Thursday, August 12, 2010

No Money to the DNC

We cannot just keep feeding the people who hurt us. There are plenty of Democrats who are pro-equality and who deserve your support to the individual campaigns. But the Democratic National Committee should not get a dime of your money. Why? I responded in my column in the Advocate to a piece written by DNC Treasurer Andy Tobias in which he implored LGBT people to give to the Democratic National Committee this year:

Tobias’s screed cannot hide just how disappointing our “fierce advocate” and his toothless party have been for the past two years. A few drops have been wrung out into the glass, including passage of a long-overdue hate-crimes bill that had been kicked around in Congress since the 1990s and an uncertain compromise on repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell,” as gay men and lesbians continue to be ejected from the military.

Real progress? The Employment Non-Discrimination Act is dead in the water this session. The Domestic Partner Benefits and Obligations Act, a bill that would give gay federal workers spousal benefits, and which Congress has promised a vote on since June 2009, is no closer to the president’s pen. Meanwhile, the White House continues to aggressively defend the Defense of Marriage Act and is expected to appeal a July decision handed down by a Nixon-appointed federal judge who ruled that a critical portion of the federal ban on marriage equality is unconstitutional. President Barack Obama has said he opposes the law but by all accounts has not lifted a finger to push for the legislative repeal that he promised would be a priority if he were elected.

And then there was the president's pitiful response to the landmark Prop 8 decision. A spokesperson responded to The Advocate's Kerry Eleveld that ,"The President has spoken out in opposition to Proposition 8 because it is divisive and discriminatory," without any congratulations let alone elation of any kind. Then White House advisor David Axelrod headed onto TV to push the message that the president doesn't support marriage for gays and lesbians, reaching out to homophobes on a day when he should have been reaching out to us. It was yet another nasty slap in the face.


Read the whole piece and let me know your thoughts.