Will The DNC Repeat Their Prop 8 Error With Maine?

by: Louise

Mon Aug 24, 2009 at 19:00:00 PM EDT

UPDATE: Jeremy at GoodAsYou adds more information and his thoughts as well here.
--------------------------------------------------

The Maine news lately shows such strong community support outside of New England and nationally, as HRC and EQCA have joined others in making valuable donations to No On 1/Protect Maine Equality.

Then one finds some interesting reading, via The Bilerico Project today:

Stonewall Democrats Interim Executive Director, Kyle Bailey, sent a letter last week to the Democratic National Committee formally requesting that the DNC donate $25,000 to Maine's No On 1 campaign [PDF]. The DNC donated $25,000 to California's Prop 8 battle last year.

Stonewall Dems Director of Communications, Jenna Lowenstein, confirmed the organization had sent a letter to the DNC requesting a donation. "We're proud of our partnership with the DNC, and the important work we do together to elect pro-equality Democrats. We also believe that preserving marriage equality in Maine is imperative, and we're happy to use our contacts at the DNC to work to protect same-sex couples and families in Maine," she told me.

The DNC's donation to the Prop 8 campaign came after widespread criticism that they hadn't contributed to the marriage equality battle after raising money hand over fist from our community. The DNC donated to the Prop 8 campaign in the last month of the election.

With the opposition stating they will need to raise $2 million or more, let's hope that the DNC can send a check quickly to prevent a repeat of last year.

More below, including the letter sent to the DNC.  

By local Maine standards, that is a LOT of money- yet by national standards, it's a drop in the bucket.

Here is the letter sent last week; so far there has been no official word from the DNC:

August 21, 2009

Hon. Tim Kaine
Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia
Chairman of the Democratic National Committee
430 South Capitol Street SE
Washington, DC 20003

Governor Kaine,

National Stonewall Democrats, on behalf of our more than 120 affiliated chapters and LGBT Democratic clubs across the country, formally requests that the Democratic National Committee make a direct contribution of $25,000 in support of the No On 1 campaign in the state of Maine.

While there are plenty of area were we have room to disagree as Democrats, there can be no compromise on the need to protect all Americans from discrimination. In 2008, the Democratic National Committee took a firm stand for basic fairness and equal opportunity with a gift of $25,000 to the campaign to defeat proposition 8 in California.

Today, the frontline in the battle to secure basic fairness and equal opportunity is in Maine. With the support of the Democratic National Committee - and from Democrats across our country - we will win this battle to preserve the rights of all Mainers.

Success in Maine on this front is critical to push back those forces that seek to resist change we can believe in - those same forces that are working to prevent health care reform, to prevent the expansion of workers' rights, to prevent us from holding reckless Wall Street executives accountable for their actions and to prevent us from enacting meaningful immigration reform that lifts people up.

We, as Democrats, cannot afford to fail in Maine. Failure in Maine has consequences for our larger national progressive agenda. We, as Democrats, ask for your support in these efforts.

Democratically yours,

Kyle R Bailey
Interim Executive Director

CC:
Tom Petrillo, LTBT Leadership Council Director, DNC
Andy Szekeres, Finance Director, Maine Freedom to Marry
Andrew Tobias, Treasurer, DNC

Let's contact the DNC and continue to spread the word to others, folks...