Every other blog post is about gays erupting in righteous anger over the passage of Prop. 8, hate-monger James Dobson's induction into the Radio Hall of Fame or some other issue. But, what are we accomplishing other than giving people an opportunity to act out?

There has never been a presidential nominee from either political party that is as supportive of LGBT civil rights as Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic nominee. He has long fought for civil and equal rights for minorities including the LGBT community. And, in the presidential campaign, Sen. Obama has included LGBT Americans numerous times in his speeches.

Sen. Obama's strong support for LGBT civil rights did not begin with his decision to run for the presidency. As an Illinois State Senator, Senator Obama's advocacy on behalf of minorities included championing the equal rights of LGBT people when he became the chief co-sponsor of the Illinois Employment Non-Discrimination Bill which eventually became Illinois law.

Here are Sen Obama's position on key LGBT issues:

A bit of history was made yesterday when Democratic presidential candidate Bill Richardson wrote a guest post on LGBT civil rights on The Bilerico Project. Richardson has the strongest record of achievement of any of the presidential candidates primarily because if his position as governor of New Mexico. In his first year as governor, he signed into law a non-discrimination bill that included sexual orientation and gender identity. He also signed into law a bill expanding the state's hate crimes law and issued an executive order providing health insurance to domestic partners.

Richardson is probably most widely remembered for two recent gaffes on LGBT issues including his use of the word "maricon" during a radio interview and statement that being gay is a choice during the HRC/Logo presidential forum. Just as Mitt Romney's current campaign to be homophobe in chief hides a more complicated history on LGBT issues, Richardson's recent words have in a way overshadowed his actions.

Find out what all the governor has to say on the national movement for LGBT equality here

A new study has found that almost 4 in 10 gay men and 1 in 8 lesbians and bisexuals in the U.S. have been victims of violence or property crimes because of their sexual orientation. The study was written by University of California, Davis psychology professor Gregory Herek and based a poll he conducted of a nationally representative sample of 662 self-identified gay men, lesbians and bisexuals.

Overall, 21 percent of the people in the survey reported being the victim of violence or a property crime -- including physical assault, sexual assault, theft and vandalism -- because of their sexual orientation. In addition, 49 percent said they had been verbally abused because of their sexual orientation, 23 percent reported being threatened with violence, 12.5 percent reported having objects thrown at them, and 11 percent reported housing or job discrimination. The total exceeds 100 percent because some individuals reported being the target of multiple attacks.

This study comes out as federal hate crimes legislation that includes sexual orientation and gender identity is being considered in the Senate where a majority of Democrats support the bill and the majority of Republicans oppose it. The Bush Administration has threatened to veto the bill should it pass Congress which shows yet again that the president and the GOP is out of step with the majority of Americans who support expanding hate crimes law to include LGBT people.

Cross posted at Bloggernista and Pam's House Blend.

Its seems that The Politico has discovered that the overwhelming majority of consultants used by the Democratic Party are white. Big shock there. I mean seriously you didn't need a Lois Lane to figure that out.

Matt has a good analysis of the story and the need for not only more consultants of color, but progressive operatives at all levels and of all colors to move the party forward.

I don't want to get away from a simple point here.  I mean, it's pretty obvious that party elites should hire more black and Hispanic consultants.  I just think there's an added element of how the party structure needs to change to make sure that the new consulting class is both multi-racial and progressive.  Both are critical.  This is as true for the blogosphere as it is for the consulting world, though the constraints on the blogosphere are somewhat different and in all likelihood will correct itself over time as new power-savvy characters emerge to wield power online.  There's a long-standing debate in disempowered communities about a tangentially related dilemma going back centuries, the talented tenth and all that.

Its not like its all that hard to find smart aggressive operatives of color in D.C. I mean stand on any street corner, give a shout out and you will be trampled by people wanting to help move the party forward. And moving the party forward is something that I think is key to any sustained Democratic electoral success. Its not about just adding a little colored wine to the existing wineskin. We need to be thinking seriously about what's next in reclaiming the American liberal tradition and remixing it for the 21st century.

With the Republican presidential candidates coming off as ten angry white men, with each trying hard to out neanderthal the guy to his right, we have an opportunity to recapture the White House and expand our congressional majorities. That's not something that's preordained by the electoral gods either. Its something that we will have to work hard and smart to attain.

A important part of that work includes strengthening the party at the grassroots and consultant levels by building strong multi-racial and progressive leadership. It means developing and pushing forward a strong liberal vision for the country and not backing down in the face of the Republican attack machine that we saw in all its hysterical nuttiness here and here in the fight to pass the federal hate crimes bill in the House.

As for where the Republican Party fits into this conversation, they don't. Sure, it was wrong of The Politico not to include them as part of this story because it gives the impression that its Democrats who have a race problem and fits into the conservative meme of Democrats being a party of "special interests." But, the GOP has virtually nothing to offer communities of color whether of the consultant class or not. They only see our color when we can be used as political punching bags to help them gain and maintain power.

Cross posted at Bloggernista.

Last week we had U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Randall Tobias resigning when the truth came out about his regular use of DC call girls which he compared to ordering pizza. Apparently that was just the tip of the Republican hypocritical iceberg.

According to ABC News' Brian Ross:

"There are thousands of names, tens of thousands of phone numbers," Ross said. "And there are people there at the Pentagon, lobbyists, others at the White House, prominent lawyers -- a long, long list." Ross added that the women who worked for the service, potentially as prostitutes, "include university professors, legal secretaries, scientists, military officers."

The way cool kids at Step It Up have taken the movement to stop global warming to a whole new level. On Saturday, April 14th the organized more than 1,400 coordinated events across the U.S. urging members of Congress and the president to cut carbon emissions 80% by the year 2050. The event in DC was great with hundreds of people showing up near the Capitol Reflecting Pool to demand that our elective officials take bold, just and immediate action to end our addiction to fossil fuels and move towards a clean energy future. The DC action was organized by my friend Courtney who is one of the incredibly savvy young women who are kicking ass and taking names in defense of the planet.

Send a message to Congress that you want action to stop global warming:
To send a message to your House member, go here.
To send a message to your Senator, go here.

For blog posts, video etc on Step It Up and other going ons in the climate movement, check out Its Getting Hot in Here.

After a pathetic fundraising quarter and "political deathwatch" news stories, one would think that John McCain would stop his campaign to send more young Americans to war. But, you would be wrong. McCain is even more enthusiastic than ever about sending oher people's kids to fight and possibly die in Iraq.

In a recent speech at the Virginia Military Institute, McCain did his best George Bush impersonation and tried to scare the beejeezus out of voters bying saying that pulling out would make us vulnerable to "another 9/11 attack or worse." Cause invading a country that didn't attack us while ignoring Osama bin Ladin has made us all so very safe.

McCain's real fear is that he will lose his campaign for the presidency and that because of his age he will not be able to run again. He is pulling out all of the scare tactics that worked so well for Bush. He doesn't seem to get that Americans are so over that script and are looking for someone that can unite our country and focus on moving us forward.