Sneak Peek: Gay Rights in the Spotlight

August 9, 2007— -- In just a few hours, the '08 Democratic presidential candidates – minus the feisty Joe Biden and Chris Dodd -- will have the opportunity to show their commitment and enthusiasm for gay rights in a forum sponsored by the Human Rights Campaign.

The event will be televised at 9:00 pm ET on the gay television network Logo and the Logo website. The candidates will not appear on stage together at the same time.

ABC News' Rick Klein reports that the Democratic presidential candidates have begun to aggressively court gay and lesbian voters, with unprecedented outreach to match a major shift in policy positions among the major 2008 hopefuls.

Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, told Klein that Democrats are going further than they ever have in the past in talking about their support for gay rights -- and not just at forums organized by leaders of the gay and lesbian community.

"They're more enthusiastically embracing a broader set of positions," Solmonese said. "They're more willing to proactively talk about them, too. They've all been very forthcoming about where they are on the issues. They have been proud to talk about it."

Only Dennis Kucinich and Mike Gravel say they favor gay marriage, but all the Democrats have expressed their support for civil unions. Each has called for the end of the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy.

Keep your eyes and ears open for this developing story: Hillary Clinton was asked in an interview in April 2006 about reports that the White House was considering a military strike (or a nuclear strike) to stop Iran's nuclear weapons program. Clinton reportedly said, "I would certainly take nuclear weapons off the table."

Her campaign said her comments were different from what Barack Obama said last week about nuclear weapons because it was responding to a specific report, not a broad hypothetical.

Chris Dodd was quick with a statement: "I was disappointed to learn that Mrs. Clinton, like Mr. Obama, would make such an unwise categorical statement about military options.  If nothing else, these kinds of careless statements expose the difference in the candidates' depth of experience and understanding when it comes to the complex world of foreign policy and military affairs."