"In April of last year, Gov. Lynch and the state of New Hampshire passed a bill officially recognizing civil unions for gay and lesbian couples. This courageous act showed us that the idea of America – fairness, justice and equal opportunity – can become a reality when we have the courage to stand up for what is right.

"Today, the work of equality advocates comes to fruition as that law takes effect. New Hampshire's decision to recognize civil unions and grant gay and lesbian couples the same rights granted by the state to heterosexual married couples is an important step forward on the march toward equality, fairness and justice."

"Every American deserves the right to live without fear of physical violence -- law enforcement should have all the resources and tools it needs to protect every community in America. I have long supported strengthening our hate crimes laws to show that Americans will not tolerate or condone hateful violence of any kind.

"With 25 hate crimes committed every day by the FBI's count -- one every hour -- it is embarrassing that the White House says stronger law enforcement tools are 'unnecessary.' Nine years after the heinous murders of Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr., these tools are more necessary than ever."

Comprehensive plan will fight HIV/AIDS epidemic at home and abroad

District of Columbia– Today, Senator John Edwards unveiled a series of specific proposals to lead the fight against HIV/AIDS at home and around the world.

"The loss from HIV/AIDS is almost beyond understanding," said Edwards. "This is a fight for people's lives. HIV is a preventable disease – but an estimated 40,000 new HIV cases were reported in the U.S. last year, and 4.3 million were reported around the world. What's more, HIV/AIDS is a treatable disease – yet 17,000 Americans and 3 million people globally died from it in 2005. We have a moral imperative to do much more and do it much better."

Edwards' proposals to end the HIV/AIDS epidemic build on his plan to provide universal health care for all Americans. Edwards was the first presidential candidate to propose a plan for quality, affordable health care for every man, woman and child in America. He has also promised to take on the big insurance and drug companies, pledging to submit legislation on the first day of his administration that ends health care coverage for the president, all members of Congress, and all senior political appointees in both the executive and legislative branches of government on July 20th, 2009 unless universal health care legislation that meets four specific, non- of negotiable principles has been passed by that date.

The Edwards HIV/AIDS strategy is fourfold: it guarantees health insurance to every American to ensure that they receive the care they need when they need it, and it will expand Medicaid to cover HIV-positive individuals before they reach later stages disabilities and AIDS. It calls for greater resources to fight the epidemic in African-American and Latino communities, where infection rates have drastically risen. And it calls for universal global access to HIV/AIDS medicine, investing $50 billion over five years to make it easier for people infected with HIV/AIDS to get the treatment they need. Edwards will also put an end to the policies that protect the profits of big drug corporations at the expense of people dying of HIV/AIDS in developing countries.

Edwards will support science-based prevention strategies to fight the spread of HIV/AIDS – including comprehensive, age-appropriate sex education and harm-reduction programs that provide high-risk individuals with access to clean syringes. Edwards also promised to strengthen America's scientific research agenda, which has suffered drastic funding cuts under the Bush administration.

On Monday, Edwards participated in a health care forum hosted by Families USA and the Kaiser Family Foundation. The hour-long event was moderated by leading journalists and focused on expanding health care access.

For more details on Edwards' plan for ending the HIV/AIDS epidemic, click here.

"I am proud to have the support of so many leaders from the community who are committed to equality for all Americans," said Edwards.

"As activists for social and economic justice, we need a candidate who believes in the beloved community, who honors hard work and sacrifice, and who stands up for civil rights," said Hans Johnson, President of Progressive Victory and officer of Pride at Work, the official LGBT organization of organized labor. "As Democrats, we need to put our strongest foot forward in order to set the country on a better course. John Edwards is the candidate equal to these challenges."

The LGBT leaders endorsing Edwards for president today are:

• Kyle Bailey, Board member of National Stonewall Democrats
• Kenda Kirby, former Executive Director of North Carolina Human Rights Initiative
• Hans Johnson, President of Progressive Victory
• Greg Gallo, Board member of National Stonewall Democrats
• Les Krambeal, Board member of National Stonewall Democrats
• Todd Elmer, former Clinton Administration Commerce Department Official

“Every American is entitled to live in dignity without fear of violence. No community should feel that they can be targeted with impunity. But until law enforcement has the tools to aggressively investigate and prosecute all hate crimes, some Americans will doubt that the government is on their side. President Bush’s threat to veto hate crime legislation sends just that message.

“With 25 hate crimes committed every day by the FBI’s count – one every hour – it is embarrassing that the White House says stronger law enforcement tools are ‘unnecessary’. Nine years after the heinous murders of Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr., I know these tools are more necessary than ever. As president, I will sign the hate crimes law and make sure law enforcement has all the resources it needs to protect every community in America.”

"As a first-generation college graduate from rural North Carolina, I come from a similar background to Senator Edwards and believe he understands on a gut level issues of justice and equality" said New York based activist Kevin Jennings.

Northern California activists Jeff Soukup and Jeff Anderson said "We are proud to add our voices to the growing chorus of LGBT leaders from across the country who are enthusiastically endorsing John Edwards for president."

The LGBT leaders endorsing Edwards for president are:

Kevin Jennings, New York LGBT Community Activist

Jeffrey Davis, New York LGBT Community Activist, Managing Director of Lehman Brothers

Gregory G. Simoncini, Commissioner of Illinois Human Rights Commission, former Board Member of National Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund, former Board Member of Lambda Legal

Stephen Handwerk, Board Member of National Stonewall Democrats and Co-Chair of Louisiana Stonewall Democrats.

Jeff Anderson, former Co-Chair of John Kerry for President National LGBT Finance Committee

Jeff Soukup, Board Member of Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, former President and COO, PlanetOut Inc., and former Co-Chair National Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund

Pam Cooke, Board Member of National Stonewall Democrats

"As Americans, we should mourn the need for hate crimes legislation, just as we lament the fact that 25 Americans are victims of hate crimes every day. Yet today, we should also applaud the House of Representatives for taking an important and historic step in helping law enforcement ensure that all Americans have the same protections from hate crimes.

"Today, the House showed in an overwhelming vote, that it will not tolerate discrimination of any form, when it strengthened the ability of law enforcement to investigate and prosecute hate crimes based on race, gender, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, disability or gender identity. President Bush should back down from his wrong-headed veto threat and work with Congress to enact this important legislation to show that Americans will not tolerate hate crimes of any kind."

"I am honored to have the support of so many well-respected LGBT leaders," said Edwards. "They work hard every day to make our country a better place and I am proud to join with them to fight for equal rights for all Americans."

The following LGBT leaders endorsed Edwards for President:

• Skip Paul, Corporate Executive
• Darren Star, TV Producer
• Julie Johnson, Human Rights Campaign Public Policy Committee Co-Chair
• Eric Stern, Former National Stonewall Democrats Executive Director; Former Democratic National Committee LGBT Outreach Director
• David Mixner, Former Bill Clinton for President Adviser; LGBT activist, fundraiser, author www.davidmixner.com
• Dennis Erdman, TV Producer/ Director
• Mary Snider, Human Rights Campaign Board of Directors Executive Committee Member
• David Tseng, Kerry-Edwards 2004 National LGBT Advisory Committee Co-Chair; Former Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) National Executive Director
• David Mariner, Former Out for Howard Dean Co-Chair; Founder, www.outfordemocracy.org
• James Duff, TV Producer
• Ramon Gardenhire, National Stonewall Democrats Black Caucus Co-Chair; Former DNC LGBT Deputy Outreach Director
• Scott Benson, Majority Leader Minneapolis City Council
• Shane Larson, AFL-CIO Pride @ Work National Executive Board Member; Association of Flight Attendants (AFA)-Communications Workers of America (CWA) Government Affairs Director
• Scott Wiener, Human Rights Campaign Board of Directors Member; San Francisco Democratic Party Chair* (for identification purposes only)
• Jeff Gardner, Garden State Equality Vice Chair; New Jersey for Democracy Co-Chair
• Lynne Wiggins, Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) National Leadership Council Member; Former Human Rights Campaign Board of Governors Member
• Ken Keechl, Broward County Commissioner; Former Dolphin Democrats President
• Linda Elliott, Human Rights Committee Board of Directors Member
• Dave Garrity, Former Democratic National Committee Member
• Mark Periello, Former Human Rights Campaign staff member; Democratic strategist
• Ron Ginsburg, LGBT Community Activist; business owner
• Randall Kelly, LGBT Community Activist; attorney
• Stephanie Kornegay, LGBT Community Activist; business owner
• Robert D. Horvath, Mautner Project Board of Directors Member
• Patrick J. Lyden, LGBT Community Activist; Homeland Security Advisor

Like many others, upon hearing that she had used an address at a major conservative convention to call Edwards a "faggot," I quickly clicked to his home page to see his campaign's reaction -- and was happily diverted to more substantive stuff, such as his firm support of universal health care and an end to the war in Iraq. No wonder Coulter hates him: Edwards is a Democrat who believes in the progressive heritage of his party and is not afraid to tell the world.

"I want to say something about my party," Edwards said in a speech at UC Berkeley on Sunday. "I'm so tired of incremental, careful caution. Where is our soul?" He was referring to, among other issues, the party's failure to deal boldly with "the bleeding sore that is Iraq."

Unlike rival Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, he has clearly apologized for his Senate vote to authorize the war and called for ending it, starting with "immediately" cutting troop levels in half and then withdrawing all troops within the next 12 to 18 months. In a pointed rebuke to the Democratic leadership of Congress, Edwards states on his Web site that, "We don't need nonbinding resolutions; we need to end this war, and Congress has the power to do it. They should use it now."

On domestic issues, Edwards has hewed to the progressive line he maintained in the 2004 campaign, warning about the growing income inequality in the "two Americas." As opposed to the Clintons, who still insist that they solved the poverty problem with husband Bill's putting an end to the federal welfare program, Edwards points out correctly that, "Every day, 37 million Americans wake in poverty." Stating that "our response to that reality says everything about the character of America," Edwards has called for a "national" program to eliminate poverty instead of leaving the poor to the tender mercy of the states as called for in the Clinton welfare reform.

It is also refreshing for a politician to invoke the image of Jesus, as Edwards did on Monday, not as a divisive symbol of intolerance but rather as the inspiration for social justice and peace. "I think that Jesus would be disappointed in our ignoring the plight of those around us who are suffering and our focus on our own selfish short-term needs," he said. "I think he would be appalled, actually."

As he did in the 2004 campaign as the Democrats' vice presidential candidate, Edwards has once again made relief for the struggling middle-class a signature issue, forthrightly attacked tax breaks for the rich and the mindless globalization that is widening the class divide. He is equally strong on environmental issues, following 2004 Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore's leadership on global warming, and he has had the courage to bluntly oppose the Clinton-era "don't ask, don't tell" hypocrisy on gays in the military.

"Gay men and women have continually served our country with honor and bravery, and we should honor their commitment and never turn away anyone who is willing to serve their country because of sexual orientation," he said. These words were of particular resonance, coming on the heels of the announcement by the first U.S. Marine seriously wounded in Iraq that he is gay. Or, in Coulter's parlance, "a faggot.

"I was going to have a few comments on the other Democratic presidential candidate, John Edwards, but it turns out you have to go into rehab if you use the word 'faggot'," said the professional provocateur. Her defenders on the right have argued, absurdly, that this was not a calculated slime ball thrown at Edwards but a brave stand against "political correctness." Hey, if you can believe the war in Iraq was a reasonable response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks, you can swallow anything.

One might be tempted to write this stuff off as the ravings of an attention addict with a morality deficit disorder if she hadn't delivered them to an approving audience immediately following presidential candidate Mitt Romney's appearance at the Conservative Political Action Conference, a central event in the Republican calendar. Last year, at the same event, Coulter dismissed Iranian Muslims as "rag heads" but was invited back again, which can only be read as an endorsement of her consistently vicious rhetoric.

This year, Vice President Dick Cheney addressed the conference attendees as "this gathering of so many friends from across America." Presumably his "friends" are giving his pregnant, lesbian, Republican daughter a pass on her sexual orientation and might, at last, be moved to stand against blatant homophobic bleating from the likes of Coulter.