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By: LOU CHIBBARO JR. COMMENTS
 
On the morning of July 14, 2004, members of the Human Rights Campaign’s senior legislative staff hunkered down in a borrowed office near the U.S. Capitol Building before walking solemnly to the Senate Chamber.
The office had been used as a “war room” to go over last minute details for what many consider to be HRC’s most dramatic and far-reaching legislative battle.
After years of pushing for pro-gay legislation, HRC had found itself on the defensive, acting as field general in the effort by gay and gay-supportive forces to defeat the Federal Marriage Amendment, which called for amending the U.S. Constitution to ban states from enacting same-sex marriage.
The amendment had been expected to fail, but the scope of the defeat was portrayed in the news media as a stunning defeat for anti-gay groups and their allies in Congress. The Senate defeated the measure on a procedural vote, coming up 12 votes short of the 60 needed to move the measure forward. The FMA would have needed 67 votes ultimately to pass.
Most Washington insiders credited HRC with playing a key role in coordinating the lobbying effort that contributed to the FMA’s defeat — both in the Senate and later in the House of Representatives.
For some observers of the gay civil rights movement, the defeat of the FMA epitomizes HRC’s track record since its founding in 1980. The group celebrates its 25-year anniversary Oct. 1 at its annual National Dinner party, which will feature the NAACP’s Julian Bond and various celebrities, including Cyndi Lauper and the B-52’s.
In its 25-year lifespan, HRC has failed to persuade Congress to pass a single gay civil rights bill, including the long-sought Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which would outlaw job discrimination based on sexual orientation.
The group has been unable to push through legislation that would authorize the federal government to prosecute anti-gay hate crimes, even though a hate crimes bill has now passed both houses of Congress. Capitol Hill observers say a hate crimes bill has a chance of passing later this year.
Yet, despite its lack of success in passing bills, HRC is credited with a string of smaller legislative victories on a wide range of issues — most of which have involved beating back anti-gay amendments and resolutions.
Although the FMA drew the most widespread attention, HRC backers say, the group evolved over the years into a highly respected political force in the nation’s capital among both Democrats and Republicans.
With HRC pushing from behind the scenes, for example, the House has defeated a number anti-gay amendments aimed at the D.C. appropriations bill, which Congress must approve each year. Among other things, the group persuaded House members to defeat an attempt to repeal D.C.’s domestic partners law and to ban gays in the District from adopting children, according to David Smith, HRC’s vice president for policy and strategy.
Smith noted that in what was considered an important vote on gay employment rights, HRC lobbied successfully for the defeat of a House amendment seeking to overturn an executive order issued by President Clinton that bans employment discrimination against gay federal workers.
In yet another effort to beat back an anti-gay measure, Smith said HRC helped line up enough votes to defeat an amendment to overturn a San Francisco ordinance requiring contractors doing work for the city to provide domestic partner benefits for their employees.
“We all consider bill-signing ceremonies as the greatest success,” said Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), a lesbian who became the first open gay to win election to Congress. “But there are many barometers you can use to measure effectiveness.
“You can look at increasing numbers of co-sponsors of bills. You can look at roll call votes. You can see how many more members of Congress become educated on your issue,” she said.
While acknowledging that HRC has had some success in its work, veteran lesbian activist Robin Tyler, who helped organize gay rights protest marches, said the methods HRC uses to push for gay rights legislation are flawed and most likely won’t lead to the passage of gay rights legislation anytime soon.
According to Tyler, a longtime HRC critic, the group has failed to adequately mobilize and energize grassroots gays to approach their representatives in Congress from their home states, cities or towns.
“You can’t come to Washington and buy your way in by sucking up to people,” Tyler said. “It doesn’t work. You can’t try to negotiate our way into getting our rights.”
Tyler said she has called on HRC and other gay groups to spend some of ...
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