I recently had the chance to talk to Steve Hildebrand, the Deputy Campaign Manager for the Obama Campaign and the highest ranking gay staffer for the campaign.

Steve has spent more than twenty years organizing some of the most targeted and high profile political campaigns in the nation and is recognized as one of the best political strategists in the United States. Working extensively in South Dakota, Iowa and Minnesota, Steve has managed races and ran two political parties. He served as Midwest Political Director for the DNC during the Clinton re-elect in 1996 and as Political Director at the DSCC in 97/98. In 99/2000, Steve ran the Iowa caucuses for Vice President Gore and ran the Women Vote! Program for EMILY's List in 2000. He managed Senator Tim Johnson's campaign in 2002 and Senator Tom Daschle's campaign in 2004. In 2007, decided to serve as the Deputy Campaign Manager for Senator Barack Obama's presidential campaign.

The full interview, with discussion ranging from LGBT voter outreach to Anti-Gay Marriage Amendments to a fully-inclusive ENDA, after the jump.

Continue reading "EXCLUSIVE: Interview with Obama's Deputy Campaign Manager" »

Now to the part you've all been waiting for: THE BIG PRIZE GIVE AWAY: DAY ONE! All week on Bilerico-Florida we will be giving away prize packs to our readers- a new giveaway every day to celebrate our official launch. Make sure you come back and enter the contest daily for your chance to win!

Today's prize pack is "A Night OUT on the Town" courtesy of Bilerico-Florida! The goodies include:

• A $50 gift certificate to Ruth's Chris Steakhouse (I bet they serve arugula salads there for you elitist types)
• A $50 gift certificate to The Melting Pot (the best fondue restaurant ever!)
• And to make sure you smell nice for your big night out- specialty gift soap from our friends over at Just Bubbly!

To enter to win, all you have to do is leave a comment below (make sure you register for an account-if you need help on how, check here). While you're at it, don't forget to sign up for the Bilerico-Florida daily digest! We'll be picking a winner at random from the comments. Make sure you come back tomorrow to enter again for the next giveaway! We have lots of great prizes that get better and better throughout the week!

And be sure to check back today for our EXCLUSIVE interview with Steve Hildebrand, the Deputy Campaign Manager for the Obama Campaign and the highest ranking gay staffer for the campaign.

We all know that Florida is constantly in the news when it comes to LGBT issues. Heck, I've been part of some of those stories that made headlines- from the crazy homo-bigot Mayor Naugle to announcements over the airport intercom that said gays should be killed. Lucky me, right?

That's why it means so much to me that The Bilerico Project has picked me to lead the new Florida Edition of Bilerico! Florida is an important battle ground state in both politics and LGBT rights- and it's high time to shine a queer ray of light on the state! And with the great group of contributors we have already- it is a site not to be missed! We have activists, doctors, professors, religious leaders- even an ex-pat living in Thailand- all ready to get the discussion going on Bilerico-Florida. Bilerico-Florida has already been spreading across the web, with tons of new readers daily. I guess not everyone is like Sarah Palin- we can all name at least one source of news and opinion. Oh say it ain't so, Joe!

This is where you come in- Bilerico-Florida isn't just a place where we talk to you. We want you to get involved by commenting, challenging us, taking us task, suggesting topics, and truly making this a forum for the entire LGBT community. Be sure to sign up for our RSS feed or get the daily digest delivered directly into your inbox so you don't miss a thing! You can also add us as a friend on MySpace and join our FaceBook group!

And check back all week for our big prize giveaways! There will be amazing prize packs given away everyday this week to celebrate our official launch!

Editor's Note: "Stories from the Helpline" is a recurring feature on The Bilerico Project, bringing in the personal accounts of Helpline counselors from The Trevor Project. The Trevor Project is a non-profit organization that operates the only nationwide, around-the-clock crisis and suicide prevention helpline for LGBTQ youth. This installment comes from Caroline Bird, a volunteer Helpline counselor on The Trevor Helpline. She volunteers at The Randy Stone West Coast Call Center in Los Angeles..

I've been with the Trevor Project since the opening of its West Coast call center more than two years ago. At that time, there were no more than 20 would-be counselors who met for the inaugural training in the classroom of a high school, which had kindly donated its facilities to Trevor.

For me, training was a peculiar reversal of what LGBTQ youth experience. I knew I was different. I felt like an outsider. I wondered what I had in common with my fellow trainees. Save for the desire to help young people, there was no common ground between me and the other people paying rapt attention to the lectures.

"The thing is," I wanted to explain to people, "there is something you should know about my sexuality." The reel of thoughts that was playing through my mind was bizarre. I wanted to clarify issues before there was any confusion or misunderstanding. "I don't identify in any of the LGBTQ categories," I said. "I'm straight."

Continue reading "Stories from the Helpline" »

Daily Show's correspondent Wyatt Cenac returns to Florida to see how some older Jewish residents feel about the first presidential debate. You might remember his last visit...

In case you spent all week cooking moose burgers and winking at America (Doggone it!), here's what was happening on Bilerico!

Sunday-
Racism: The conservative solution to the financial crisis - Alex Blaze
Paul Newman Taught Me How to Clean Fish - Karen Ocamb
When people who shouldn't talk out their ass do so anyway - Jerame Davis (Bilerico-Indiana)

Monday-
Palin's Religious Affiliations -- Time to Ask the Hard Questions - Patricia Nell Warren
Fallout from the ENDA debacle? - Brynn Craffey

Tuesday-
A failed economy hurts us more - Rev Irene Monroe
More on Palin's Scary Religious Affiliations - Patricia Nell Warren
Where Are The Good Men? - Bishop Mahee (Bilerico-Florida)

Wednesday-
Trans for Obama: Is the trans community becoming a "community?" - Dr. Jillian T. Weiss
Good News From the Toilet Wars - Serena Freewomyn

Thursday-
When Belief Speech Becomes Hate - Mercedes Allen
How Real Is Our Commitment to "History"? - Patricia Nell Warren

Friday-
Biden and Palin on LGBT relationships - Bil Browning
Coming Out Politically - Jesse Monteagudo (Bilerico-Florida)
The War on Intellectualism - Waymon Hudson

Quite a few new commenters have joined the conversation here recently. Welcome!

If you leave a comment, it has to be approved by someone on the editorial team here at the Bilerico Project. But if you register to comment, they'll appear automatically.

Instead of just leaving a comment, click "Sign in or create an account to comment," just above the "Name" field. Follow the steps to register, and then leave a comment. We'll approve your account after your first comment so that you don't need to be approved anymore after that.

This helps reduce the spam we get here at the Bilerico Project, which, without our filters in place, would be an awful problem (we receive several hundred spam comments a day).

Thanks for registering, and a brief explanation of basic HTML allowed in comments is after the jump.

Also, if you've had trouble registering, please leave a comment and we'll get that sorted out.

Continue reading "Register to comment at the Bilerico Project" »

Mayor Buddy Dyer of Orlando announced plans to offer domestic-partner benefits to gay city employees when the City Council approves changes to its employee health-care policy. This will make Orlando the first government in Central Florida to do so, joining dozens of municipalities around the states that provide domestic-partner benefits to their employees.

The benefits will only be available to same-sex couples. Unmarried opposite sex couples will not get the benefits since, according to Dyer, "they have the option of marriage."

Dyer is expected to talk about the move to offer benefits, as well as the dangerous affect that Amendment 2 will have on them, at Orlando's Pride celebration. Dyer had been an outspoken opponent of Amendment 2.

Continue reading "Orlando to offer benefits to same-sex couples" »

It seems there is a new threat to our country- an insidious danger that is seeping into our homes and everyday lives that must be stopped at any cost. That threat is intellectualism.

We have heard the some of the buzzwords of this political season- Folksy, Joe Six-pack, Elitist, and Arugula Eating. It seems the new "culture war" or wedge issue is intelligence. The Vice-Presidential debate only solidified the lines in this war. On one side, you had Palin- full of "folksy charm" and "you betcha" language. Then you had Biden, who had a command of the issues, but was called "boring" and (gasp!) "professorial" by the pundits.

Is this the point we have come to in our country? Do we really think that having knowledge about an issue is a liability? Have we learned nothing from the past eight years about voting for the person you "want to have a beer with"? Is being smart or intellectually curious a bad thing?

It seems the war is on and the Republicans have launched another surge strategy.

Continue reading "The War on Intellectualism" »

"Coming Out" has many meanings and can happen more than once in a person's life. In previous articles I wrote about "coming out" as a gay man, a Jew, a bear and a nudist. Now I want to talk about my "coming out" into politics. Though I never served in public office I consider myself to be a political person, if we define politics as a citizen's healthy concern for his society and the way that it is governed. My political views, like those of other people, were shaped by my upbringing, my environment, my education, my life experiences and by events that changed my life. Two events were particularly influential in determining my life and politics: the Cuban Revolution (1959) and the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Movement (1969).

My political bent, unlike my thick dark hair (now greying), soft brown eyes, left-handed dexterity or homosexual orientation, was not inherited. But it was definitely shaped by my upbringing. My friend and fellow activist, Allen Young, once wrote about growing up as a "red diaper baby," the son of Jewish-American Communists. My parents were the opposite: proudly conservative, fiercely anti-Communist, Cuban exiles. Like most men and women of their generation, my parents experienced the Revolution as a disruptive force that destroyed everything they held dear and forced them to leave their home. Once settled in Miami (temporarily, they hoped) most Cuban exiles were firmly opposed to Communism and to anything that they thought led to it: socialism, progressivism, liberalism, homosexuality, etc. They saw the Democratic Party as hopelessly liberal and tainted by John F. Kennedy's "betrayal" of the Cuban people after the Missile Crisis. The Republicans, on the other hand, seemed more willing to stand up to Castro and his henchmen, however ineffective their stand might be. For that reason, almost alone of all Hispanics in the U.S., Cuban-Americans vote overwhelmingly Republican.

Continue reading "Coming Out Politically" »

Dear Father Tony:

Every other problem I had with my lover I could solve but this one. We were a good looking couple. We are together for 7 years. After two years I began to put on weight. Not him. He is still gorgeous. Sometimes to add some spice we would have a threeway. He still wants it but I am too ashamed of the way I look so I say no and make up excuses. I feel so bad about this weight that I can't have sex with even just him anymore. This is all my fault and I am fucking up a good thing. Every night in bed I swear I won't eat but I do and I am miserable. Now I think he's cheating on me. This is making me crazy and it is messing up everything.

-- Boston cream pie

Continue reading "He's fat, he's gay, he's out of play." »

In exactly five weeks from the moment I'm writing this, the Pennsylvania and Florida polls will have closed, and we might know who the next POTUS will be. If either candidate succeeds in winning both of those states, we can all either start celebrating or making those grim jokes about migration to Canada that arise every four years. Even if the big one is decided early, though, we won't know the outcome of Prop 8 aka Armageddon in California until late - probably really, really late on the East Coast.

So, if you, like me, are planning on spending election night with friends, I invite you to help come up with some creative party games befitting the occasion, to while away the hours before California returns come in. I thought it would be fun to identify a few down-ballot races that could prove telling as possible signs of a wave. I've already posted about the South Dakota abortion referendum, and of course there are other important initiatives or referenda on the ballot in states including Florida, Arizona, and Arkansas.

Following the jump is a list of candidate races, especially east of the Mississippi, that seem potentially important or just idiosyncratically interesting. Please add your own suggestions in comments.

Continue reading "Election night party games for political junkies" »