The four spoke via conference call to more than 1000 Stonewall Democrats at a series of 55 coast-to-coast house parties on Thursday night. Calling in from the organization's Philadelphia party, Chelsea Clinton spoke on behalf of the Clinton campaign. In Philadelphia, Clinton spoke alongside Executive Director Jon Hoadley to a crowd of more than 400 party attendees. From California, singer Melissa Etheridge spoke on behalf of the Obama campaign. Both campaign representatives echoed comments by Congresswoman Baldwin and Commissioner Roth which called for the LGBT community to be visible and vocal in their support for LGBT issues when lending support to their preferred candidate.

"Our work at Stonewall Democrats is ensuring that LGBT issues are not overlooked by our party nominee during the general election," said Jon Hoadley, Execective Director. "We expect to have a nominee that understands that providing equal support for every American is a winning position. We began engaging our campaigns in the small towns of New Hampshire and South Carolina nearly two years ago, and today Stonewall Democrats are already organized and pressing campaign representatives on LGBT issues in upcoming primary contests such as South Dakota and Puerto Rico."

In addition to Chelsea Clinton and Jon Hoadley, representatives of the Clinton and Obama campaigns appeared at the Stonewall Democrats event last night at Woody's Bar & Grill in Philadelphia to talk with members of the Liberty City Democratic Club, the Stonewall Democrats chapter in Philadelphia.

"Both campaigns understand how organized LGBT voters are in Pennsylvania, and we have seen an impressive engagement of our community by the Clinton and Obama campaigns," said Rue Landau, Co-Chair of the Liberty City Democratic Club, the Stonewall Democrats chapter in Philadelphia. "More importantly, we have helped campaign representatives see how vocal support for LGBT issues is crucial to securing a general election victory in Pennsylvania come November."

National Stonewall Democrats has conducted a series of trainings and events for the LGBT community to directly engage the Democratic presidential candidates and campaigns on LGBT issues. Last Month, National Stonewall Democrats, in conjunction with the Texas Stonewall Democratic Caucus and the Cleveland Stonewall Democrats, conducted three town hall forums in Cleveland, Dallas and Houston with the Clinton and Obama presidential campaigns prior to the Ohio and Texas primaries. In 2007, Stonewall Democrats hosted presidential candidates at its national trainings in Nevada and New Hampshire and significantly organized the LGBT community in South Carolina prior to the presidential primary there.

National Stonewall Democrats plans to hold a follow-up conference call as part of a series of house parties the first week of June. The call will prepare members to organize ahead of the Democratic National Convention in Denver. Individuals interested in hosting a house party my register at: www.stonewalldemocrats.org/party