My journey to supporting Barack Obama...

For people, like me, who supported Hillary Clinton's campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, the past month has been somewhat of a grieving process. I've known that I would be voting for Barack Obama in the fall - that wasn't going to be the issue - but I didn't feel the same enthusiasm.
But that is changing now and I'm more and more impressed with how Obama is handling himself out on the campaign trail and becoming a better and better candidate. On Saturday, one of my best buds, Evan Pondel, organized an Obama rally in West L.A. and it was the perfect kind of event someone transitioning from Clinton to Obama. Councilman Bill Rosendahl gave a very inspiring speech, comparing Obama to Bobby Kennedy who the councilman had worked for in the 60s.

After a few other people spoke - including a woman from the Obama campaign - Evan callled me up to speak about my post-Hillary funk and I got surprisingly emotional standing up there and just getting caught up in the energy and enthusiasm of campaign. I left wearing my first "Obama for President" sticker.

In related news, Obama has spoken out against the proposed amendment to the California state constitution which seeks to ban gay marriage - again.

Here is an excerpt from a letter the candidate wrote to the Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club: "As the Democratic nominee for President, I am proud to join with and support the LGBT community in an effort to set our nation on a course that recognizes LGBT Americans with full equality under the law. That is why I support extending fully equal rights and benefits to same-sex couples under both state and federal law. That is why I support repealing the Defense of Marriage Act and the "Don't Ask Don't Tell" policy, and the passage of fully inclusive laws to protect LGBT Americans from hate crimes and employment discrimination. And that is why I oppose the divisive and discriminatory efforts to amend the California Constitution, and similar efforts to amend the U.S. Constitution or those of other states."

"For too long, issues of LGBT rights have been exploited by those seeking to divide us. It's time to move beyond polarization and live up to our founding promise of equality by treating all our citizens with dignity and respect. This is no less than a core issue about who we are as Democrats and as Americans."