We went to the Human Rights Campaign dinner in New York City last night. Here are some of my thoughts on the HRC and two videos and pictures from the dinner.
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About Me
- Scott
- Manhattan, New York, United States
- Vblogging about politics, my life and stuff in the news. Current board member of National Stonewall Democrats, past board member and treasurer of the ACLU of Pennsylvania, board member and first vice-president of the Greater Pittsburgh chapter of the ACLU, member from Pennsylvania of the 2004 Platform Committee of the DNC, and other various organizations. Ya, I'm a wonk. "Stand firm for what you believe in, until and unless experience proves you wrong. Remember, when the emperor looks naked, the emperor *is* naked. The truth and a lie are not sort of the same thing. And there is no aspect, no facet, no moment of life that can't be improved with pizza." -- Daria
5 comments:
Scott -
While I agree that HRC is the 8,000 lb gorilla and is the only PAC with weight around LGBTQ issues, I disagree that protesting is a poor way of showing displeasure with a clear gaffe on HRC's part in regards to a NON-inclusive ENDA. Joe Solmonese DOES NOT get it. He spoke at the Southern Comfort conference in September of 2007 and said HRC WOULD NOT support a non-inclusive ENDA. A few weeks later? Where was THE organization? It is a very bitter pill to swallow! What do you tell our transgender brothers and sisters who have been fired because they transitioned? What do you say to those yet to come who will be under the axe? It is HIGH time we stand up to our leaders and tell them they were wrong! We cannot and will not be thrown under the bus again!!!!
Did I hear it correctly that Joe Solmonese actually said they'd always planned to remove transgender from ENDA?
If so, that makes Solmonese' relations with the T community infinitely worse. T people already consider him a liar, because of his betrayal of the T community 2 weeks after he told 100 0 T people at Southern Comfort that they would not support a non-inclusive ENDA. If he's now admitting that they planned it that way all along, that's lying twice, and the T community will never forgive HRC for that. Period. Expect the protests to get larger and louder.
Hey Scott!
It's been a long time since I've seen you, I hope you're well.
I have to disagree - how can one change HRC by not making your strong disagreements with them known? Clearly, accomadation and working with them has led to the same results over the last 15 years. They say thet support inclusion in ENDA - then work against it. An Joe S. outright lied on this issue in September directly in spoken & written communication to the largest transgender conference in the country and to Philly's lgbt leadership.
Are you suggesting an other route to changing them?
FYI - you may wish to read this reporting on the dinner:
http://www.gaycitynews.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=19328072&BRD=2729&PAG=461&dept_id=568864&rfi=6
If I'm reading this correctly - not a single NYC LGBT politician attended the dinner. HRC did announce some were there who weren't & one of their names after being told in writing by the elected offical that they should not do so and they would not attend.
Their duplicity seems so ingrained that they no longer know when they lie.
I don't understand your comments about the trans community being partially at fault for the failure of an inclusive ENDA. Before their reversal on trans-inclusion, wasn't HRC selling themselves as a voice of the trans community too? HRC was supposed to be lobbying for ALL of us, not just the GLB.
Up until late September, we had an inclusive ENDA with over 170 co-sponsors and no official indication that there were problems. When Barney Frank and Democratic "leadership" decided to pull gender identity out of ENDA, no one - not the HRC or the House Dems - would give the trans community any helpful information on who needed to be lobbied.
Despite the lack of help (to put if lightly) UnitedENDA formed and did such a good last-minute lobbying job that votes on the bill were delayed 4 times and they almost succeeded in getting gender identity back in the bill through the Baldwin ammendment. Yeah, it didn't end up being enough but it was hardly the fault of the trans community.
Times change. If you keep up, you can be like Toyota, otherwise, GM. The HRC lost its moral bearings last fall, and has so far not been able to come up with any response but "trust us, we know what is best." This kind of top-down authoritarian approach may work when dissenters are few or are outrageously radical, but that is not the case now.
The absence of elected GLBT officials at an important dinner, an apparent drop in contributions, organized protests...how difficult to read are those tea leaves?
The existence of an array of alternative and ethical GLBT organizations makes it possible to support the GLBT community financially and send the HRC the message that it needs to represent its constituency rather than just a select few donors and members of congress.
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