According to a press release issued yesterday by Jerame Davis, executive director of the National Stonewall Democrats, next week’s Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina will welcome a record number of LGBT delegates:
National Stonewall Democrats (NSD). . . has identified at least 534 official LGBT participants for the 2012 Democratic National Committee Convention in Charlotte, NC next week. This record number of participants represents a marked increase in LGBT participation from four years ago in Denver where just over 350 LGBT participants were identified.
“What an amazing and inspiring convention this will be,” said Jerame Davis, Executive Director of National Stonewall Democrats. “With over 530 LGBT participants identified for this year’s convention, we not only set a new record for LGBT participation in a national convention, we have sent the clearest message possible that the Democratic Party is the party of inclusion.”
“Dedicated activists,” continued Davis, “including those at the DNC and National Stonewall Democrats, made this historic moment possible by doggedly insisting that LGBT people have a seat at the table and by demonstrating the strength our community can bring to party politics. We didn’t sit around wishing for a better Party, we made the Party better for LGBT people.”
The NSD release notes that, for the first time, there will be at least one LGBT delegate from all fifty U.S. states. Three states — Alaska, Arkansas, and Mississippi — are sending LGBT delegates for the first time.
