The firing (i.e., forced resignation) of executive director Cheryl Jacques by the board of the Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest lesbigay lobby, is welcome news. Jacques had made an already too partisan organization a total front for the Democratic National Committee, even opposing the re-election of one of the GOP's most gay-supportive senators, Pennsylvania's Arlen Specter, who was the lead GOP sponsor of HRC's signature Employee Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) bill and is the incoming chair of the Senate's powerful Judiciary Committee.
But the news that Hillary Rosen, partner of past HRC leader Elizabeth Birch, will be taking over (at least on an interim basis) is not good news. The rot at HRC began under Birch, who ended HRC's former policy of focusing on congressional races and not endorsing presidential candidates. Once the decision was made to devote the lion's share of HRC's resources to electing the Democratic presidential candidate (and in 2000, under Birch, that decision was made before it was clear that George Bush, and not John McCain, would be the Republican nominee), HRC effectively closed the door on any meaningful dialog with the national GOP.
And dedicating $28 million to purchase and refurbish a fancy HQ building in Washington, D.C., as opposed to spending those funds on, say, a nationwide communications program, or developing real grassroots networks, was another Birch decision.
Christian
Grantham (hat tip to Gay Orbit) has more on
Jacques firing, reporting that:
Sources say some board members expressed deep misgivings with how HRC presented itself during the 2004 elections. HRC Board member Bruce Bastian was particularly upset with HRC spending money on bumper stickers, t-shirts, billboards and tattoos that read "George Bush, You're Fired!"
Making Jacques a scapegoat, alas, won't solve the deep-rooted problems plaguing HRC.
Update: The
Washington Post reports:
"For the organization that is considered to be responsible for setting the strategy for the [gay] community, the defeat that occurred on November 2 was stunning," one major donor said. "I think every single gay person in this country is trying to figure out what went wrong."
Gee, maybe giving John Kerry a free pass to endorse those
anti-gay state amendments wasn't such a good strategy for gay (as
opposed to Democratic Party) activists!