The Christian Civic League of Maine's Mike Hein calls Pam's House Blend: "a leading source of radical homosexual propaganda, anti-Christian bigotry, and radical transgender advocacy."
He is "praying that Pam Spaulding will "turn away from her wicked and sinful promotion of homosexual behavior."
(CCLM's web site, 10/15/07)
Ex-gay "Christian" activist James Hartline on Pam:
"I have been mocked over and over again by ungodly and unprincipled anti-christian lesbians."
(from "Six Years In Sodom: From The Journal Of James Hartline," 9/4/2006, written from the "homosexual stronghold" of Hillcrest in San Diego).
"Pam is a 'twisted lesbian sister' and an 'embittered lesbian' of the 'self-imposed gutteral experiences of the gay ghetto.'" -- 9/5/2008
Peter LaBarbera of Americans for Truth Against Homosexuality heartily endorses the Blend, calling Pam:
A "vicious anti-Christian lesbian activist." (Concerned Women for America's radio show [9:15], 1/25/07)
"A nutty lesbian blogger." (MassResistance radio show [16:25], 2/3/07)
Pam's House Blend always seems to find these sick f*cks. The area of the country she is in? The home state of her wife? I know, they are everywhere. Pam just does such a great job of bringing them out into the light.
--Impeach Bush
who monitors yours Bevis ?? Just thought I would drop you a line,so the rest of your life is not wasted.
We've talked about the fatigue of being jerked around as a constituency, now several of my fellow bloggers have had enough and I've signed on to the effort launched by Joe Sudbay and John Aravosis of Americablog. (FYI (Tues., 3:58 ET: Joe caught me on my cell Monday as I was leaving the cell-free zone in hospital in Brooklyn, so that's why I didn't get on the endorsement list until later in the day).
The boycott is cosponsored by Daily Kos, Jane Hamsher of FireDogLake, Dan Savage, Michelangelo Signorile, David Mixner, Andy Towle and Michael Goff of Towle Road, Paul Sousa (Founder of Equal Rep in Boston), Pam Spaulding, Robin Tyler (ED of the Equality Campaign, Inc.), Bil Browning for the Bilerico Project, and soon others. It's really more of a "pause," than a boycott. Boycotts sounds so final, and angry. Whereas this campaign is temporary, and is only meant to help some friends - President Obama and the Democratic party - who have lost their way. We are hopeful that via this campaign, our friends will keep their promises.
So please sign the Petition and take a Pledge to no longer donate to the DNC, Organizing for America, or the Obama campaign until the President and the Democratic party keep their promises to the gay community, our families, and our friends.
Why should hard-earned LGBT dollars go to a party fast to line up with its palms outstretched to whisper sweet nothings in our collective ears, then turn away and tell us equality will have to wait until "X" occurs first. We're not stupid. We just want our funds to go to the people in office or running for office who will focus on passing legislation that the "fierce advocate" can sign, since he's stated numerous times he'll sign it if it makes it to his desk. Well, put up or shut up.
Interestingly, one would expect a response to this effort by the HRC to be negative. To the contrary, it looks like a tacit endorsement (FDL):
“Individual donors should always make their own careful assessments of how to spend limited political contributions. We all need to focus on the legislative priorities identified by AmericaBlog and with whatever tactic individuals decide to employ, the ultimate objective needs to be securing the votes we need to move our legislative agenda forward.”
David Dayen notes that "HRC hasn’t given to the DNC this year, as per the policy put in by Obama after his election that the Party cannot accept contributions from organizations structured as a C(4)." And if you read the whole post, other progressive blogs, equally dissatisfied with the powers that be straying from progressive causes, are about ready to call a boycott of donations to the DCCC and the DSCC.
Let's just say that a little leaked email proves LGBTs are seen as the easy gAyTM to the DNC that can be manipulated, ignored, and pickpocketed as mob rule strips us of civil rights without a finger being lifted to help at the eleventh hour. It's worse -- stripping resources at the time of need. I won't chronicle what John and Adam have detailed quite well, but if you had any reservations about the intentions versus the reality of how games are played with our community, this should clear it up.
I spoke with another DNC official today after my piece on the OFA's fuckups/refusals to help, and that official told me "Some Mainers inadvertently got the email, but it was not sent to our Maine list." I was also told that this was a "glitch", and the quote above confirms that. Okay, one might think, a glitch is your system has a few people with the wrong zip codes in them, so they get a blast meant for someone else. Whoops. Fine. That's not actually what happened. What happened, per Tobias' e-mail, is the DNC did a large e-mail blast on this, and wanted to make sure Mainers didn't get that e-mail, for fear that the gays might find out and ask, how come we didn't get this kind of help?
It's kind of like being forwarded a party invite the host doesn't want you to come to, and when you show up, everyone gets silent and it's a-w-k-w-a-r-d. The party, in this case, was electoral help, and OFA wanted to make sure people didn't find out it was being grossly insensitive by not extending an invitation to the gays in Maine. Awesome.
I don't know about you, but at the very least, it's a peek at the kind the two-timing that goes on in national politics with constituencies they find "troublesome" or a perceived "liability" (save the $$$, of course). The difference is that the peek inside makes you realize how easily you've been had. In the case of LGBTs, it's a screw job over and over. They don't mind lying flat out, but catching them with their pants down usually hits a raw nerve.
[T]he DNC has concerns about getting involved in local ballot initiatives? Why? They did it last year under Howard Dean, when they donated $25,000 to the coalition fighting Prop 8's repeal of gay marriage. President Jimmy Carter did it in 1978, when he came out against the Briggs Initiative, that would have banned gays and lesbians from being teachers in California. But regardless, why does the DNC (and the White House) have a problem getting involved when a core Democratic constituency is having its civil rights taken away by the far-right base of the Republican party? We were promised that this administration would be our fierce advocate. Now all we get are excuses.
Shut the gAyTM down; only give directly to candidates and organizations you believe are truly working in your best interest. Not a penny to the DNC; it's the only leverage you have as an average citizen. The big donors in our community have to take a stand on this kind of nonsense, otherwise, they are enabling this kind of treatment of our community. It's party-building at our expense each and every time, as we watch windows of opportunity close. The thought of a halt to the cash flow will stop this BS pronto, if only to make them listen for a goddamn minute before stepping on the gas to run over us again.
For those who don't know who Ms. Siperstein is, she's a long time activist in the Garden State Equality, Stonewall Democrats (currently she's the New Jersey Chapter's President), and the New Jersey Democratic Party {as a Vice-Chair, she's currently the only Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Caucus member on The New Jersey Democratic State Committee), and has held leadership positions in all of these organizations. She was an at large delegate for the 2004 Democratic Party Convention, and an elected delegate at the 2008 Democratic Party Convention.
Recently, she was nominated by Democratic Party Chair Tim Kaine to be one of the 75 at large members of the 447 member Democratic National Committee (DNC). Ms. Siperstein's confirmation to the DNC is pretty much a formality at this point, so she will officially become a member of the DNC this Friday, September 11, 2009.
It's no surprise to most of you that Ms. Siperstein identifies as a woman, and as a senior citizen, and by my highlighting her you probably can guess she's a part of the LGBT community.
Well, that's part of it. Babs Casbar Siperstein also identifies as a transsexual, and a part of the transgender subcommunity of the broader LGBT community. Ms. Siperstein's appointment to the DNC by Gov. Kaine is a first for a trans-identified person -- she is going to be the first openly trans DNC member.
This isn't tokenism. My friend Babs has been working very hard towards this for years. When in 2004 the DNC failed to embrace a plank regarding civil rights based on gender identity or expression, she saw that trans people needed to be better represented on the national scene. So, she began working towards getting that better representation of gender identity or expression civil rights issues within the DNC, and working towards this appointment to the DNC.
The question I had, of course, had to do with how she'd arrived at the place that lead to this appointment -- what she did to work towards this first-of-a-kind-for-trans-people appointment. Well, besides fundraising for/donating to Democratic candidates for public office (which we would all likely expect would be important for a political appointee to the DNC), she built alliances with LGBT people and potential "straight" allies; she built alliances with people in the Democratic Party based on looking for commonalities.
I think the broader LGBT community forgets about looking for commonalities sometimes. Think for a moment about immigration reform; there is a whole community of immigration advocates that the LGBT community could work with to help to make same-sex/same gender partner sponsorship possible. If members in the LGBT community care about the progressive immigration reform issues, and work with the organizations that promote immigration reform, we could use our commonalities to build a stronger, more powerful coalition. The LGBT community's partner sponsor issue could become part of a broader immigration reform bill; and in the process of LGBT people working for immigration reform, our broader LGBT community issues could become immigration advocates' issues.
This is the kind of way that Babs Casbar Siperstein works on Democratic Party issues -- she looks for commonalities. She works on others' issues that are not what I'd call her primary issues, and others she works in turn end up working on lesbian, gay, bisexual, -- and especially transgender -- community issues. Babs Siperstein isn't the only reason New Jersey has civil rights laws that cover trans people, but she had a great deal to do with it.
A current example from Babs' issues would be women's senior citizen issues in New Jersey. As a senior and a woman, she works with others on senior issues those senior issues that may not her primary issues but these are issues she cares about. In turn she has turned hearts and minds about trans women in these women's issues circle -- some of whom now see gender identity or expression civil rights issues as their Democratic Party issues.
Visibility matters. Effort matters. Finding commonalities matter. Just ask Babs Casbar Siperstein -- the first openly trans committee member of the DNC.
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.
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.
You'll recall that the first story out about the LGBT fundraiser was in the Advocate, where it was reported that:
The event brought in nearly $1 million, up from about $750,000 last year, according to a Democratic Party source.
This number, not corroborated by anyone at the DNC, was ponied up right quick and many took it to heart that somehow the boycott was an utter failure. However, I soon heard from a very reliable political contact and updated my post to say that there was
something fishy about that $1 Million amount claimed to have been raised for the DNC fundraiser. So we cannot confirm that this is all queer money from this fundraiser.
As often done, Andy Tobias as Treasurer of the DNC can apply any of his fundraising efforts or other DNC staff fundraising efforts to whichever event that in order to inflate the success of the particular fundraiser. Many straight stockbrokers (loyal DNC'ers) could have given $30K in the months prior to the fundraiser, and had no clue where his/her money was being applied internally at the DNC. Also there are regular Queer Donors to the DNC that give monthly and annually and this amount was probably added to the tally for the event.
FEC reports will be filed at the end of this month so we will be able to check the DNC amounts for when the $$$ was raised, and who wrote a check from the LGBT community. My inside source says they would be lucky if they actually raised $250,000. Still a lot of money, but no where near the $1,000,000. claimed by the DNC.
Michelangelo Signorile was also wondering about that original figure from an unnamed source, so he tried to get some answers from the DNC. You won't be surprised at the results so far.
Andy Tobias, the openly gay treasurer of the DNC, was fretting about the event and complaining to people, according to three individuals who'd interacted with him and with whom I spoke in the days before the fundraiser (and I've spoken to several others who confirmed this to me after the fundraiser as well). Publicly, DNC officials and hosts like Barney Frank were keeping a stiff upper lip, trying to tamp down the power of the blogs and the influence of all those who dropped out of the fundraiser. But privately, Tobias had pretty much thrown in the towel on the event.
...When I contacted the DNC's LGBT fundraising director, Tom Petrillo, for confirmation of the one million dollar amount, he bumped me up after a day to press office, where Caroline Ciccone took another day to get back to me, only to tell me that the DNC would not confirm the one million dollar amount and said the DNC doesn't confirm fundraising event figures. But in searching around and looking at the coverage of other fundraisers, I found this story, which, for example, attributes Obama's bringing in 3 million dollars at an event recently to DNC "officials." And this one has many details and implies they came from the DNC. At the very least, the DNC doesn't seem to want to be so distanced from the reporting on the numbers in these stories.
Here you go, folks, from the pool report, passed on to the Blend by the White House Press Office...
List of invited guests at the LGBT event in the East Room
White House LGBT Event
June 29, 2009
Administration Officials
John Berry, Director, Office of Personnel Management
Fred Hochberg, Chair, Export-Import Bank
John Easton, Director, Institute of Education Sciences at the Department of Education
City and State Officials
Jason Bartlett, Connecticut House of Representatives
Kate Brown, Oregon Secretary of State
David Dibble, Minnesota State Senator
Evan Low, Vice-Mayor, Campbell, CA City Council
Al McAffrey, Oklahoma House of Representatives
Andrew Mcdonald, Connecticut House of Representatives
Robert Meza, Arizona House of Representatives
Christine Quinn, New York City Council
Debra Shore, Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago
Denise Simmons, Mayor of Cambridge, MA
Kyrsten Sinema, Arizona House of Representatives
Patricia Todd, Alabama House of Representatives
Lupe Valdez, Dallas County Sheriff
Surf over to Mike Signorile's blog to listen to the Massachusetts Congressman nearly go off the rails when Mike asks basic, obvious questions in a calm manner about the strong criticism of the DOMA brief by Howard Dean (Frank has defended the language in the brief). Let's just say the question caused the normally unflappable lawmaker to threaten to end the interview.
Barney became very unhappy with me and pretty heated when I played Howard Dean's comments on the DOMA brief, trying to stop me and saying he didn't come on for me to "play records."
He defended the brief, defended the President on LGBT rights, defended Democrats in the House (though he said we need to take on Democrats in the Senate) and defended the DNC fundraiser.
Barney and I have known each other for many years, agree on many things, disagree on others, and often when he comes on the show it can be a spirited discussion. This time I'd say he was a more angry about issues, particularly with how some of us who have criticized the Democrats and the White House.
Please go listen to the interview -- the question about DOMA came up at minute 8:00. When Mike goes to play the Dean clip, Frank really loses it; it's clear that he doesn't want to have his position juxtaposed against Dean's (pertinent Dean quote: "you cannot talk about gay Americans the way they were talked about in this brief."). At one point (around 15:07) Frank screams into the phone at Mike. It was pretty shocking.
UPDATE (bumping post back up): A political insider has just informed me that there is something fishy about that $1 Million amount claimed to have been raised for the DNC fundraiser. So we cannot confirm that this is all queer money from this fundraiser.
As often done, Andy Tobias as Treasurer of the DNC can apply any of his fundraising efforts or other DNC staff fundraising efforts to whichever event that in order to inflate the success of the particular fundraiser. Many straight stockbrokers (loyal DNC'ers) could have given $30K in the months prior to the fundraiser, and had no clue where his/her money was being applied internally at the DNC. Also there are regular Queer Donors to the DNC that give monthly and annually and this amount was probably added to the tally for the event.
FEC reports will be filed at the end of this month so we will be able to check the DNC amounts for when the $$$ was raised, and who wrote a check from the LGBT community. My inside source says they would be lucky if they actually raised $250,000. Still a lot of money, but no where near the $1,000,000. claimed by the DNC.
Here is video from the Washington Blade of the protest:
There's not a lot of press out there about last night's 10th annual LGBT Leadership Council fundraiser yet, but Kerry Eleveld has coverage up at The Advocate this AM (and DaveM has a diary up). The number of protestors was pretty small -- I've seen 40 and this article says 25.
When Wisconsin Rep. Tammy Baldwin arrived, she chatted with the spirited flock of about 25 and then pivoted to enter the Mandarin Oriental Hotel as cries of "Don't go in, Tammy!" and "Shame on you!" followed her.
"I think it's so important that as gay and lesbian people who are denied equal rights, we do feel an impatience and a frustration and it's really important that that be expressed both outside and inside," she said.
A long list of prominent people dropped out of the fundraiser, but the event was successful -- raising more scratch than last year's event.
Despite the controversy, about 180 people showed up to hear Vice President Joe Biden speak for a price tag of $1,000 to $30,400 per plate. The event brought in nearly $1 million, up from about $750,000 last year, according to a Democratic Party source.
So what does this mean? Well, one question I have is whether those who withdrew had paid in advance actually asked for their money back when they dropped out; otherwise, the DNC coffers were still filled with queer dollars. It also means that we still have a good chunk of our well-heeled community that cares less about sending a strong message of dissatisfaction to this administration than putting chips in to stay "in the game" at the expense of, for instance, discharged service members during a time when their skills are desperately needed for our national security. So what did the special guest, our VP Joe Biden, offer up?
Biden ticked off a list of priorities for the community, starting with receiving a standing ovation for saying with great gusto, "We will repeal the Defense of Marriage Act with your help!" He touched on "don't ask, don't tell," the Domestic Partner Benefits and Obligations Act, employment nondiscrimination, the HIV travel ban and hate crimes.
But tellingly, DNC chair Tim Kaine seemed to be aloof about the issues at hand re: the community:
"He didn't really seem to recognize what it meant for the people who were in that room to show up," said LGBT activist Peter Rosenstein, calling his speech "disappointing." ...he didn't run down the litany of issues that the vice president did during his speech - it lacked a real commitment to showing what the DNC is going to do on our issues."
If today's event in Boston is any indication, the DNC, DSCC, DCCC and Obama campaign committee can be expecting hundreds upon hundreds of protestors across the country at their fundraisers in the days ahead. About 30-40 people came to protest President Obama's DOMA brief at today's DNC fundraiser at Fenway Park in Boston, headlined by Vice President Biden.
Organized by Join the Impact Massachusetts, it was part of a coordinated effort to close down the "gayTM" -- all the millions that the gay constituency gives to the Democratic Party, without any results.
The protest was in reaction to President Obama's Department of Justice, which issued an inflamatory brief supporting the government's Defense of Marriage Act, which prevents gay couples from receiving federal benefits, even if in legally committed relationships. In the brief written by the DoJ, it compared gay relationships to incestuous relationships as justification for legally refusing to recognize same-sex marriages, going way beyond what was necessary in the case.
Some key moments of the protests: Lt. Governor Tim Murray and Mayor Boston both attended the event, but neither of them recognized the protestors. MassEquality's Scott Gortikov crossed the (picket) line, attending the fundraiser despite the protestors and Obama administration brief. Lastly, the police pushed protestors back beyond the original protest area, to the extent that it made it very difficult to have a fair voice in protesting.
Some more videos of the protests below the fold, as well as local media coverage and comments from the event's organizer, the ever-energetic Paul Sousa.
Tension continued to build over an upcoming LGBT fundraiser for the Democratic National Committee with several gay invitees planning to boycott the event and others planning to attend to voice their frustrations to party leaders.
The latest invitee to withdraw Tuesday from the event was Chuck Wolfe, president of the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund. An informed source confirmed that Wolfe would not attend.
Since I know you all are waiting with baited breath, here are people who still plan to go -- and who spoke to the Blade.
But Joan Garry, a former executive director of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, said she's planning to attend to "carry a message directly to the senior DNC leadership" and say that "the controversy is about more than a group of people withdrawing from a fundraiser and it's about more than impatience."
...Brian Fricke, a gay Iraq war veteran and SLDN board member, told the Blade last week he plans to attend the fundraiser even though he was disappointed by the Justice Department brief.
...Peter Rosenstein, a gay Democratic activist in D.C. ... "My concern is that if we tell the Democrats that we are not going to speak to them and just boycott what they're doing, who are we helping?" he said. "I think we have to speak to the Democrats face-to-face and say how frustrated we are, how upset we are with what's going on and demand that they do something."
...Claire Lucas, a lesbian Democratic activist. She's not on the list of special invitees. She said she "was very disturbed" by the language in the Justice Department brief, but still planned to attend the fundraiser "to continue the dialogue our community is having with our elected officials and DNC staff" on LGBT issues such as same-sex marriage and an Employment Non-Discrimination Act. Lucas also said she planned to attend "to show support for the good acts" that Obama has accomplished in office.
The Blade will have reporters at the event to cover the rapidly decomposing affair. Let's get back to that list...
If you can't make the date, take a rain check and help anyway? SUZE ORMAN just signed on that way. ELIZABETH BIRCH signed on that way. Lots of others.
If you CAN make the date, you'll be joining the Vice President of the United States . . .
. . . along with Virginia Governor / DNC Chair Tim Kaine . . . immediate past DNC Chair Howard Dean . . . Chairman Barney Frank . . . Representatives Tammy Baldwin and Jared Polis . . . Vermont Senate President Pete Shumlin . . . District of Columbia Mayor Adrian Fenty . . . David Mixner . . . Richard Socarides . . . The Task Force's Rea Carey . . . HRC's Marty Rouse . . . ESPA's Alan Van Capelle . . . GLAD's Mary Bonauto . . . NBJC's Alexander Robinson . . . GMHC's Marjorie Hill . . . The Victory Fund's Chuck Wolfe . . . Towle Road's Andy Towle . . . Iraq Marine vet Brian Fricke (whom you may have seen on 60 Minutes) . . . Billy Bean . . . Joan Garry . . . Keith Boykin . . . Ray Buckley . . . Brian Johnson . . . Corey Johnson . . . Dixon Osburn . . . Paul Smith . . . Bruce Bastian . . . Mitchell Gold . . . Krystal Ball . . . and so many others, like YOU, who have been pushing the ball down the field for so long. (Well, Krystal is fairly new to this, but what a kick to have a pro-marriage CPA triathlete young mom running to unseat a conservative Republican in Virginia.)
It would mean a great deal to have you with us:
www.democrats.org/LGBTdinner
Did I mention that the Mandarin Oriental has a 10,400-square-foot spa?
Also passing: The National Stonewall Dems, former Co-Chair of the Obama LGBT Leadership Council during the 2008 campaign, Stampp Corbin; the National Black Justice Coalition said no board members are attending, Hilary Rosen confirmed to me today via email that she is not attending.
It's hard to have any other impression after reading this NYT piece than the Obama administration would really like to hustle the invitees to this Stonewall event through some back door, and hustle the queers back out ASAP. Look at this:
As advocates for gays and lesbians intensify their criticism of the White House, President Obama has invited some of their leaders to an East Room reception next Monday to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Rebellion, the 1969 Greenwich Village demonstrations that gave birth to the modern gay rights movement.
The White House has not publicized the reception, and officials did not respond to e-mail requests for comment. But gay leaders from here and around the country said they had received either telephone calls from the White House or written invitations to the event, and were told Mr. Obama is expected to speak.
...Whether Mr. Obama will address the complaints at Monday's reception is unclear. One person who received the invitation said the White House was billing the event as a celebration, akin to the festive affairs the administration holds on St. Patrick's Day or Cinco de Mayo. Another said the invitation included an offer to bring a guest. "They want people to understand that their partners are welcome,'' said this person, speaking anonymously because the White House has not announced the event.
Nice to know while service members are being discharged, and LGBTs are losing their jobs if they come out of the closet, and couples can drive across state lines and be married/civil unions/domestic partners/strangers in the eyes of the law that the champagne will be flowing and backs will be patted in the East Room. But hey, I hope that there is a bit more solemnity and less festive glad-handing at this event considering what Stonewall was about. To refer to it as akin to Cinco de Mayo or St. Patrick's Day festivities seems pretty awful to me.
That's ok -- the $$$ won't be flowing at that DNC fundraiser.
UPDATE: Here is the official WH comment in the same piece.
Shin Inouye, a White House spokesman, said, "Next Monday's event is a chance for the White House to recognize the accomplishments of LGBT Americans. Invited guests include families, volunteers and activists, and community leaders. This event was long planned as a way to applaud these individuals during Pride month."
UPDATE 2: Here's a Q of the day for you -- so if the gathering is like Cinco de Mayo or St. Patrick's day, what should the decorative theme be at the White House for Stonewall if it's supposed to be festive from their POV -- floats and circuit boys dancing on them?
Not content with just skipping the gala, Servicemembers Legal Defense Network has raised the bar skyward:
Statement by SLDN Executive Director Aubrey Sarvis on DNC Event
SLDN will be outside boycotting the Democratic National Committee (DNC) LGBT event in Washington this Thursday. SLDN will be calling upon the President to end his silence on "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." We will be wearing and handing out buttons with the number 265, representing the number of service members who will have been discharged this week since President Obama was sworn in. We do not, nor would we want to, dictate how members of our board or our Military Advisory Council make their political views known. However, I understand that two board members are attending the DNC event. I also understand they will be making their own spirited and creative statements once inside the room.
UPDATE: A Blender sent in the latest plea from the DCCC for your dollars. See it below the fold.
UPDATE 2: Blender Clarknt67 has created an easy-fax form to send to the DCCC. See it below the fold.
You see, this is why the Obama administration and the DNC are apoplectic about the meltdown of the upcoming LGBT fundraiser this week. Numbers rolling in for the month of May show the following:
Short version: the DNC beat the RNC last month, thanks to a Presidential fundraiser; but the NRSC actually raised more money last month than the DSCC; and the DCCC raised only about 200K more than the NRCC. While the cash-on-hand edge for the GOP is less than it was last month’s, it’s because the Democrats are still not retiring their debt, which is 4x the GOP’s.
The President himself is able to bring in cash, but given the tidal wave of the last election, the Congressional and Senatorial committees should be doing much better at this point and time. In an email discussion about the these figures, activist Lane Hudson noted to me that it's...
good for Party officials and elected officials to consider when not taking the steps necessary to win the trust and confidence of the LGBT community by delivering on promises made.
I agree that much is at stake in re-electing a Democratic Majority to Congress and ultimately re-electing the President. But I'm not willing to blindly do it and it seems there is a growing sentiment that this is the case. There must be a pathway forward that is publicly shared with the community so that we can help work to move along that path and judge the progress that is being made. Many of us are asking Democratic leadership for that pathway and I hope they will speak publicly about it very soon.
Peter Daou, on HuffPost, notes that this administration has a near-obsession with pandering to the middle for political safety's sake, and that includes LGBT rights issues.
Yes, pragmatism is admirable, but give me some idealism too, give me some deep-seated moral conviction and the powerful, ground-shaking words to express it.
...On gay rights, they are choosing the mushy middle, on women's rights (speaking to a global audience) the mushy middle, on the Wall Street bailout, the mushy middle, on health care, the mushy middle. On civil liberties and secrecy, they are not even bothering with the mushy middle, but emulating Bush's extremism.
...The incessant drive to the 'pragmatic center', wherever that is, the desire to please an elusive and ephemeral audience, that worship of moderation, results in the squandering of a unique moment: with Republicans on their electoral heels and Democrats in control, this is the time for bold progressive stances and the unabashed embrace of core Democratic principles. This is not the time for wishy washy policies that seem politically smart but will in fact lead to the impression of an administration and a party devoid of convictions.
Thank you. The GOP is in crappy shape with the American public. Is this President going to wait until it starts clearly outraising the Democratic party and reforming itself to actually pay attention to the constituencies that helped Obama win the White House and build a Congressional majority? Apparently crapping on various loyal constituencies and either 1) telling them to wait, or 2) accept watered down policy as a "win" is the M.O. at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
I guess they are also willing to see the gAyTMs permanently out of order .Many of names and orgs cited in the infamous Tobias 10,400-sq.-foot spa" e-blast" have dropped out of that fundraiser and panic has to be in the air. Let's look at the running list from the email below the fold.
This piece in the New York Blade by former editor Trenton Straube is brutal. He starts off discussing the lame extension of benefits to fed workers memo signed this week, but then goes for the jugular about the dog and pony signing show.
Imagine what we could accomplish if we turn up the heat-and if we direct it at strategic targets: the pocketbooks of the Democratic Party, and the LGBT leadership that gives Obama his cover of conciliation.
Case in point: The Democratic National Committee has planned an LGBT fundraiser for June 25 in Washington, D.C. with Vice President Joe Biden.
...DNC's openly gay treasurer Andrew Tobias is still defending the upcoming fundraiser (let him know what you think if you run into him on Fire Island).
Then there's the Human Right Campaign's Joe Solmonese. Earlier in the week he wrote a caustic letter to Obama criticizing the DOMA brief. Just days later, HRC issued a press release praising Obama's politically-unthreatening memo. Solmonese even offered himself as a photo op prop, smiling along with Frank and fellow Rep. Tammy Baldwin, as Obama signed the memorandum.
There are many problems with our leaders playing along with the Obama game. It comes at a time of blatant attacks against us. We are not upset over mere inaction or simply ignoring our demands-we are angered over aggressive steps against us, such as continuing dismissals under DADT and filing then supporting a hateful DOMA brief - and then lying about having to do it. This is not acceptable.
...Our leaders and advocates must hear from us. They must voice their impatience with the administration and the Democratic Party by not attending the DNC fundraiser. They must openly disagree with Obama's stance on the DOMA brief. Contact your representatives and let them know money is involved.
If you're tired of getting burned, hold our LGBT leaders' feet to the fire.
[T]he White House is trying, again, to surround the president with A-list gays in order to show how "gay friendly" he is - he's even willing to give a speech in a room full of them for a full 8 minutes! And second, the White House hopes that a little champagne and fancy food will convince the A-listers to throw the rest of you overboard. Because, after all, what's two gay service members discharged a day and an ongoing effort to legally label you as akin to pedophila and incest, when there's champagne to be served.
I think it's fair to say that, unless the White House shows significant action on Don't Ask Don't Tell and DOMA by the time of this party, any representative of a gay organization attending this event is going to met with a swift community-wide boycott of their organization.
...You don't permit yourself to be used by a politician against your own community unless and until you extract something huge in return for your community. And there's been no action on DADT or DOMA or any others of the president's campaign promises since HRC accepted the invite. The president desperately needs our leaders to give him cover. Then get something in return, something huge, something we've been demanding as one of our top priorities.
The DNC is now telling its donors to expect protesters next week at the posh $1,000 a head gay fundraiser this coming Thursday at the Mandarin Oriental hotel in Washington, DC. And, oddly, the DNC is trying to spin the protests as something fun that the donors can join in on.
Good luck with that.
And the DNC's treasurer, openly gay Andrew Tobias, sent out another e-blast today that features Jared Polis and Kirsten Gillibrand in future gay fundraising activities (UPDATE: correction received from Gillibrand's campaign re her involvement: The fundraiser Andy was promoting is not for the DNC, it's for Kirsten's Senate election. The reason Tobias mentioned it in that email is that he is one of the hosts of the event). Barney Frank, Tammy Baldwin and Jared Polis are still hosting the event. Look at the upcoming events shared in Tobias's email to donors:
From: "Andrew Tobias"
To: "'Andrew Tobias'"
Cc: "'Tom Petrillo'"
Subject: quick one - for New Yorkers
Date: Sat, 20 Jun 2009
Ah, the opportunities:
TOMORROW:
Meet our great Jared Polis tomorrow from 7pm to 9pm, along with his Congressional baseball buddy from NY s 25th district, Congressman Dan Maffei. Hope to see you there (150 Central Park South #2104). Click here to contribute ($250 / $100 young professional) and RSVP to andrew@polisforcongress.com.
THURSDAY:
Whether you come with a sign . . . (STOP FIRING ARAB TRANSLATORS!) (CIVIL MARRIAGE = CIVIL RIGHT!) (EQUALITY NOW!) . . . or come to help fund the tools we need to help move the President s agenda, which includes +our+ agenda . . . board the Acela and come to dinner with the Vice President of the United States. Click here. (Or here if you can t come but want to chip in.) Or how s THIS for a strategy? Contribute -- but stand outside with a sign! We ll keep a plate warm for you and buy you a drink afterward, when the cameras are gone. We are, after all, all on the same team.
NEXT SATURDAY:
A +very+ small lunch in the Pines with New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand. Email me.
SATURDAY, JULY 11:
WATER VOLLEYBALL WITH THE CHAIRMAN OF THE HOUSE FINANCIAL SERVICES COMMITTEE, Barney Frank. Click here. (You can just watch and drink if you don t want to play.)
Enjoy the summer -- and enjoy the progress. We re winning.
Andy
We get crumbs to ostensibly placate us (as opposed to any substantive action or plan on the President's own promises to the community) while people pay to play with the insiders in support of the DNC. The pressure needs to be kept up and those participating in these gAyTM events need to know all eyes are on the DNC -- literally; the Washington Blade will photograph those attending the gala at the Mandarin Oriental, where guests can nosh and mingle at the 10,400-square-foot spa. After all, the reason for all the WH consternation is because of this pressure you've placed on the DNC fundraiser -- admin officials admitted it on the record to the NYT.
I will not be attending the Democratic National Committee dinner next week. I was invited as a guest, and I want people to understand that GLAD has never given money and will never give money to any political candidate or political party. Moreover, GLAD has never tied, and never will tie, our community's fortunes to any political party. We have long realized that responsibility for our freedom and equality is primarily in our own hands - and we have to work for it. That is what GLAD has been doing for 31 years, and I think we have a track record of success in New England to prove it.
It would be counterproductive at this point for me to attend the dinner. I see and understand the anger of many in the community. At GLAD, we're angry, too. We're angry because we see and live and feel the discrimination every day. Many states and our national government enforce existing anti-gay laws or simply fail to see discrimination against lgbt people as both personally devastating and a stain on our nation's commitment to equal justice under law. Every day we hear from people who suffer unconscionable treatment, and we do our best to defend and advocate for them on a whole range of issues - marriage, jobs, transgender rights, safe schools, HIV and AIDS, and bias-related violence.
Our way, and my way, of dealing with that anger is to focus on the work. And we are working very hard - fighting DOMA Section 3 with our lawsuit, Gill v. Office of Personnel Management, in which we represent widowers, retirees, parents and spouses who are hurt in very concrete ways by DOMA. So, as you can imagine, we had a very particular interest in reading how the Obama Department of Justice would tackle the Smelt DOMA challenge in California, even though it does not deal with concrete harms imposed by DOMA. All we knew in advance is that it would be different from the Bush administration's response, and it was. At the same time, some things in this new brief were startling; while others were silly, wrong or offensive or all of the above.
But litigation is never a pretty business; and we have been preparing at GLAD to take on and defeat any and all arguments made in support of DOMA. We are not daunted by anything the Obama Justice Department had to say. In my view, it is good that the community has let the administration know that we expect a lot from them and that we want leadership on lgbt equality and not arguments that reflect backward and unenlightened thinking. At the same time, it is unrealistic to think - at least in the context of litigating about the constitutionality of a federal statute that has already been upheld by several courts - that any administration is going to simply be able to roll over and surrender. It just doesn't work that way. There are certain rules in this particular process, and GLAD is prepared to engage the Administration in the courts according to those rules. And we are convinced also that we can win!
I've been out of the loop for the last 24+ hours, so a lot has happened regarding 1) the blowback on the DOMA brief, and 2) the meltdown of the gay DNC fundraiser next week, as the list of those bailing on the gala hosted by Barney Frank, Tammy Baldwin and Jared Polis featuring VP Joe Biden.
Here are a few links for you (and me, since I have to catch up):
One way to get the Obama administration's attention on civil rights is for gay people to stop funding the Democrats. That's all these people care about anyway when it comes to gays: our money. If the Democrats refuse to support us, refuse to support them...No cheering him at events while he does nothing to follow up on his explicit promises.
* Gay tsunami slams Obama (Rex Wockner). Good roundup of commentary that quotes many reactions to the DOMA hate brief. (but none from the Blend, lol.)
If you can't make the date, take a rain check and help anyway? SUZE ORMAN just signed on that way. ELIZABETH BIRCH signed on that way. Lots of others.
If you CAN make the date, you'll be joining the Vice President of the United States . . .
. . . along with Virginia Governor / DNC Chair Tim Kaine . . . immediate past DNC Chair Howard Dean . . . Chairman Barney Frank . . . Representatives Tammy Baldwin and Jared Polis . . . Vermont Senate President Pete Shumlin . . . District of Columbia Mayor Adrian Fenty . . . David Mixner . . . Richard Socarides . . . The Task Force's Rea Carey . . . HRC's Marty Rouse . . . ESPA's Alan Van Capelle . . . GLAD's Mary Bonauto . . . NBJC's Alexander Robinson . . . GMHC's Marjorie Hill . . . The Victory Fund's Chuck Wolfe . . . Towle Road's Andy Towle . . . Iraq Marine vet Brian Fricke (whom you may have seen on 60 Minutes) . . . Billy Bean . . . Joan Garry . . . Keith Boykin . . . Ray Buckley . . . Brian Johnson . . . Corey Johnson . . . Dixon Osburn . . . Paul Smith . . . Bruce Bastian . . . Mitchell Gold . . . Krystal Ball . . . and so many others, like YOU, who have been pushing the ball down the field for so long. (Well, Krystal is fairly new to this, but what a kick to have a pro-marriage CPA triathlete young mom running to unseat a conservative Republican in Virginia.)
It would mean a great deal to have you with us:
www.democrats.org/LGBTdinner
Did I mention that the Mandarin Oriental has a 10,400-square-foot spa?
The National Stonewall Dems pulled support from the event; it won't encourage its members to attend.
I can report the latest addition to the strikeout list is GLAD's Mary Bonauto; look for her upcoming guest post to the Blend explaining why she will not be attending the DNC dinner.
And this one has to hurt -- also bailing is former Co-Chair of the Obama LGBT Leadership Council during the 2008 campaign, Stampp Corbin. The San Diego City Commissioner has written an op-ed that passionately and rationally explains why the DOMA brief crossed a line with the community. He gave me permission to share it with you.
The DOMA brief ruined everything by Stampp Corbin
When it comes to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) equal rights, it has been a schizophrenic week for the Obama administration. Last Wednesday, Attorney General Eric Holder addressed LGBT Department of Justice employees at a Pride celebration held in the building. Holder said "...neither the frustrations of the past, nor the challenges of the future should deter us from our goal - our responsibility - to continue our efforts to ensure the full spectrum of equal rights to LGBT Americans."
Last Thursday, the Attorney General filed a legal brief in a California federal case challenging the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) that made arguments that compared same sex marriage to incest. Thursday, President Obama announced the extension of some benefits to LGBT federal employees; just not the most coveted ones, like health care and pension benefits. Oh that's right, Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) prevents that and you just wrote a legal brief defending it. When I wake up each morning, I feel a bit schizophrenic myself, "I love Obama, I hate Obama, I am ambivalent about Obama." It's maddening.
Someone get me a Prozac.
I ask, "Mr. President how can you argue for the legality of DOMA, when you are for its repeal?"
You really are talking out of both sides of your mouth and my community knows it.
Your pressure is working, Blenders. This administration, the Congress and the DNC need to see the LGBT ATM shut down. NOW. That June 26 LGBT DNC fundraiser is toast. No one is buying a partner benefit plan that doesn't include health insurance, for god's sake. Will he announce an effort to send Congress something to act on? Uh, keep dreaming - his DOJ just wrote up a brief that uses defenses against incest and underage marriage to claim our relationships are unworthy of equal treatment under the law. They can't unring that bell.
Mr. Obama will be weighing in for the first time on one of the most delicate social and political issues of the day: whether the government must provide benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees. While he will announce a list of benefits, officials said, they are not expected to include broad health insurance coverage, which could require legislation to achieve.
...But administration officials said the timing of the announcement was intended to help contain the growing furor among gay rights groups. Several gay donors withdrew their sponsorship of a Democratic National Committee fund-raising event next week, where Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. is scheduled to speak.
Sorry WH brainiacs, the LGBT gala patient is bleeding to death because of your bludgeoning, and you haven't been left in the will. No $$$ for you.
UPDATE: It gets so much worse. This partner benefit plan is simply an administrative memo - it expires when Obama leaves office! LOLOLOL. FAIL-O-RAMA.
Scrambling to do damage control re: the DOMA brief the Obama administration is throwing us a pathetic bone: benefits for federal workers. Wow. Give me a break! Says Alan Van Capelle of Empire State Pride Agenda: "Welcome to 1999." I mean, is Barack Obama for real?
Just which benefits will gay federal employees be getting? The White House is refusing to say. But it's unlikely it's anything involving money, like Social Security, or, as we now know, health care. Which is ironic, since health care is Obama's number one issue (but not for us). Also ironic, which I wrote about earlier, is that health care reform likely won't cover us either, since they'd have to include us as "families" and "dependents" - and let's face it, they just compared us to incest and pedophilia, does anyone think this administration or this congress is going to define us as "family" in their health care package?
These benefits are by no means trivial... if you're part of the 2% of the population that works for the federal government and part of the 3% of that 2% who are gay or lesbian. But this does not amount to action on any of the eight promises Obama's made to the gay and lesbian community.
...And remember yesterday's attempt to mollify angry queers? The hate-crimes legislation? Harry Reid held a big press conference... promised immediate action... it got a lot of attention... going to move on the bill this week... and they're already stalling.
UPDATE 2: The more I think about how this stuff seems slapped together, the more I believe that there was no "plan" for our issues and legislation. But that can't be true, can it? John mulls the same thing.
Honestly, really I don't want to believe that It was all about placating and delay and deny -- and then laying the blame the lack of votes on the Hill for inaction. Harry Reid finally caught on to this asshattery. The question, then, is how could this well-oiled political machine that we saw during the campaign, turn into a crew that is so ham-handed on our issues that they thought tossing out an inflammatory DOMA brief wasn't going to be like dropping an A-bomb on the community?
Given some unnamed source in the administration actually admitted to the NYT that this partner benefit announcement was crafted to stop the benefit from tanking, the WH is clearly off balance and off message. It's amateur hour at our expense.
(NOTE FROM PAM: Atdnext also has a diary up on this topic. I call this a FAIL, albeit a nicely timed and planned one. But what about the rest of the LGBT population that has no partner benefits out here in the real world? Based on the current information we have, the votes aren't there for ENDA, so then what? The welcome, limited news (it's up in the air about whether this provides health benefits, it appears not, which is absurd, given that's the single most important partner benefit to have), will not stop this train, Mr. President; you blew it and this won't stop the DNC fundraiser protests. You and the party need to know what a mistake it was to use those foul arguments in the DOMA brief. That's not being a fierce advocate, that's selling us out in the language of bigots who want us back in the closet, dead and without any rights.)
It was hotter than hell in the South today. I think the actions last week and the ensuing outrage turned up the heat at the White House too.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama plans to extend health care and other benefits to the gay and lesbian partners of federal employees. White House officials say Obama plans to announce decision on Wednesday in the Oval Office. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because the president had not yet made the announcement.
The move would give partners of federal employees access to health care and financial benefits such as relocation fees for moves. Officials say Obama would detail more details of the decision on Wednesday.
UPDATE FROM PAM: A heads up from Dallas Principles co-author Paul Yandura via email:
1. Chuck Todd on the Rachel Maddow show said that the benefits will not extend past this administration since it is a "memorandum" not an Executive Order-and will actually expire when Obama leaves office.
2. The Advocate is reporting that the "same sex partner benefits" will not include health benefits or retirement, the only benefit they have identified is relocation costs for a partner. See the quote below from Len Hirsch, President of Federal GLOBE:
"Our analysis has been that it will take an act of Congress for the full suite of benefits such as health benefits and retirement benefits to be provided for same-sex couples and families," said Leonard Hirsch, president of Federal Globe: Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Employees of the Federal Government. Hirsch said the executive branch has the authority to extend a suite of other benefits, which would include things like providing relocation costs for a partner.
We've talked about the fatigue of being jerked around as a constituency, now 
You'll recall that the first story out about the LGBT fundraiser was in the 
If you can't make the date, take a rain check and help anyway? SUZE ORMAN just signed on that way. ELIZABETH BIRCH signed on that way. Lots of others.
The DOMA brief ruined everything
