BOSTON — Gays participated in the Democratic National Convention in greater numbers and in higher-level positions than ever before, pledging to pull out all the stops to help elect John Kerry president.

A record contingent of at least 252 gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered Democrats — serving as delegates, alternate delegates and convention standing committee members — downplayed Kerry’s opposition to gay marriage and gladly embraced the Kerry campaign’s call to stay on “message.”

For the first time ever, an openly gay person, U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), delivered a speech before a Democratic convention during a prime-time television hour. Baldwin was also selected as a convention vice-chair, another first for an openly gay person.

Baldwin, who was assigned to discuss the party’s plans for expanding health care for Americans, did not mention that she is a lesbian or discuss specific gay issues, although she said health care coverage should include “domestic partners.”

Gay Democratic activists nevertheless called Baldwin’s appearance “historic,” saying the party designated her as a prime time speaker knowing that her status as a lesbian would be viewed as a symbolic advance for gay rights causes.

Similar to most of the 4,322 delegates and 611 alternates attending the convention, nearly all members of the gay contingent said they understood the term “message” to mean doing everything possible to oust George W. Bush from the White House in the November election, even if it means downplaying controversial issues they deem important.

Staying on message
Among those leading the clarion call for this strategy was gay civil rights attorney Mary Bresslow, the lead attorney in the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court case that led to the legalization of same-sex marriage in that state.

“John Kerry has, by far, the best record on our issues than any presidential candidate in American history,” she said Wednesday at a meeting of the gay convention contingent.

Bresslow and veteran gay Democratic activist Jeff Trammell serve as co-chair of the Kerry campaign’s gay outreach committee.

“We all know what we’re here for,” said David Meadows, president of D.C.’s Gertrude Stein Democratic Club. “We may not be pleased with Mr. Kerry’s position on gay marriage, but we know he’s far, far better than Bush on all the issues that matter to us and that matter to Democrats.”

Kerry has said he supports civil unions over gay marriage and has pledged to push for legislation that would provide the same rights and benefits to same-sex couples in civil unions and domestic partnerships as those enjoyed by heterosexual married couples.

Kerry and his vice presidential running mate, Senator John Edwards (D-N.C.), have said they strongly oppose a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage, saying they favor allowing states to decide the issue of gay marriage as well as civil unions.

His gay supporters note that Kerry has embraced virtually every other gay civil rights initiative, including a federal gay civil rights bill banning employment discrimination against gays and legislation giving the federal government authority to prosecute anti-gay hate crimes. Kerry has said he opposes the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy on gays in the military and would push for allowing gays to serve openly.

With the approval of the Kerry campaign, the Democratic Convention’s Platform Committee earlier this year included these and other gay rights proposals in the party’s platform.

Gay civil rights attorney Roberta Achtenberg, who served as an assistant secretary of housing during the Clinton administration, read the “gay” planks in the platform in a brief speech before the convention on Monday. Achtenberg’s speech, which took place about 6:30 p.m., when few outlets other than C-Span and public television stations covered the convention, was one of the few speeches during the first three days of the convention that touched on gay issues.

Among other things, Achtenberg pointed out that the platform calls for “full inclusion” of gay and lesbian families in the life of the nation and expresses support for “equal responsibilities, benefits and protections” for those families.

Six gay speakers
Achtenberg and Baldwin were two of six open gays scheduled to speak at the convention. Andrew Tobias, the gay treasurer of the Democratic National Committee, and Jim Stork, the former mayor of Wilton Manors, Fla., near Fort Lauderdale, and a candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives, spoke on Monday night and Tuesday night respectively. Cheryl Jacques, president of the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest gay civil rights group, spoke Wednesday night.

Tobias devoted most of his brief speech, at about 5 p.m., to the party’s fund-raising activities. He mentioned his domestic partner and the fact that the two don’t enjoy the legal protections of married couples, but he did not specifically mention gays. Stork made no mention of gays or gay issues, limiting his brief speech to his quest to defeat a Republican incumbent, with the hope of helping return the House to Democratic control.

Jacques devoted all of her speech to gay rights issues, saying the nation’s gay and lesbian citizens are seeking the same American dream as all other citizens. Jacques, a former Massachusetts state senator, received loud cheers from gay delegates sprinkled through only a partially filled convention hall. During Jacques’ speech, the gay delegates waved Kerry-Edwards placards, which were designed to appear as rainbow flags.

“I’m Cheryl Jacques, and on behalf of my partner Jennifer, and our beautiful twin boys Timmy and Tommy, I’d like to say how proud I am to be back in my home state of Massachusetts — where I had the privilege of serving in the state Senate for more than a decade,” Jacques told the convention.

“Gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Americans share the dream — the dream of a better, stronger and more united America,” she said. “We protect our country. We die for our country. That’s why we seek the right to serve openly and honestly in our armed forces — to defend our freedoms and the rights of all American families.”

Added Jacques, “We see a health care crisis that can be alleviated through more personal responsibility. That in part is why we’re working for marriage equality — so we can do what families do best — care for each other in sickness and in health.”

Her reference to “marriage equality” was Jacques’ only reference to gay marriage, a term that she never mentioned.

Yet Jacques’ speech, which also addressed anti-gay hate crimes and AIDS-related issues, was by far the most extensive discussion of gay civil rights among any of the convention speakers as of Wednesday.

Gay U.S. Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) was scheduled to speak at the convention on Thursday night. Frank told gay delegates he planned to directly and forcefully mention gay issues as a speaker identified as a representative of the National Stonewall Democrats, a gay Democratic group, as well as a member of Congress.

NSD officials hailed Frank’s scheduled appearance as another breakthrough — a first of its kind convention speech by a representative of a gay Democratic Party organization.

Similar to Democratic conventions beginning in 1992, when Bill Clinton won the nomination, heterosexual convention speakers, including a few prominent names, such as Senator Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), mentioned gays or the subject of anti-gay discrimination in their speeches.

Gays in red states
Gay delegates said they were especially pleased this year that the convention’s keynote speaker, Illinois state Senator Barack Obama, a candidate for the U.S. Senate, mentioned gays. Obama’s speech was among the most widely watched convention speeches other than those given by Kerry and Edwards.

In his speech Wednesday night, Edwards did not mention gay rights. He did talk about civil rights, but only in the context of race.

In a reference to how the nation is divided by red and blue states, the color-coding that designates which states go to a GOP or Democratic presidential candidate, Obama said, “We coach Little League in the blue [Democratic] states and have gay friends in the red [Republican] states. … We are one people, all of us pledging allegiance to the stars and stripes, all of us defending the United States of America.”

As of Wednesday, far fewer speakers made reference to gay issues than in the 1992, 1996, and 2000 conventions.

However, like conventions during those years, this year’s convention saw a parade of big name elected officials make visits to the gay delegates’ caucus meetings. Among those who spoke at the gay caucus meetings were Teresa Heinz Kerry, wife of John Kerry; Senator Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.); nearly a dozen members of the House of Representatives, including Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) and D.C. Congressional Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.).

Veteran gay Democratic activist Tom Chorlton, who helped found the first national gay Democratic organization in the early 1980s, said the trend toward curtailing the discussion of gay issues in convention speeches and other restrictions linked to Kerry’s call for staying “on message” are partially signs of the success of gay Democrats during the past 20 years.

“In part, we’re the victims of our own success,” Chorlton said. “When we started, so many years ago, we were renegades. And so we did everything we could legally do to push the envelope as far as we can push it. The problem becomes once you win a seat at the table, which is what I’ve always maintained it’s about, then, of course, you have to reach an understanding with the powers that be that, to have that voice and seat at the table, you have to play along as well.”

Added Chorlton, “Some of your independence is curtailed. That’s a shame from an individual point of view. But on a case by case basis, it might be a price that’s well worth paying.”

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