Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Indiana Equality Congressional Candidate Forum February 20th

Indiana Equality is sponsoring a 7th US House Candidate Forum on Wednesday, February 20th at 7:00 p.m. It will be held at the Jesus Metropolitan Community Church at 2950 E. 55th Place in Indianapolis. Libertarian candidate Sean Shepard is scheduled to attend.

3 comments:

Eclecticvibe said...

What is Shepard's stand on LGBT issues like gay marriage, Don't Ask Don't Tell, and ENDA? Since Elrod has largely been a supporter of LGBT issues, he's made lots of in roads with the gay community, which is typically very heavily Democrat. I hope to attend the debate, but would like to hear some discussion of the issue if not from Mr. Shepard, then at least the Libertarian Party at large. Thanks!

Mark W. Rutherford said...

From the current national platform of the Libertarian Party - approved in July 2006:

I.9 Sexuality and Gender

The Issue: Politicians use popular fears and taboos to legally impose a particular code of moral and social values. Government regularly denies rights and privileges on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.

The Principle: Consenting adults should be free to choose their own sexual practices and personal relationships. Government does not have legitimate authority to define or license personal relationships. Sexuality or gender should have no impact on the rights of individuals.

Solutions: Culture wars, social friction and prejudice will fade when marriage and other personal relationships are treated as private contracts, solely defined by the individuals involved, and government discrimination is not allowed.

Transitional Action: Repeal the federal Defense of Marriage Act and state laws and amendments defining marriage. Oppose any new laws or Constitutional amendments defining terms for personal, private relationships. Repeal any state or federal law assigning special benefits to people based on marital status, family structure, sexual orientation or gender identification. Repeal any state or federal laws denying same-sex partners rights enjoyed by others, such as adoption of children and spousal immigration. End the Defense Department practice of discharging armed forces personnel for sexual orientation. Upgrade all less-than-honorable discharges previously assigned solely for such reasons to honorable status, and delete related information from military personnel files. Repeal all laws discriminating by gender, such as protective labor laws and marriage, divorce, and custody laws which deny the full rights of each individual.

Anonymous said...

Eclecticvibe: I became a Libertarian in 2003 because it is the only party that 100% supports freedom of consenting adults to do whatever they like.

Although I am heterosexual, gay issues are very important to me because I have many gay friends and I've seen them suffer. I also lived in Kokomo during the Ryan White years and saw what those people's hatred did to that boy.

I'm a straight member of Indy Pride and the only property tax repeal activist to publicly speak out against Eric Miller's anti-gay agenda.

I could never support and endorse Sean Shepard if he did not protect gay rights and believe government should be out of our marriages.

Let's put the first Libertarian in Congress!

Sean Shepard for Congress
Vote March 11