The LGBT community is understandably upset by the lack of movement towards full equality at the federal level.
The Employment Non Discrimination Act (ENDA) which would make it illegal for someone to be fired for being LGBT is still not law despite multiple promises from Democrats that it was a priority for 2010.
The repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" is still vulnerable.
The Defense of Marriage Act still prevents gays and lesbians from gaining access to federal relationship recognition.
Until now, the LGBT community was a dependable constituency for the Democratic National Committee (DNC.) We have deep pockets, we are active volunteers, and we vote.
However, since a super majority in Congress and a Democratic President has yet to move our equality forward, there is a recurring call to close the "gAyTM" and discontinue all contributions to the DNC until we see a return on our investment.
I certainly understand the motivation for hitting the DNC where it hurts. Why should we continue to give to a political party that takes us for granted?
The Huffington Post's Sam Stein wrote a startling article that I hope will convince you why money is so important in 2010.
On the left hand side of the chart is a list of ten Republican aligned institutions, ranging from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to the Family Research Council. Next to it is a column listing the amount of money each group has pledged to spend by Election Day. A third column on the right details what those groups actually spent in 2008 on federal elections.
The number at the bottom delivers the key message. If their pledges are fulfilled, these ten groups will unleash more than $200 million in election-focused spending -- roughly $37 million more than every single independent group spent on the 2008 presidential campaign combined. This time around, almost every single penny will be going to Republican candidates or causes(Update: A Democratic operative makes the case that the total could rise to roughly $300 million if it includes additional pledges for campaign spending from Americans for Prosperity, promising $45 million, the Club for Growth, $24 million, the National Rifle Association, $20 million, and the Susan B. Anthony List, $6 million)
$300 Million can do incredible damage to not only the Democratic Party, but to the LGBT community. The Republican Party remains viscerally opposed to equal rights for LGBTs. If you think sitting on your wallet is helpful to our community, you are simply wrong.
I realize not every Democrat is perfect and some are downright wrong on our issues. This is why I urge the DNC to create an LGBT fund. Allow us to contribute to the DNC while knowing our money won't support candidates who do not support us.
In the mean time, it is not time to hold back. We are too close to our goals to allow the Conservatives to take over. Don't misunderstand me, I remain frustrated that the progressive agenda is still just out of reach, but this is not the right time to turn off the gAyTM.
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How long are we going to let the Dems play Lucy while we Charlie Browns try to kick te football past the goal?
My priority is to elect officals who will work to realize the promise of equal protexction under the law, it is not to advance the politocal career of any more self serving charlatans like Bill and Hillary Clinton, Barak Obama or Patty "DOMA" Murray..
How many times can the Democrats use us to help them get elected, only to spit in our faces after we've done so? And when will the LGBT community learn our lesson?
Sorry, Obama and the DNC.
Purchase declined.
As I often say (and have done three times today, I think): to Republicans, we're too important; to Dems, we're not important enough.
The point is that there are are lots of "professional" gays at organizations like that HRC, or even work for the DNC, DSCC and DCCC, who's jobs may be at stake if they cannot deliver "gay money" for the DNC, DSCC and DCCC and their apologists at the HRC -- who care more about their "access" than our "progress".
There will always be an upcoming election. There will always be a reason why Democrats and their apologists in the gay community tells us that now is not the time to stand up for ourselves..
From now on it is C.O.D. The credit line to the DNC, DCCC, DSCC is CLOSED.
Money is tight for everyone, including the gay community, therefore we need to be extra scrupulous about where to give.
Lamda Legal, GLAAD, The Trevor Project, GMHC/SFAP/APLA, NGLTF and hundreds of other nonprofits, including one's not specifically focus on gay issues are all starving for cash in this economic climate. There are gay candidates out there who need our financial support. No one understands our issues better than we do.
Why would I waste that money on the DNC forwarding it to Ike Skelton and Ben Nelson?
want to know more about the DADG campaign?:
http://gay.americablog.com/2009/11/dont-ask-dont-give.html
http://salsa.wiredforchange.com/o/6006/t/5410/petition.jsp?petition_KEY=727
When the DNC starts putting the interests of Democrats AHEAD of the interests of corporations and the teabaggers--come see me. Until then, they can kiss my money, my time, and probably my voter participation GOODBYE.
I'm a lifelong Democrat and spent more time and money working for Obama than ever before and I am fed up with the lack of progress on GLBT issues (and much more) and with being told that I should be patient/I shouldn't be angry. I am not a child. I am an adult whose anger has brought me to a place of cold insight and sharp disappointment.
We have been "focused-group" to death. I am sure in the calculations in the backrooms of the DNC, DSCC and DCCC that it is more worth their while to dangle carrots in front of us and not deliver and keep asking for money lest fear of the Republican winning (gasp!), then it is to actually deliver on their promises.
That's all we are to them is an ATM machine. Our votes don't matter. Our volunteer time and energy doesn't matter. Keeping their campaign promises doesn't matter. Doing the right thing doesn't matter.
We are supposed to be good little gays and go away quietly while they triangulate against us.
We've lived through centuries of persecution. We were killed in the holocaust along with the other undesirables. We lost a generation to aids. We lived through two Bush presidencies. I can survive a Republican winning an election against a do-nothing Democrat if that teaches a fair-weathered friend a lesson.
adults unite! (i'm horribly offended by being treated like a petulant child, too!)
If you really do feel that you have to send money their way, don't send it to the DNC. Donate directly to LGBT and allied candidates.
No. I don't put up with that in my love life, and I won't put up with it from the party of my choice. If Democrats want my financial support, if they want me to staff the phone banks, if they want me to canvas. . . if they want ANYTHING from me, from now on, they have to follow through on the multitude of broken promises.
Are we afraid Republicans will win if we don't support Democrats? Democrats have only themselves to blame. They squandered their chance.