LGBT for Obama

Spread the Word -- Send a Fundraising Email

In the LGBT and straight allied community, we need to do all we can to reach out to those we know to ask them to join us in supporting Senator Obama finically. To help do this we at LGBT for Obama have set up an email hub where you can send out emails to your family, friends, co-workers, and neighbors to ask them to donate to Senator Obama.

Using the email hub is as easy as 1, 2, 3:

Add contacts: Type in the names and email addresses you want your letter sent to. Please note: whatever emails addresses you type in will only be used in sending your email and will not be added to any mailing list.
Pick a letter: Simply pick from the list of pre written letters offered below. Among the letters are one written from the perspective a gay or lesbian person, a straight ally, or a transgender person. Simply find the letter that best fits you and then personalize it to add your special touch.
Send your email: Press the Send Button for the letter you selected and you're done!

By taking these three easy steps, you have helped raise crucial funds for Senator Obama.

	Name:	Email:
From:

	Name:	Email:
To:
To:
To:
To:
To:

Letter #1

Dear (recipient name to be inserted),

I feel like I have been ready for years to see Senator Barack Obama and the collective spirit formed of realism, inclusion, and fearlessness he stands for take leadership in our country. As a person in the LGBT community, I have seen a wave of discriminatory anti-marriage and anti-protection efforts claim status in the last several years. It is unnerving to have seen less equality, not more -- but I also sense this trend is reversing course. I believe it is Senator Barack Obama who can utilize this energy for progressive, fundamental and systemic change.
This is one of those moments, a confluence of events that make it essential that Senator Barack Obama become our President. We have a congress willing to approve legislation in favor of LGBT equality. Simultaneously, we have a Presidential candidate who speaks of a clear path toward recognition of our relationships, safeguarding our jobs and ending military discrimination. Together, he and Congress can establish unprecedented equality. Without Senator Obama, I am convinced that the next four years would be not only an historic missed opportunity but also a swift loss of agency and past gains.
What most speaks to me about Senator Barack Obama is his courage to go beyond middle-of-the-road, cautious stands. He opposed the amendment in California that would rescind marriage equality for LGBT people. When he could have weighed in on the issue with a watery call for states' rights, Senator Obama instead took the fearless stand for what is just. We want a President who is willing to take the difficult road for the right reasons.
Personal integrity is central to Senator Obama's campaign. That is why he will visit all 50 states this season: we are not numbers, polls or demographics to him. Such comprehensive campaigning is both necessary and good for the country, and Senator Obama needs your support to make it possible.
Senator Obama has been the candidate of the people from Day 1. We are valued individuals and a powerful collective in his vision of what this country can become. Let us solidly plant ourselves as a singular voice of LGBT support for Senator Obama. Let us come together and support Senator Obama with our passion, time and most importantly our financial resources. Personally, I made a contribution to Obama this election and I write today to ask you to join me in making a similar pledge.
Will you considering giving $1,000, $500 or $250 today? You can contribute by <a href='https://donate.barackobama.com/page/contribute/GLBT?custom1=LGBTforObama.com%20website'>clicking here</a>.
By working together we can send the first President to sign major civil rights legislation for our community to the Oval Office this fall.
Sincerely,

(your name to be inserted)

Letter #2

Dear (recipient name to be inserted),

There is no doubt that 2008 is a pivotal election for America, but the stakes are even higher for those of us in the LGBT community.
We face a choice as clear as day -- a choice between progress and stagnancy, between the future and the past. We face a choice between a man whose record reflects a lifetime of advocacy on behalf of the political goals of the LGBT community and a man who time and time again opposes our rights as Americans to be treated as full and equal citizens. We need a president who will support the LGBT-friendly Democratic Congress led by Nancy Pelosi, not one who will impede their efforts with a devastating veto.
What will you do to help us achieve progress and move our nation forward?
The Obama Record is clear. In his first year in the Illinois State Legislature, Barack Obama sponsored legislation that would ban employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. He fought for seven years on our behalf, lobbying his colleagues to reject the political expedience of homophobia, and finally in 2004, that bill finally became law.
In the United States Senate, Obama has worked hard to expand federal hate crimes laws to include crimes perpetrated because of sexual orientation or gender identity. He stood by us in fighting for the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), in supporting full civil unions with equal legal rights and privileges. Senator Obama believes we need to fully repeat the Defense of Marriage Act and voted against the Federal Marriage Amendment. He has repeatedly called for the repeal of the federal &quot;Don't Ask, Don't Tell&quot; policy that governs military service. Obama has also been a global leader in the fight against AIDS, taking a public HIV test while in Kenya to encourage testing and reduce the stigma. He also worked to reauthorize the Ryan White CARE Act, one of the largest sources of federal funds for HIV/AIDS patients.
Senator McCain, on the other hand, has a long record opposing equal rights for LGBT Americans. He cast a deciding vote against ENDA, voted three times against expanding hate crimes legislation to include sexual orientation, and supports the discriminatory &quot;Don't Ask, Don't Tell&quot; policy that has led to the discharge of over 12,000 able-bodied gay and lesbian servicemembers. He opposes equal benefits for same-sex couples and voted for the Defense of Marriage Act, and campaigned vigorously on behalf a ban on same-sex relationship recognition in his home state. He voted for confirmation of anti-LGBT judicial nominees like Justice Samuel Alito and intends to appoint more of these discriminatory justices to our courts when President. We can't allow him to have the chance!
Senator Obama is standing up for us and giving our hopes a voice. Will you stand up for Barack Obama and make a contribution of $100, $500, or $1,000 today? You can contribute by <a href="https://donate.barackobama.com/page/contribute/GLBT?custom1=LGBTforObama.com%20website">clicking here</a>.
We have reached a point where with the right leadership in Washington, we can make more progress on LGBT rights in a few years than we have in decades. But the forces of intolerance and inequality are on the march. Right-wing operatives are already attempting to &quot;swift-boat&quot; Senator Obama, and mislead the public about who he is and who he stands for. Obama will need to raise over $400 million to fight these attacks and make sure that Americans in all fifty states know the true Senator Obama, a man who fights for equality every day. As a minority, he knows what it feels like to be discriminated against and oppressed by our laws and by our society.
We know what it is like to work hard day in and day out for our own rights, and so it is imperative that we show Barack that we stand with him while he fights for us every day as well.
In this close election, your contribution can make the difference between progress and retreat. Contribute today by <a href="https://donate.barackobama.com/page/contribute/GLBT?custom1=LGBTforObama.com%20website">clicking here</a>.
With hope,

(your name to be inserted)

Letter #3

Dear (recipient name to be inserted),

As I talk to my friends about this year's presidential campaign, I commonly hear the opinion that Barack Obama is certain to win. It makes sense that many of us who find Senator Obama's message compelling think that others will, too. It appeals to reason and our desire for positive change.
But, we are facing a McCain campaign that knows how to use fear to manipulate. It knows that Senator Obama, when allowed to focus on his message, inspires voters. The McCain strategy is to attack both Obama and his supporters as na&iuml;ve, and unappreciative of the world's dangers. It is designed to do two things; (1) require Senator Obama to spend time responding to attack ads and (2) create fear.
Negative campaigns cause a great number of Americans to tune out. They don't read the in-depth analysis or research the validity of campaign claims. They only see the 30 second spots, the sound bites. In this environment, fatigue often takes over and people succumb to manipulation of the most primal of human emotions -- fear.
The McCain ads portray Obama as a celebrity, an elitist, intent on a tax plan which will cost Americans jobs, appeasing terrorists, and ignorant of the world's realities.
This is why it is so important that the Obama campaign raise the funds to run ads to respond to this campaign of fear. We need to let the voters know that a belief that we can bring about positive change is not a sign of ignorance or weakness. You can contribute by <a href="https://donate.barackobama.com/page/contribute/GLBT?custom1=LGBTforObama.com%20website">clicking here</a>.
The issue goes beyond the use of a strategy in a political campaign. It is a window into the candidate's thinking and who his advisors are and who he will bring into the White House if elected.
Fear, according to Webster's, is &quot;a distressing emotion aroused by impending disaster, evil, pain, etc. whether the threat is real or imagined.&quot; Given that this is the strategy the McCain campaign is employing in its bid to win the White House, it follows that it is the strategy it would employ to govern.
An &quot;us vs. them&quot; world view is ultimately fear based. It allows the mistreatment of others on the basis that their differences pose a threat to &quot;us.&quot; John McCain, like George Bush, speaks in these &quot;us vs. them&quot; terms. He continues to support discrimination in the military via the policy of &quot;Don't Ask, Don't Tell&quot; on the theory that having openly gay and lesbian persons serve will negatively affect the morale of straight persons. This is a philosophy of life which says that it is moral and expedient to inflict pain on persons deemed &quot;others&quot; when it is believed to benefit the persons identified as &quot;us.&quot;
It is a world view that is consistent with lying to facilitate the invasion of a foreign country and killing hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians (others) because those people don't matter as much as we do. It is a world view that mocks talking to our enemies and attempts to equate valuing the dignity of all people with jeopardizing the security of Americans.
It is a world view that opposes a woman's right to choose, yet makes jokes about rape. It is a decidedly &quot;one vantage point&quot; world view which cannot and does not include all of us within its definition of &quot;us.&quot; I'm more than ready for a President who sees all of us as his base. I'm ready for a President who serves citizens rather than corporations.
This election presents a clear choice between fear and hope. Hope doesn't hold us back, fear holds us back. I give regularly to this campaign because I have a firm conviction that people are at their best, succeed in life, exhibit compassion	towards others and make the world a better place when they live in hope rather than fear. I have a firm conviction that a President Obama is what this country needs to turn away from the policies of fear and toward a renewed belief in ourselves and the principles of equality and justice.
Please join me in donating whatever you can. Donate today by <a href="https://donate.barackobama.com/page/contribute/GLBT?custom1=LGBTforObama.com%20website">clicking here</a>.

(your name to be inserted)

Spread the Word -- Send a Fundraising Email

Letter #1

Letter #2

Letter #3

Meta