It’s Gay Pride Month. Here is the schedule of events in Albany [PDF]. Also, check out Libby Post’s blog. And I’ve been encouraged by several things:
ITEM: Home Depot to American Family Association: take a hike, we support gay causes. It wasn’t that long ago that corporate America would cower under threat of a boycott by anti-gay forces.
ITEM: A prominent billboard urging a local politician to vote for same-sex marriage has a restaurant source: Bombers Burrito Bar. Bombers owner Matt Baumgartner owns Bombers in Albany and Schenectady, Wolff’s Biergarten in Albany, and a forthcoming Albany pub called The Olde English. He’s trying to sway state senator Roy McDonald, who voted no in 2009, but is perceived to be persuadable.
ITEM: Kicking off Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) Pride Month, the Office of Public Engagement has launched a new webpage, Winning the Future: President Obama and LGBT Americans. People complain, not entirely without merit, that the Obama administration has been cautious about gay rights. But you would not see this type of initiative from President McCain or either President Bush.
So I’m feeling encouraged that, in the cliched language of the pollsters, the country is “moving in the right direction” on gay rights. What says you?