PHILADELPHIA: Rep. Brian Sims Joins Mayor In Courting DNC Convention Team

Pennsylvania state Rep. Brian Sims joined Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter today in glad-handing the DNC's 2016 convention team, which was in Brooklyn earlier this week. Sims represents Philly's Center City, which is home to many of the hotels that would likely host attendees.  Philadelphia and Columbus are considered the leading contenders to win the convention.

Columbus has access to about 26,000 hotel rooms across five counties and 16,000 rooms within the city itself, said Brian Ross, chief executive of the Columbus Convention and Visitors Bureau. With no mass transit options, Columbus officials are looking at using chartered buses to shuttle delegates from their hotel rooms to convention events. Alternative transport options also were being explored, including compact and electric car rentals and the city's bike-share program. In Philadelphia, about 65% of the hotel rooms required to host the event were within a 15 minute walking distance of the Wells Fargo Center, where the convention would be held, said Kevin Washo, lead strategist for the Philadelphia host committee. Another 3,500 rooms were located across the river in University City, he said. "Brooklyn has 3,500 hotel rooms. We have 3,500 just in our University City location," he said.

Last week the RNC unanimously selected Cleveland for their 2016 convention.

New York City Issues Promo Clip In Bid To Host 2016 Democratic Convention

The finalists are New York City, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Columbus, Phoenix, and Birmingham.

RELATED: Yesterday the GOP narrowed their 2016 finalists to Cleveland and Dallas.

Record 470 Openly LGBT Delegates To Attend Democratic Convention

At least 470 delegates at the Democratic Convention will be openly LGBT. Chris Johnson reports at the Washington Blade:

The upcoming Democratic National Convention is set to have a record number of openly LGBT delegates, although goals for some states aren’t being met, according to new data from the National Stonewall Democrats. The organization as of Wednesday evening identified at least 470 openly LGBT delegates that are set to attend the convention, but more data is expected to become public at a later time. A total of 5,963 delegates are set to come to Charlotte, N.C.., for the event during the week of Sept. 3. Having 470 delegates exceeds the goal of 418 delegates at the convention and is already higher than numbers from 2008, when 277 delegates participated.

California leads the pack with 74 LGBT delegates. States sending only one: Mississippi, North Dakota, South Dakota, West Virginia and Wyoming. Several states are sending LGBT delegates for the first time ever.

NOTE TO DELEGATES: Please flag me down for a JMG photo if you see me. As much as I can stand it, I'll try to wear the silly hat from my blog photo so you can recognize me more easily.

Bill Donohue: Dems Are Stupid For Not Inviting Archbishop Dolan Too

"The Republicans are smart enough to get the ‘pope of America,’ and the Democrats are stupid enough not to invite him. The Catholic vote is the most critical vote. They’re the wild card. So why wouldn’t you ingratiate yourself to the pope of America and send a wink and a nod to Catholics? That’s just good politics." - Catholic League blowhard Bill Donohue. Dolan will pray at the GOP convention and offered himself to the Democrats in what he called "a show of bipartisanship." The DNC declined.

Billboards Of The Day

The above two billboards will be positioned near each of the convention sites in Tampa and Charlotte. World Net Daily's commenters are ever so pissed, but they have exactly zero to say about the thousands and thousands of Christian billboards that promise eternal damnation in an unending lake of fire.

Dem Convention Schedule

Above are just a few of the early morning events on each day of the Democratic Convention in Charlotte. Hit the link and scroll around to see other items on the schedule, many of which take place at night. Since I'm mostly at the mercy of the DNC press bus to get me back to my hotel in South Carolina, we'll see how many after-hours schmoozers I can squeeze in. More items will be added to the schedule as the start date draws nearer, but please feel free to tip me off if you see or hear about an event that would be of interest here. There will be some events hosted by LGBT groups, but so far nobody seems to have gotten official notice of those. Still haven't picked out a JMG meetup location either, dammit. (Tipped by JMG reader John)

NORTH CAROLINA: Christian Super-PAC To Host Concerts During Dem Convention

The pre-show invocation will be delivered by anti-gay activist Pastor Mark Harris, who late last year was elected president of North Carolina Baptists. "Invited guests" include Sarah Palin, Mike Huckabee, Chuck Norris, and the CEO of the NRA.

Obama Campaign Offers Public Free Tickets To Convention Acceptance Speech

The president will make his formal nomination acceptance speech on the final day of the convention at Charlotte's 74,000-seat Bank Of America Stadium. Free tickets for the general public became available yesterday on a first-come first-serve basis. The media has noted that press releases have avoided using the actual name of the venue, merely referring to it as "the stadium" in order to avoid association with the negative reputations most banking giants have recently earned.

Dem Platform Draft Endorses ENDA

More good news on the proposed Democratic platform. Chris Geidner has the draft language:

We know that putting America back to work is job one, and we are committed to ensuring Americans do not face employment discrimination. We support the Employment Non-Discrimination Act because people should not be fired based on their sexual orientation or gender identity. President Obama and the Democratic Party are committed to ensuring all Americans are treated fairly. This administration hosted the first-ever White House Conference on Bullying Prevention and we must continue our work to prevent vicious bullying of young people and support LGBT youth. The President’s record, from ending “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” in full cooperation with our military leadership, to passing the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, to ensuring same-sex couples can visit each other in the hospital, reflects Democrats’ belief that all Americans deserve the same chance to pursue happiness, earn a living, be safe in their communities, serve their country, and take care of the ones they love.

Fantastic. Now to get it past the convention committee and the delegates.

Democrats Release Proposed Language For Convention Marriage Equality Plank

As always, Chris Geidner has the scoop:

We support the right of all families to have equal respect, responsibilities, and protections under the law. We support marriage equality and support the movement to secure equal treatment under law for same-sex couples. We also support the freedom of churches and religious entities to decide how to administer marriage as a religious sacrament without government interference.

We oppose discriminatory federal and state constitutional amendments and other attempts to deny equal protection of the laws to committed same-sex couples who seek the same respect and responsibilities as other married couples. We support the full repeal of the so-called Defense of Marriage Act and the passage of the Respect for Marriage Act.

Geidner notes that the group that created the above language is different from the one that will be voting on it at the convention. Should the plank pass out of the convention committee, it must then be voted upon by the delegates.

House GOP Demands And Gets DOMA Response Delay From Supreme Court

The GOP's House Bipartisan (snort) Legal Advisory Group has requested and received a delayed deadline for when they must respond to two pending DOMA suits before the Supreme Court. As always, super-reporter Chris Geidner gets to what the request was really all about.

The deadline extension, which lawyers familiar with the cases say could cause up to a one-week delay in when in the fall the Supreme Court justices would consider when to take the cases, won't likely have any long-term effect on how and when the cases might be considered by the justices. The new deadline, however, means that House Speaker John Boehner's lawyers could take the chance to take aim at the Obama administration, which stopped defending DOMA in early 2011, following the conclusion of the Republican National Convention on Aug. 30 and before the start of the Democratic National Convention the next week.

NOM: Extremists Have Captured The DNC

"The Democratic party has been captured by extremists from both coasts like Barney Frank and Nancy Pelosi who are determined to redefine marriage in our nation. It's ironic that they hope to kill off the institution of marriage at their convention in Charlotte, because North Carolina like 31 other states, just voted overwhelmingly in favor of preserving marriage as the union of one man and one woman. The marriage amendment passed with 61% of the vote in North Carolina and enjoyed a plurality of support among Democrats and an overwhelming support of African Americans. We will rally supporters of traditional marriage to make sure they realize that the outcome of the presidential election may determine the future of marriage in our country." - Brian Brown, responding to today's news that marriage equality is a plank in the draft version of the Democrat's national platform.

JMG Is Press Credentialed

I've received my notice of press credentials for the Democratic Convention. The DNC has assigned me to a hotel just outside of Charlotte's I-485 beltway that's actually in South Carolina, but the nice press liaison lady assured me, "It's just like visiting Manhattan but staying in Hoboken." They'll be providing a shuttle bus service for press, so thankfully I don't have to worry about re-learning how to drive. As for my reporting plans, I intend to focus on the platform debate and hope to get face time with openly gay delegates, candidates, and office holders. I welcome your suggestions about convention topics that you'd like to see covered on JMG, not to mention the potential locations for the JMG meetup!

RELATED: Suck it, World Net Daily.

No Dem Convention For World Net Daily

"This decision by the DNC is clearly a political one. The Democrats know there are only a few media outlets in the country watchdogging them with a critical eye as to their frequent abuse of the Constitution. They don’t want any hard-hitting questions asked at their dog-and-pony show. They are only interested in presenting a well-staged, choreographed extravaganza without any controversy. That’s why WND was not invited to the party." - World Net Daily founder Joseph Farah, riding the waambulance.

DNC Head: Marriage Will Be On Platform

Democratic National Committee head Debbie Wasserman-Shultz says that she believes marriage equality will be on the national party platform. Via Philadelphia Gay News:

"I expect marriage equality to be a plank in the national party platform. President Obama has declared his support for it ... Now, our platform committee process is a people-powered process. We have a platform committee and the platform is developed by our Democratic activists and the platform committee members, so they’ll go through a process. I hope that marriage equality, and expect that marriage equality, will be part of our platform. "

Hit the link for the full interview in which Wasserman-Shultz discusses the future of ENDA and support for Tammy Baldwin's Senate bid.

Petition Of The Day

Change.org sends a press release:

Shannon Ritchie, a new mom and North Carolina native who volunteered in the effort to fight Amendment 1, the state’s recent ban on gay marriage, launched her petition on Change.org on Wednesday night after seeing President Obama publicly endorse gay marriage. “My husband and I were heartbroken when we found out that North Carolina’s hurtful and discriminatory Amendment 1 had passed on Tuesday evening,” said Ritchie, a registered Democrat. “But when I saw the president speak out in support of marriage equality, it gave me hope that we can still make a positive change right here in my home state of North Carolina. With the Democratic National Convention coming here in September, now is our chance to make history.” Each signature on the petition generates an email that is sent to Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, the 2012 Democratic National Convention Chair. Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the Democratic National Committee Chair, is also listed as a target on the petition.

Sign the petition here.

Petition Of The Day

Details.

21 Senate Dems Want Marriage Plank

At this writing 21 Senate Democrats have signed on to a call for a marriage equality plank in this year's Democratic Convention. Chris Johnson reports:

The Washington Blade received statements from the offices of 21 Democratic senators — including Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Chris Coons (D-Del.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) — expressing support for including a marriage equality plank in the Democratic Party platform. The Blade solicited statements from all 53 Democratic senators and will update this article as more senators respond. The senators follow the lead of Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), who on Tuesday became the first U.S. senator this year to get behind the idea of including same-sex marriage in the Democratic Party platform. Shaheen, who’s also a co-chair of President Obama’s national campaign committee, said she backs a plank in support of marriage equality proposed by the LGBT organization Freedom to Marry.

Here's the language of Freedom To Marry's proposed plank.

The Democratic Party supports the full inclusion of all families in the life of our nation, with equal respect, responsibility, and protection under the law, including the freedom to marry. Government has no business putting barriers in the path of people seeking to care for their family members, particularly in challenging economic times. We support the Respect for Marriage Act and the overturning of the federal so-called Defense of Marriage Act, and oppose discriminatory constitutional amendments and other attempts to deny the freedom to marry to loving and committed same-sex couples.”

FRC Vs Pelosi On Marriage

Pelosi Endorses Dem Marriage Plank

Big news from Freedom To Marry:

"Freedom to Marry is proud to have Leader Pelosi joining our call to put the Democratic Party squarely on record in support of the freedom to marry as part of the national platform. A strong majority of Democrats and Independents support the freedom to marry, and standing up for all families is not just the right thing to do morally, it's also right to do politically. I hope more people will quickly join Leader Pelosi by signing Freedom to Marry's Democrats: Say I Do petition so together we can get the party, and the country, where the majority of Americans already are."

Chris Geidner got the scoop at Metro Weekly. He notes:

The former House speaker's support for the move comes in response to Freedom to Marry's announcement on Feb. 13 that it was launching a campaign to ask the Democrats, as the group put it, to "Say I Do" to including such a marriage equality plank in the party's platform. The platform, a detailed statement of the party's positions that will be finalized at the Democratic National Convention this September, has never included language in support of the right of same-sex couples to marry. And the leader of the party, President Obama, opposed marriage equality in the 2008 campaign. He said in December 2010 that his position on marriage equality was "evolving" but that he still "struggle[s]" with it. His press secretary, Jay Carney, said this past week of Obama's position, "You know his position, where it stands now, on the issue of same-sex marriage, so I really don't have much to add on that."