In accepting the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination, Sen. Barack Obama directly addressed the gay community in a rousing speech in front of 84,000 people at Denver’s Invesco Field.

“I know there are differences on same-sex marriage, but surely we can agree that our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters deserve to visit the person they love in the hospital and to live lives free of discrimination,” he said.

The Advocate writes:

The pointed appeal was intended to bridge the gap between liberals and conservatives, in keeping with the bipartisan spirit of the Obama campaign. His message: Don’t let social issues keep you from pulling the lever for me come November, we can find common ground on the most divisive issues of the day.

Obama’s remarks were the culmination of a steady drumbeat of pro-LGBT rhetoric throughout the 2008 Democratic National Convention — and arguably went a long way towards assuaging the disappointment and frustration felt by many gays over the candidate’s general-election strategy of framing marriage as a union between one man and one woman, a belief he reiterated just two weeks ago at the Saddleback Church forum with his Republican opponent John McCain. Though he’s clearly walking a fine line on LGBT issues — during the primaries, for instance, Obama specifically avoided the one-man-one-woman phrase with its Christian-right overtones — the inclusion of gays and lesbians in his call to take back America from George W. Bush and the GOP ranks up there with Bill Clinton’s 1992 campaign promise to repeal the ban on gays serving in the military.

Portland City Commissioner and Mayor-elect Sam Adams plans to take a trip to China to promote the city’s green products and services.

Adams, who became the first openly gay mayor of a top 30 city with his recent election, will talk with Chinese leaders in Beijing, Shanghai and Qingdao along with five other city mayors on a trip hosted by the National League of Cities.

“Supporting China in its efforts to become sustainable is not only a moral imperative, it is also an economic opportunity,” Adams says. “One of the goals of the trip will be to place Portland and its businesses in a strategic position to benefit from the ‘greening’ of China.”

According to The Oregonian, Adams says he plans to develop a Portland export trade strategy within six months of taking office as mayor.

Chuck Wolfe, president and CEO of the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund, issued the following statement on the death of lesbian rights pioneer Del Martin (right):

“Del Martin’s courage and tenacity helped her lead Californians, and indeed all Americans, to a deeper understanding of the love and commitment that is possible among same-sex couples. She inspired not just her own community, but millions of straight people who saw how long she was willing to wait to legally marry her wife, Phyllis Lyon, with whom she shared her life for more than 55 years. Del will be remembered by future generations as a leader and a hero, and she will be greatly missed.”

Parisian mayor Bertrand Delanoe confirmed that he would seek the leadership of France’s Socialist Party. The announcement ends months of speculation that he would challenge current president Nicolas Sarkozy.

According to 365 Gay, the Socialist Party has been in disarray since leader Segolene Royal’s failed presidential bid last year. The party will choose a new leader in November, although Royal has claimed she would seek to renew her leadership.

365 reports:

Delanoe’s declaration in an interview with Le Monde newspaper puts to rest months of speculation.

“Yes, I will put all my energy at the service of my beliefs,” the mayor told Le Monde newspaper when asked if he would run.

In March Delanoe romped to an easy re-election as Paris mayor, fueling speculation his Socialist Party would tap him to run against President Sarkozy in 2012.

If he were to win the presidency it would make Delanoe the first openly gay man in modern times to lead a major power.

In 1998, while he was a relatively obscure city councilor, Delanoe came out in a television interview, breaking an unwritten French law that a politician’s private life should remain private.

He later said that friends urged him not to go public, but that he overruled them because of the good he felt it would do to advance gay rights. “Would not my intervention help even if only in a small way to lighten the burden of secrecy borne by so many people,” he wrote in his 2004 biography.

Yesterday, the Victory Fund co-hosted the LGBT Delegates Lunch with the Human Rights Campaign and Reps. Barney Frank and Tammy Baldwin. About 700 delegates, elected officials (including more than 30 members of Congress), donors, movement leaders, media and bloggers crowded into a ballroom at the Sheraton Hotel to honor the more than 270 openly LGBT delegates at the convention.

The highlight of the lunch was an appearance by Michelle Obama, who spoke directly to the LGBT community about the promise of equality and how we must live up to that promise in America.

See the speech below:

Victory Fund President Chuck Wolfe also addressed the audience at the luncheon, affirming the Democratic Party’s commitment to a candidate who will fight for LGBT Americans. Wolfe said:

“This week, the Democratic Party stands united behind a Presidential candidate who has broken through barriers and demonstrated that diversity and understanding make our democracy stronger. A candidate who will speak truth about struggles of LGBT Americans – not just in front of us but in front of America.

“This week we are coming together to play our part in choosing the next leader of our country. But the truth is the important work of choosing our nation’s leaders continues long after Election Day. Throughout the course of a presidential administration, important executive decisions are made that affect each of our lives and the President himself does not always make them. Many crucial decisions are made by those he will appoint to the thousands of executive branch offices he controls. That is why our community is organizing to ensure that LGBT Americans are not only heard by the executive, but that they are actually part of the executive branch.”

Read the full text of his speech at the Bilerico Project.