Concern
and
frustration
spilled
out
into
the
open
this
week
over
how
the
Human
Rights
Campaign
will
navigate
the
post-election
of
a
capital
city
now
even
more
tightly
within
the
grasp
of
conservatives.
A
member
of
the
HRC’s
Federal
Club
of
key
donors
raised
concerns
at
a
Tuesday
night
meeting
with
HRC
staff
about
the
group’s
laserlike
focus
on
marriage
equality
and
hinted
that
without
a
new
strategy
for
working
with
the
GOP-dominated
government,
new
leadership
might
be
needed
at
the
country’s
largest
gay
lobbying
group.
Randy
Foster,
39,
said
he
became
concerned
about
the
direction
gay
groups
were
taking
this
year
after
talking
with
a
congressman
during
a
flight
from
Los
Angeles
to
Washington,
D.C.,
three
days
after
the
election.
The
lawmaker,
whom
Foster
declined
to
identify,
said
that
marriage
had
become
such
a
priority
for
gay
leaders
he
wondered
how
effective
gay
lobbyists
would
be
during
the
next
four
years.
“Unless
we
create
a
new
strategy,
knowing
we
live
in
a
conservative
environment,
as
a
community,
we
will
be
ineffective,”
Foster
said.
“I
am
not
criticizing
that
we
are
on
the
marriage
bandwagon.
My
point
is
if
we
continue
with
that
strategy,
we
will
not
only
not
get
anything
done
on
a
federal
level,
we
might
have
companies
rethink
their
benefit
packages
to
gay
spouses.
“It’s
unclear
to
me
that
we
have
a
short-term
strategy.
Are
the
people
who
got
us
here
able
to
work
with
the
new
[political]
leadership?
If
the
answer
is
no,
then
we
need
to
do
something
about
that.”
Foster
said
he
raised
the
issue
during
Tuesday
night’s
meeting
with
Federal
Club
members
and
HRC
staff.
Members
of
the
club
make
an
annual
contribution
of
$1,200
to
$4,999
to
HRC.
Foster
said
Cheryl
Jacques,
HRC’s
executive
director,
told
him
at
the
meeting
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.
Foster
said
a
short-term
strategy
was
needed
and
that
other
Federal
Club
members
chimed
in
saying
that
HRC’s
response
was
“unacceptable.”
Chris
Labonte,
HRC’s
legislative
director,
said
that
because
gay
marriage
is
legal
in
Massachusetts,
it
is
impossible
to
retreat
from
the
issue.
Some
have
criticized
gay
groups
for
pushing
the
marriage
issue
during
an
election
year.
But
Jacques
dismissed
concerns
about
the
timing
of
the
gay
marriage
issue,
adding
that
the
“Massachusetts
Supreme
Judicial
Court
handed
us
marriage
equality.”
“We
can’t
turn
that
back,”
Jacques
said
in
an
interview
last
week.
“Nearly
a
decade
ago
there
wasn’t
a
Goodridge
decision
in
the
pipelines
yet
36
states
in
1996
had
Defense
of
Marriage
Acts.
I
believe
that
the
extremists
were
pushing
the
gay
marriage
boogie
man
for
a
long
time
now
to
divide
people
and
mobilize
an
extreme
base.”
With
the
passage
of
11
state
constitutional
amendments
banning
gay
marriage
on
Election
Day,
Jacques
said
Bush
campaign
strategist
Karl
Rove,
“gave
the
American
students
the
final
exam
on
the
first
day
of
class.”
She
added
that
the
American
public
is
“nowhere
near
ready
to
decide
what
our
legal
protections
should
look
like.”
“We
just
started
to
talk
to
them
about
our
families
and
important
matters
like
tax
and
estate
protections
and
hospital
visitation
rights,”
Jacques
said.
“We
need
to
go
back
to
that
and
unite
Americans
on
fairness
and
families
and
what
fairness
looks
like.”
Others,
including
gay
Rep.
Barney
Frank
(D-Mass.),
have
criticized
HRC
and
other
gay
groups
for
embracing
the
actions
of
San
Francisco
Mayor
Gavin
Newsom,
who
began
issuing
marriage
licenses
to
gay
couples
in
February.
Jacques
defended
the
group’s
support
of
Newsom,
adding
that
the
San
Francisco
mayor
did
not
ignite
the
outcry
from
social
conservatives
to
push
ahead
with
the
11
state
amendments.
Jacques
said,
“that
fire
was
already
lit.”
Despite
Newsom’s
controversial
actions,
Jacques
said
history
will
judge
the
San
Francisco
mayor
and
other
leaders
“very
kindly
in
a
very
long
civil
rights
battle.”
Foster
also
expressed
concern
that
HRC
was
bending
considerably
to
the
left,
adding
that
gay
issues
are
not
Republican
or
Democratic
issues.
“If
HRC,
by
its
nature,
should
be
bipartisan
why
have
posters
that
say,
‘George
W.
Bush,
you
are
fired,’”
asked
Foster.
“Little
or
no
conservatives
will
reach
out
to
us.
The
strategy
to
date
has
failed.”
Leonard
Steinhorn,
an
associate
professor
at
American
University
who
specializes
in
politics
and
social
movements,
said
groups
like
HRC
need
to
back
off
of
gimmicks
and
begin
to
humanize
issues.
“You
have
to
talk
about
the
morality
of
equality
at
the
level
of
principle
...
a
deeply
emotional
level
that
Americans
can
identify
with,”
he
said.
“Gimmicks
are
weak
substitutes
for
speaking
about
principle
and
morality.
People
focus
group
things
to
death.
You
need
to
stand
on
principle
and
ultimately
people
will
hear
it.”
Some
critics
have
suggested
HRC
stop
endorsing
candidates
for
president.
Labonte
took
issue
with
that
strategy,
adding
that
it
is
helpful
for
HRC
to
be
involved
in
that
process.
“We
are
certainly
influential
in
policy
in
Washington,
D.C.,
and
in
order
to
do
that
you
need
to
be
involved
in
every
race,”
Labonte
said.
“I
think
it
is
terribly
important
that
we
do
that.”
Another
gay
group
coming
under
scrutiny
is
the
Log
Cabin
Republicans.
Some
have
asserted
that
the
group
went
too
far
when
it
decided
not
to
endorse
President
Bush’s
re-election.
...
