N.C. gains more connections in Obama camp

At the 40th Anniversary of the March on Washington, D.C., in 1963: Matt Foreman, Mandy Carter and Coretta Scott King. Photo credit: Mandy Carter

CHICAGO, Il. — A nationally respected and long-time activist based in Durham, N.C., has been selected as one of five national co-chairs for Democratic presidential candidate, Sen. Barack Obama’s national LGBT leadership team, Obama Pride.

Mandy Carter, founder of Southerners on New Ground and who was instrumental in the 1990 and 1996 organizing against Sen. Jesse Helms’ reelection campaigns, joins other Obama Pride co-chairs Marsha Botzer, of Seattle, Wash.; Jesse Garcia, of Dallas, Texas; Campbell Spencer, of Washington, D.C.; and Eric Stern, of Berkeley, Calif.

The Obama campaign also released the names of new additions to its National LGBT Steering and Policy Committee. Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), who was the Chair of Hillary Clinton’s National LGBT Steering Committee, has joined Tobias Wolff, a law professor at the University of Pennsylvania who chaired Obama’s LGBT Policy Committee during the primary, as co-chairs of the new National LGBT Steering and Policy Committee. Over the last few weeks, dozens of members of Clinton’s committee have joined the Steering and Policy Committee, and the committee will continue to grow between now and Election Day.

“I am proud to support Barack Obama for President and work hard for his election because we share a commitment to equality for all Americans. This is our quest and our common goal,” said Congresswoman Baldwin. “From now through November, we will reach out aggressively to our fellow LGBT Americans to ensure that they know there is only one candidate in this race who will stand up for equal rights and build a coalition that can deliver the change that we desperately need,” Baldwin said.

Winston-Salem, N.C.-native Kevin Jennings, the founder/executive director of the New York-based Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, continues to lead Obama’s finance committee with Joan Garry, the former executive director of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation.