Michigan to send two openly gay delegates to Democratic Convention
By D'Anne Witkowski


LANSING - For the first time in Michigan's history, two openly gay delegates will be going to the Democratic Convention, to be held in Boston July 26-29. Keith Orr is going as a delegate for Howard Dean and Rick Wallace is going as a delegate for John Kerry.

According to Democratic National Committee Vice Chair Mark Brewer, the only other openly gay delegate sent by Michigan to the Democratic Convention was John Burchett, sent as a Clinton delegate in 1996. In 2000 Rudy Serra, chair of Michigan's Lesbian/Gay Democratic Caucus, was sent as an alternate delegate for Al Gore.

"We're making progress in terms of our representation of the LGBT population," said Brewer. "Is it enough? No. But we're working to do better every cycle."

Kerry delegate Rick Wallace serves as the treasurer of the Oakland County Democratic Party. He was elected at the 9th congressional district convention. The 9th district had five delegate slots, four for Kerry and one for Dean.