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Joe Mirabella posted a diary called “Don’t close the gAyTM” here at the Blend yesterday at Pam’s invitation. He initially posted it at Huffington Post and has since also posted it at Bilerico Project. I’m glad Pam invited his contribution, and I’m glad he agreed.
Before going further I want to disclose that Joe is my friend. You may have noticed that we’ve collaborated on blog posts from time to time – in fact as recently as last week. While Joe’s diary hasn’t convinced me to donate to the DNC, I have no doubt whatsoever as to Joe’s selfless commitment to LGBT civil rights. Reasonable people can disagree, can they not?
So, why am I glad Joe posted his diary if I don’t agree with his thesis? Looking over the 200+ comments spread over the three blogs, almost to the person they express the same sentiment: We’ve had it with throwing money into the DNC promise pit. Until Joe posted this diary, I’m not sure how clearly that message had been communicated. Well, it’s pretty clear now. Joe’s diary has focused our message.
This is an outcome I presume Joe hoped not to see, and I’m not taking any joy in any disappointment he may feel at the result. But the result is what it is.
The Keene Sentinel published a story yesterday about New Hampshire’s Gov. Lynch that in my opinion models a healthy relationship between donors and politicians. It shows how we will be there for politicians who stand up and do the right thing by LGBTs.
Until the day he signed New Hampshire’s gay marriage law last year, Gov. John H. Lynch expressed great ambivalence about the issue. Though he had said he personally opposed letting same-sex couples marry, Lynch eventually supported the measure as a civil rights matter.One year later, Lynch was welcomed as a guest speaker at a national conference of wealthy gay donors focused on furthering the cause of equality for gay and lesbian people.
Lynch’s appearance at this year’s meeting of the Political Outgiving network underscores his own evolution on the issue of gay marriage, from opponent to exemplar. It also illustrates the potential boost in campaign contributions Lynch may see from out-of-state donors impressed with his support for same-sex marriage.
We LGBTs will support those who support us. But as the neat package of comments on Joe’s diary shows, the reverse is true too, now more than ever.
16 Comments
Ditto-esque.Although Joe and I were both found at Bilerico, I met him in NYC at an Immigration event, and he’s one of the most real people I’ve met.
I was really offended at some of the comments that suggested he was personally going to benefit from the speech — that’s not how he works, and such comments were uncouth to me.
However, as you point out here, it is critical that we don’t forget the peice that’s important as a result.
Lobbying organizations — such as HRC and even NCTE — give their money to the DNC in general. That needs to stop.
We need to focus on identifying and supporting candidates that we feel best represent our interests and we need to make it clear that we ae, to a great extent, interested mostly in what they can do for LGBT people — and also, even more important, why they are supportive.
That why is what will change the way people see things.
I’ve spoken in the past about how those who seek to deny us anything have been running for office in droves since the 1970′s. That’s how they got into power, despite being a minority in the party they took over.
We need to do the same — and if we don’t, one of the lessons that Milk taught will be forgotten and erased.
We need to run for office, and we need to back LGBT candidates. That’s how we will change things for the better for us, and that’s how we will reduce the waiting time.
his post probably needed posting… and we needed to respond as we did. I felt no animus toward him, simply a need to tell the Administration, or at least a candid world, why we feel what we feel, where we stand now. Nothing to do with him, really.
I am glad that it was postedin the sense that the entire concept has been rendered a dead issue and has been given a first class funeral
No accomodationisn!
No begging for crumbs!
No enabling oppressors!
We’re in a new erawe need to recognize and embrace our power. We’re past the era where we had to hold our noses and vote for the lesser of the two evils (which is still choosing evil). We can choose in many places between good advocates and fair weather friends.
There are no doubt, places that isn’t true. And we could work up a national strategy, it certainly ISN’T the DNC. When the Democrats unite in support of our community, without compromise, I’ll be happy to be united in blanket support of them.
But it’s a shame our only pro-equality option for the Florida Senate seat, Kendrick Meeks, looks like he’s going down to Crist. I wish there was a way, nationally to change that. Every LGBT American stands to win if he, not Crist is seated. He’ll vote for ENDA for sure. Crist? We’ll have to kick his ass to get it, and Rubio will definitely not.
HRC needs to be defundedand shoved aside. As it is, Obama and the dems use HRC being perceived as “the” legitimate voice of the LGBT community as a shield to hide their lack of performance behind.
HRC is always willing to give Obama and the dems cover by never really being critical of them. You can see that clearly on display once again with HRC’s response to the outrageous DADT survey (push poll). Every other organization was severely critical of the survey. But HRC still managed what has been described as “tepid” support.
So, Obama and the dems are always able to point to HRC’s support to pull the wool over the eyes of those in the LGBT community who are not as engaged in the details of what is actually going on. I’m sure if you polled the community a large percentage actually believe that DADT has already been repealed and open service is now the law of the land. There is probably a large group who have heard only the headlines of the federal judge’s ruling on section 3 of DOMA as unconstitutional and wrongly believe that DOMA is a thing of the past as well.
It was a worthy exerciseIt is heartening to see the unison in the LGBT community on this topic. Having been one of the early “Democratic Dissenters” and having my comments about no longer supporting the Democratic Party laughed and scoffed at, it is very nice indeed to see our community (well except HRC) raise a singular voice to a entirely different than usual approach to our political “powerlessness”.
I’ve always thought we had the power to effect change within in the Dem party, we just needed to believe it.
And yes, no hard feelings for Joe. I just hope he becomes more enlightened to the reality of the current situation. And less afraid of the opposition.
It’s hard to understandhow a man as obviously capable as Joe could be so totally out of sync with the LGBT community. I hope this sends him a strong message, and I certainly hope that message gets forwarded to HRC and the DNC.
The world Mirabella, Solmonese, Rahm and the rest live in seems to be a tight little bubble, hermetically sealed from the reality of our lives. I’m not at all certain I expect that to change as a result of this, but I do find it enormously heartening to see the unanimity our community has expressed in response to it. I say with no animus but with considerable pleasure that Joe’s post may have had the precise opposite effect to what he hoped for: It has focused and united us. For that, if for nothing else, we owe him a debt of gratitude.
I am glad tooeven though Joe is utterly wrong. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Joe myself and was getting a bit bothered over some of the comments in his post.
Good points.But that whole “being fair” thing in me kicks in and I have to pause for a moment.
I am anything but an HRC supporter. I honestly can’t think of something positive I’ve said about them.
And that’s with knowing a board member. Who probably is pretty upset with me at times, lol.
But, the HRC’s political job includes, to a great extent, given the era that they come from and the approach they use (which is assimilationist and stigma furthering, imo), the supporting of those in power who are a lesser of two evils.
And that tells me they don’t need to be defunded. That tells me they need to be rstructured — that they haven’t merely lost touch with the people they are expected to, purported to, and thought of as representing, but that they are, now, simply people who are not related to those they all of the above represent.
Yet they are thought of that way — and so a concerted effort to take them over and make them an organization is in order.
Now if only it didn’t take raising 50K for them to be able to make that change…
(which leads me to a different subject regarding the raising of funds for causes as being the basis for providing justice on behalf of those who, well, have no money…)
¡ No Pasarán!
Not just out of synch––with the community, but rehashing the same tired arguments we’ve been hearing over and over, as if we’re utterly gullible. Sorry, but Joe et al. can’t piss down my back and tell me it’s raining.
Si!Como No!
there was a time, which has now passed, that supporting the lesser of two evils was appropriate. But, with the election of Obama and the HUGE majorities in congress, HRC should have recognized the new era and adjusted their behavior.
The ONLY times in this administration we have gotten any movement at all is when we yelled, screamed and turned off the money.
And, in my opinion, the HRC’s among us have been too quick to offer praise for the very small crumbs we have gotten through that yelling thus letting the admin off the hook before we make any real significant progress. HRC is what allows the administration to put together those ridiculous lists of supposed “accomplishments” and publish them with a straight face including things liked “invited Constance McMillan” to the WH Pride party.
Maybe your need to “be fair” is caused by knowing someone on the board. But, I certainly get the impression that the WH and HRC are working to support each others’ interests instead of the community’s. ie, HRC is willing to provide cover for the WH in return for continued access, cocktail party invitations and job opportunities. And, they appear to value their own personal job prospects over their responsibility to accomplish anything for the community.
nah.That’s the excuse I use to enable the inherent quality I have of trying my damndest to be fair, even when I call someone a name.
COmes from a philosophy about fairness that goes something like this:
Life isn’t fair. Get over it.
Part of your job, as a human being, is to be fair, so that thee is some fairness.
Otherwise, all you have is a lack of it.
In general it’s a mistake to assume villainyIt’s something of a human brain glitch, the tendency to assume that actions reflect personality rather than the pressure of circumstances. When you find yourself thinking that way, better examine your evidence to see if it contains better explanations – like structural incentives and outdated attitudes – and I believe in this case it does.
“Assume”?No one here is “assuming” anything. Just look that their record. Speaks for itself.