Gays, Religion, Elections

Responding to this post, a reader writes:

My wife & I commented similarly this past weekend on the absence of a gay candidate...then we got to thinking, with Don't Ask, Don't Tell, can a gay person be Commander In Chief?  Are we, gay American-born citizens over age 35, the only American-born citizens who do not qualify to be president?

Another adds:

An atheist candidate seems equally unlikely (so does a Muslim one, for that matter). Every Democratic candidate has pandered openly to Christianity over the course of the campaign. As an atheist, I don't get mad. I understand what they need to do to get elected. But it is still sad. The party seems to have responded to George Bush's injection of religion into politics by embracing it. I see in this another example of supposedly liberal Democrats backing down from their convictions in the face of the Republican machine.

Or just acknowledging reality. Obama's rise suggests to me the way to defeat various obstacles to minority candidates: get out there, don't rely on your identity to get votes, make the arguments you believe in, and do what you can. Oh, and stop whining.