Democrats embrace gay agenda
By: Ben Smith
Aug 2, 2007

The 2004 election turned out to be the year, for Democrats, of gay panic.

It was a year in which Sen. John F. Kerry backed away from his longtime pro-gay record to support a state amendment banning gay marriage -- and in which former President Bill Clinton reportedly urged Kerry to go even further in standing against same-sex marriage.

But the mood among Democrats this election cycle seems closer to liberation. The party's leading presidential candidates will gather in Los Angeles on Aug. 9 for a forum sponsored by the gay rights group Human Rights Campaign and broadcast live on the gay cable channel Logo.

They're expected to reiterate their universal commitments to a broad range of gay rights in areas ranging from health care to immigration -- a substantive package that amounts to virtually everything short of the word "marriage." the rest