To Dems: Work for the Money

[racaulk]

To Dems: Work for the Money

Advocate columnist Michelangelo Signorile says if anyone from the DNC tries to tell you that the glass is half full when it comes to the party’s gay rights accomplishments, they’re half-baked.

By Michelangelo Signorile




In a July commentary on Advocate.com titled “The Glass is Half Full,” Andy Tobias, the Democratic National Committee’s treasurer and by extension one of the party’s most fervent defenders in the LGBT community, made dramatic, fear-mongering pleas for your money, all the while slamming the (justifiably) negative sentiments of the gay blog­osphere. Many gay blogs, spearheaded by John Aravosis’s Americablog, advocated a financial revolt against the DNC in November with a “don’t ask, don’t give” campaign. (I was an eager supporter of this effort and continue to stand behind the continuing DNC boycott.)

“Is the true idealist the one who stands on principle and refuses to help?” Tobias wrote in that piece. “Or the one who accepts an imperfect reality and actually does help—while simultaneously marching and lobbying and working every day to persuade the general public of the rightness of our positions? Whether you see the glass as half full or half empty, our allies—from the president on down—badly need your help in filling it up.”

In other words, fork over your hard-earned dollars to support the very people who have not delivered and who have made no indication that anything will change on the morning of November 3.

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.

<---snip--->

That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t support individual Democrats this year. There are plenty of Democrats who deserve your support because they’ve done some good things and are pushing hard for equality. By all means, give to their individual campaigns. But not a dime should go to the DNC. And if Obama isn’t willing to push the party hard—and come out for full equality, including marriage rights—then we’ll need to think about withholding money from him too in 2012.


Link: http://www.advocate.com/Politics/Commentary/Force_Dems_to_Work_for_the_Money

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The emphasis above is mine. I'm sure I will get slammed for posting this commentary, but I believe Signorile makes some good points regarding the DNC. Well worth the read. :thumbsup:

[joeybee12]

1. Agreed...give to Dems but not the DNC...if for no reason than they WASTE your money

one million dollars to ben neslon who isn't up for re-election until 2012...even if Nelson wasn't a worthless slug, the money should never be given in such a case when there are worthy Dems to support in 2010.