Senator Gravel: Why I Wasn't Invited to the Debate on Gay Issues

I'm a Colombian-born-and-raised gay university student living in Bogotá, the Nation's capital. I follow the US Presidential debate vigorously, profoundly convinced that the American decision turns into a global decision. No other candidate has ignited my faith in American Democracy like Sen. Gravel has... other than being politically in tone with him on progressive political standpoints, I also believe that it is a true democrat's duty to call a nation strongly uppon its issues. I profoundly regret this hineous decision from the HRC who has turned Human Rights and Civil Rights activism into corporate-like institutions and marketing frenzies, paving the way for the insertion of the LGBT community (if ever) into a profoundly damaged system with distorted values. I have true faith in the goodness of Sen. Gravel, for no other politician seems to lead a truthful marriage between politics-ethics, or strategy-conviction. THAT'S THE ONLY MARRIAGE WORTH VOTING FOR IN POLITICS. If anything, Sen. Gravel, you keep a flame of hope outside the borders for what I believe are the true American values, and the true American promise.

Camilo Vargas

Ps: Tell the HRC CEO to take some big campaign money and buy himself a conscience, and a tad of dignity if he can find it on discount.

Alright everyone, I think it's time we be a little proactive now. We need to call/email the HRC and let them know that Mike deserves equal time in their forum, unlike what he got in the you tube debatcle. Let them know in advance that we will not tolerate that kind of crap and that if we were bad when they didn't invite him, if they ignore him it will be far worse. In fact, I say insist EVERYONE get equal time, including Mike, but don't just focus on Mike. When they all must speak the same amount of time, Mike will look all the better beside them.

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. -- Benjamin Franklin

Vote for Mike Gravel, anything else would be insanity!

 

I had a list of candidate names and as I watched the debate I scored each candidate. I was surprised that Sen. Gravel wasn't allowed much space to talk and I wanted to hear more from this man whom when given an oppertunity BLASTED the Democrat and Republican spin machines and brought forth the truth that it's all politics as ususal . I feel it's time for a change, Sen Gravel seems like the only person in the whole debate who stood out and on his own. All the others were eerily the same ol' same ol' as I have heard the past few decades. Gravel stood out like a beacon of light. What can I do to help get this non-conforming stand-alone elected!! Send me a yard  sign or something!!!

The only thing that bothers me is his position on gay rights. Being a Christian I think it's distastful to God as is any other sin. We all do it and we all have to answer to HIM on that final day. So , I am content to let HIM be the Judge. I don't intend to let this issue stand in the way of an otherwise quilified candidate .  Citizens- Lets Unite behind this one - of - a - kind. I'm curious to know who he will select as a running mate.

Homosexual Immorality: What's the Debate? 7/20/2007

Washington, D.C. On August 9, MTV�s homosexual cable network, Logo, is hosting the first-ever presidential debate intended to promote the homosexual and transgender (gender identity disorder) lifestyles. All major presidential candidates have been invited to participate. To date, all Republican presidential candidates have declined, while all major Democratic candidates have accepted. Those candidates who have accepted are Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-New York), Sen. Barack Obama (D-Illinois), former Sen. John Edwards (D-North Carolina), Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-Connecticut), former Sen. Mike Gravel (D-Alaska), and Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio).

Both Joe Solmonese, president of the homosexual Human Rights Campaign and lesbian singer/activist Melissa Etheridge have been selected as panelists.

Matt Barber, CWA's Policy Director for Cultural Issues, said, This debate is clearly designed to advance the radical homosexual agenda and to promote social and governmental acceptance and celebration of the high-risk and destructive homosexual lifestyle.

It's disgraceful that our nation�s moral standards have now dipped so low that it's considered tolerant to hold a debate organized entirely around the promotion of sexual immorality. What's next? Are presidential candidates going to be asked to participate in a debate on how to garner widespread acceptance of adultery or incest? Are members of the growing polygamy lobby and the pedophile group NAMBLA going to tap candidates for a televised debate to promote their chosen lifestyles?

Thousands of years of history, every major world religion, the unambiguous science of human biology and good old fashioned common sense have established that homosexual behaviors are both immoral and destructive to the lives, health and spiritual well being of those who choose to participate in those behaviors. For instance, the CDC has recently determined that 71 percent of all males living with deadly HIV/AIDS were infected with the disease through homosexual behaviors, said Barber, Furthermore, the CDC has determined that homosexuals especially males are by far at greatest risk for nearly all forms of sexually transmitted disease as well as other lifestyle related injuries.

Will any of the presidential candidates bring up any of these facts during the debate? Organizers are expecting them to fall all over themselves trying to prove to the world who�s most sympathetic to the left�s twisted version of tolerance� and diversity. But there's nothing to debate here. These candidates should play it straight, so to speak, and call it like it is. Immorality is immorality, concluded Barber.

http://www.cwfa.org/articledisplay.asp?id=13486&department=MEDIA&categoryid=family

Check out the blog: http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/blog/bigmike

This blog reports on developments in the Gravel campaign and also keeps a running tab on the Politics As Usual, Do Nothing Dems such as Hillary and Obama.

Check out

http://www.gravel2008.us/?q=node/1699

Is there any chance that Senator Gravel could make a public statement about this sometime today? Maybe grab a news cameraman "by the scruff of the neck"?

Call them relentlessly. From the posts on here, I have gotten the impression that the phone calls really helped in the HRC thing. Calls are harder to ignore or avoid. Let them know how we feel.

Contact: Steve Smith (202) 637-5018 (202) 412-4440 (cell)

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. -- Benjamin Franklin

Vote for Mike Gravel, anything else would be insanity!

They have invited you now, but only in a piss poor fashion. My gut wants me to tell you not to go, since it's obvious they don't really care about the issues, just a nod they exist. Going would acknowledge their organizations as meaning something other than impotent shouting matches. While the community needs to be represented, I am not so certain that representation should be from groups who prize money over clear commitment to an issue.

It is your determination and strength of will that drew my interest and respect. You know what is right and what is wrong, and don't stand by waiting to see where the wind blows before standing for something. I admire you greatly and hope you will be elected president. You already have my vote.

Thanks blueyes20 for the heads up. I just sent them a note. Here it is and I hope it's okay.

I jut sent AFL-CIO a e-mail to complain  about Gravel not beening invited to yet another debate. I hope everyone will take the time to write them or call.

 http://www.aflcio.org/siteguides/contactus.cfm

Contact: Steve Smith

(202) 637-5018

(202) 412-4440 (cell)

According to this post, Senator Gravel was excluded from the AFL-CIO forums, as well. What a surprise.

http://www.gravel2008.us/?q=node/1406

I recently received an email that because of the support Mike received barraging HRC and Logo, they reconsidered and invited Mike.

NICE WORK Y'ALL.   Now we just have to achieve that kind of tenacity for the National Election.

Forgive my disappointment, but Gravel's comment on the other candidate's opposition to gay marriage really suppressed my enthusiasm.  From what I read of his rhetoric, he sees the world in black and white (like a certain president who I think we all want to see out of office).  I entirely support equal rights for the GLBT community through civil unions, and as churches themselves choose, marriage.  Unfortunately, however, marriage is a religious institution, and if a church of that religion feels that gay marriage is not in accord with the teachings, that is their right.  It is America's duty to ensure that even if this is the church's stance, that there is a viable and equal option for members of the GLBT community.  Namely, that option is civil unions.  That is the stance many of Gravel's opponents take, and to state (or misstate) their views in ways that make them seem to denial civil unions is just as misleading as Bush's reasoning for getting us into Iraq.  I am extremely disappointed in Senator Gravel.

He got invited thanks to all the phone calls, see the post here : http://www.gravel2008.us/?q=node/1671

 

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. -- Benjamin Franklin

Vote for Mike Gravel, anything else would be insanity!

See

 http://freedomtoserve.blogspot.com/

I just called HRC and someone was very polite and it seems as if all the calls are making an impact. I think that the wheels are coming off Politics as Usual and we are just seeing the begining of the exposure of the hypocrites!

hey all

check out this petition

help support freedom of speech and ideas and say no to monetary debates

"INVITE MIKE GRAVEL TO THE LOGO/HRC FOUNDATION PRESIDENTIAL FIRUM"
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/Mike_Gravel?e

go mike go and help the campaign by sending them a contribution or call the human rights campaign @ 202 628 4160 or fax them @ 202 347 5323 and tell them to put human rights back into the human rights campaign

 

Has Senator Gravel received an invitation or applied to participate in the YearlyKOS leadership convention?

http://www.yearlykosconvention.org/

He is not mentioned among the candidates that will participate.

help me get it out there on Reddit.com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfJyqJw4cVo&NR=1

This is a link to a guy that is questioning the decision of the HRC to leave out Mike. He makes a bunch of great points and we need to make more of these videos. GO GRAVEL

I am an impoverished, debt-saddled, over-educated, underemployed twenty-something lost in the wilderness of the retail & service economy. As such, my resentment towards business as usual is acute, and I embraced Mike's candidacy as soon as I heard him in the first debate. When Mike came out of the gate firing at the Military-Industrial(-Congressional) Complex, I knew it was time to abandon Dennis for Mike. I reckon Gravel is the only sane candidate in this race and the only honest one, save Dennis. As an anarcho-socialist, Mike's National Initiative proposal made me wiggle my toes with glee. I, like so many other Americans, welcome Mike as a rare gasp of fresh air in a political atmosphere which is stale and noxious.

Aside from why I support Mike, I am also gay. While the rights of me and mine are of great importance to me, I think of gay rights as yet another political issue, like immigration, the right to choice, or Africa. While every specific set of policies is relevant because it determines the futures of many people, the wonderful thing about Mike is that he cuts to the core of the issue. The Empire and Capital are the roots of much of the suffering in this world. Until we raze the Pentagon, no one on this Earth shall be free.

So, why all this prattle? I wish to draw a bright line between us and our purported leaders. The HRC is yet another pandering, moneyed, self-propagating NGO whose first interest is itself. I am ashamed to admit that a disproportionately large number of my fellow gay folk are endowed with material wealth, wealth which translates swiftly into lobbying power. I am loathe to admit that our organizations are as corrupted by money and lawyerly ways as those of any other minority group. The real lesson is that K Street and Wall Street must be subjugated to the will of the people. Just because we fags have operators on K Street who nominally represent us does not mean that we are part of the evil. We are freedom fighters in our own way. Remember that we all had to, often alone, free ourselves from the shackles of our society. Even being born in the waning months of the Carter Administration, I know what it is to be the Other, despite being a white, native-born American.

As a cynic, convinced that we have already committed mass suicide on a species level, I want to hope against the data that Mike is right that he will be the next President of the United States. If those who purport to represent me cannot free themselves from the horse race propagated by the Imperial media (the ultimate beneficiary of all those campaign funds), then I damn them the same as all the other panderers who serve the Empire. Any member of the LGBT community who opposes Gravel is either a crassly bribed toady of power or sublimely ignorant of what liberty and justice mean.

This is a rather interesting conversation betwween Hillary and Edwards after the NAACP debate. Perhaps they should consider stepping a little bit further away from the microphones the next time they're talking about having "a more serious and smaller group" since some of the candidates "are just being trivialized" and "not serious".

Perhaps there should be more "effort by [their] campaigns to do that" and not get "detoured". Perhaps they've "gotta get back to it" and perhaps "that's all [they're] going to do between now and [the Fall]" Perhaps their "guys should talk".

Check it out, starting at about 1:45 in the video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKbv5Wj_bzM