scheduled to share her time with Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-N.Y.), Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-Calif.) and Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.).

Baldwin spokesperson Jerilyn Goodman said the lawmaker is still working on her speech, which is expected to focus on how the high cost of health care is detrimental to women, and could not say whether gay issues would be mentioned.

In 2004, Baldwin similarly held a primetime speaking slot and talked about health care and did not discuss gay issues, although she did say health care coverage should include “domestic partners.”

The other gay speakers in 2004 were U.S. Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.); Cheryl Jacques, then-president of the Human Rights Campaign; Andy Tobias, treasurer of the Democratic National Committee; Roberta Achtenberg, a civil rights attorney and assistant secretary of housing for President Clinton; and Jim Stork, a Florida candidate for Congress who later who quit his race because of a heart condition.

HRC spokesperson Trevor Thomas said current president Joe Solmonese will not speak at the convention this year.

Tobias said the schedule for the convention had not yet been finalized and he expects more gay speakers would be invited to talk.

“If [it] turns out there’s only one, that will be odd, and I don’t think that’s likely to happen,” he said.
For the 2004 convention, Tobias said he didn’t receive notice that was he invited to speak until about two days before he arrived on site.

“This is chaotic, they’re trying to figure out a billion things with 55,000 people coming,” he said. “So I think they start with things like the main speakers, and Tammy is a big deal.”

A major component of the convention Wednesday will be the address from Obama’s running mate. A number of Democrats are said to be on Obama’s short list for the position, including Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, Bayh, and Biden.

Dan Pinello, a gay political science professor at the City University of New York, said he didn’t think it was unusual for Obama to wait until the eve of the convention to announce his running mate choice.

Pinello said historically the presidential nominee “has waited until the convention itself” to identify his running mate. In 1988, then-Republican presidential candidate George H.W. Bush didn’t announce that his running mate would be Dan Quayle from Indiana until after the Republican convention started.

The Obama campaign’s decision to send out the name of Obama’s vice presidential pick by text-messaging supporters would cause “a media frenzy for a couple of days” after the announcement had been made, Pinello said.

The gay caucus meetings for the convention, where delegates will meet to discuss gay-related issues, are scheduled for Monday and Wednesday.

Rick Stafford, chair of the Democratic National Committee’s (DNC) gay caucus, said the caucuses were “kind of a celebration of our community.” The caucuses make the gay community more visible and show it has “a very valuable part in the nominating process and we have a seat at the table.”

“It also will be a time for us to celebrate some of the victories we had … over the past four years,” he said.

Stafford said the caucuses would also highlight the inclusion of gay-related items in the Democratic platform, which will be given final approval during the convention.

The platform calls for an end to discrimination based on gender identity and a repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act and “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” which prohibits openly gay people from serving in the military. Unlike the 2004 platform, the 2008 document does not mention the words “gay” or “lesbian.”

Gay speakers during the caucuses will include Jared Polis, a businessman who on Aug. 12 secured the Democratic nomination for a congressional seat in Colorado. Steve Hildebrand, Obama’s deputy campaign manager, also is set to make an appearance.

Straight speakers who have expressed interest in making an appearance at the caucuses include Pelosi, Hillary Clinton and DNC chair Howard Dean, Stafford said.

Gay leaders and organizations are planning a number of additional events during the convention directed at gay attendees.

The National Stonewall Democrats has scheduled a reception Sunday with Judy Shepard, the mother of Matthew Shepard, a gay man who was murdered in 1998 and whose name is attached to the hate crimes legislation pending in Congress.

On Monday, HRC, the National Black Justice Coalition and other organizations will host a reception for gay people of color.

Frank and Baldwin will host a luncheon for gay delegates on Tuesday. HRC and the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund also will participate in the event.

On the same day, HRC will host the Rock to Win Concert. Featured performers include Melissa Etheridge, Cyndi Lauper, Rufus Wainwright and Margaret Cho.

And on Wednesday, HRC will host a panel discussion on gay issues titled “LGBT Issues in 2008: What a Difference Four Years Makes.” Panelists include Celinda Lake, a political strategist; Arizona state Del. Kyrsten Sinema (D), who is bisexual; and Jonathan Capehart, a gay writer for the Washington Post.

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