Editor’s note: Lesbian Week continues!  Read our previous installments by Malinda Lo, Lisa Neff and Kate Kendell.

The Undecided Voter, Part III. Read Part I here. Read Part II here.

By Joan Garry

I am 50 years old. I need to keep saying it so that it sinks in. Not only do I receive the AARP magazine, I actually find myself reading it. So that’s who I am.

I have a good number of years of life experience and quite a number of years of professional experience. As someone in full-blown middle age, it is one of my calling cards. Part of how I define myself is through my experience.

So as I assess Democratic presidential hopefuls, I am compelled to value the idea that experience is meaningful. This has led me to look closely and care deeply about Hillary’s campaign.

And she is impressive.

Wolf Blitzer interviewed her two nights ago and asked what her first day in office would look like. Her answer made my heart sing. She was clear and specific. It was as if she’d already scheduled a few things for that day.

I just love a girl with a to-do list.

And yet, when I review my professional experience, something strikes me. My most rewarding and successful move was to a position for which I had no relevant experience whatsoever. None.

Read more…

GCN says: the choice is clear.

Gay City News has endorsed Barack Obama for president. In the issue that hits the streets today, carries a carefully considered and qualified endorsement of the senator from Illinois.

The endorsement of the largest-circulation and most influential LGBT weekly newspaper in New York could help Barack Obama in a city in which all the LGBT Democratic clubs have endorsed Hillary Clinton, as has the city’s other gay paper, the New York Blade.

“The nation needs to hear our views on how American politics can accommodate new voices in the mix,” GCN declares. “Judged by that measure and taking full stock of how the Democratic nomination contest has unfolded, we believe the choice is clear. Gay City News endorses Barack Obama.”

Read more…

“The best lies are the ones that stick.”

Giving grief to someone who was a POW is always risky but John McCain needs to give up “The Lie.” Yes I know all politicians lie but as McCain gets closer to the prize, his willingness to hang on with untruths is a bit sad. And it will fire up those who really don’t want him to be the Republican nominee.

A few days before the Florida primary, McCain accused Mitt Romney of supporting a timetable of withdrawal from Iraq. In essence he called Romney a Democrat. Now the truth is far removed from McCain’s assertion, and everyone, no matter their politics, has called McCain out; however, the Arizona senator keeps spinning the tale even at last night’s Republican debate.

Romney took him to task but McCain gave no quarter. He repeated the fib and went on how he stood for principle, justice, and the American way (all with that creepy smile of his). Maybe you can’t turn back a lie and admit an error, but you would expect a guy who yaps about his straight talk to actually do it.

 Editor’s note: Lesbian Week continues!  Read our previous installments by Malinda Lo, Lisa Neff and Kate Kendell.

The Undecided Voter, Part II. Read Part I here.

 By Joan Garry

John Edwards has ended his presidential bid.

This headline news reminded me of our dinnertime conversation earlier this week. Two very different takes on John Edwards from our 7th grader twins. Each comment says alot about our kids and a lot about the presidential race and how it is engaging Americans of all ages.

Kit  is not fond of John Edwards. I’m sure if she heard about the haircut scandal – she cares a lot about hair and this would sway her no doubt – but her rationale is also thoughtful.

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Editor’s note: Lesbian Week continues! Read our previous installments by Malinda Lo, Joan Garry, Lisa Neff and Kate Kendell.

By Dana Rudoph

As a parent, you never vote alone.

This can be literally true, as was the case four years ago when I took my one-year-old son into the booth with me, hoping I wouldn’t drop him as I threw the lever and that he wouldn’t jostle me into voting the Republican party line by mistake.

 It is also true in that voting as a parent means attempting to set the direction of the world in which you want your children to grow up. I look at education solutions and family-leave policies more carefully now. When I hear about the war in Iraq, I think about people’s children and parents dying, and it makes me want to hold my son close.

LGBT issues have long been a concern of mine, and parenting hasn’t changed that. I pay more attention when candidates answer questions about topics like LGBT-themed materials in schools, however.  When I hear them say marriage should be left to the states, I think about traveling with my partner and son to visit relatives across the country, with a Zip-Loc bag of legal documents tucked into our carry-on: his birth certificate and court order of parentage, our marriage certificate and living wills. We cross state lines and the legal cohesion of our family shifts in uncertain ways.

Read more…

John Edwards dropped out of the Democratic presidential contest today, but without endorsing either Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) or Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.).

“Some of the Edwards faithful wondered quietly whether he might be offered a prime Cabinet position in an eventual Democratic administration,” reports William Branigin in the Washington Post. And Robert Novak says that Edwards will be named attorney general in an Obama administration, “according to Illinois Democrats close to Obama.” Read more…