I've been out of town, so here are a few catch-up items.
The Washington Blade article Bridges burning, gay groups cope with GOP dominance, reports (at long last) some big donors to the Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest lesbigay lobby, are questioning the group's strategy. The main issue: the decision by HRC leader Cheryl Jacques, a former Democratic state legislator for Massachusetts, to direct the lion's share of the group's resources to a defeat-Bush campaign. Said Randy Foster, a member of HRC's Federal Club (for large donors):
"Until we create a new strategy knowing we live in a conservative environment, as a community, we will be ineffective ...
If HRC, by its nature, should be bipartisan why have posters that say, 'George W. Bush, you're fired' ... Little or no conservatives will reach out to us. The strategy to date has failed."
Jacques responded that "working with this administration is going to be hard" but that HRC officials were working on a long-range plan for the next year, though she declined to elaborate, says the Blade. No kidding.
Michael at Gay Orbit shares a letter he sent to HRC on their campaign against Arlen Specter:
You've sure put Arlen in his place... even though I distinctly remember him saying he was absolutely going to vote against the [Federal Marriage Amendment] if it came to a floor vote.
Thank you for doing everything you can to make sure that gay and lesbian Americans aren't taken seriously by the majority of Americans who did not vote for the presidential candidate you so desperately wanted to win. By taking this stand against our best Republican friend in the Senate, you sure showed them, didn't you? I know, as you do, that it's not about advancing gay issues. ... I know it's not your job to fight for my equality, but rather, to cement your position as a supporter of the Democratic Party, because you know, it's not like they'd ever take us for granted or anything...
Elsewhere in the Blade, editor Chris Crain has penned another worthy
editorial which, after taking some well deserved shots at the
GOP, notes:
The Democrats aren't much better. They ran fast and furious away from our issues in the 2004 election and somehow still managed to blame us for their defeat. It still confuses me how a party can refuse to defend us before the general public and still claim their loss is our fault. ...
In an appearance Monday on National Public Radio, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, a longtime gay rights supporter, went so far as to complain that Kerry's failure on gay marriage was one of communication, not substance. She argued, incredibly enough, that the Bush and Kerry positions on gay marriage were indistinguishable, since both were opposed to legalizing it. ...
Remember that the same infamous exit polls that supposedly signaled the triumphant rise of "values voters" also indicated that a substantial majority - 61 percent - support [either] gay marriage or civil unions. If gay rights groups and their allies in both parties would only find their backbone and actually make the case for our equality, we can win this mighty battle. But if we are afraid to try, we are surely doomed to fail.
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