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JULIAN POTTE
Friday, February 24, 2006
AS THE LGBT liaison for President Clinton, I have read with great concern recent articles about the Democratic National Committee’s outreach to the LGBT community.
With more than 20 years of political experience at the local, state and national levels, I know what it takes to organize our communities. Howard Dean is doing the right thing by restructuring the way the Democratic Party reaches out to LGBT communitiesand other base communities in the American Majority Partnership.
We lost the White House in 2000 and 2004, largely because our opponents did a better job of reaching out to their base. I applaud Dean for recognizing this and responding.
The time has come to move beyond the old system, and beyond the traditional strategy of parachuting field organizers into swing states a few months before the election. If our communities are to achieve true political empowerment, we need a more comprehensive approach.
In short, the Democratic Party needs to fundamentally change the way we reach out to our friends and family in the LGBT community.
I KNOW OUR community fought hard for political representation at the DNC, and I know that the concerns of those who object to Dean’s reforms are born of a profound commitment to fighting for equality for the LGBT community.
I also know that we have not lost our voice in the party. We are still in the DNC at every level, including in the states and the national office. There are still strong partnerships and an open door policy still exists between the DNC and our diverse national LGBT organizations.
As many of us know, Dean has met with diverse groups of national, state and local LGBT leadership all across America. The new field organizers hired in all 50 states have received training in LGBT outreach, and there is now a section on the DNC website dedicated solely to LGBT outreach.
The DNC regularly speaks out on matters of interest and concern to the LGBT community. All of this work builds on the past efforts and the lessons from the "political desk" arrangement, and I am confident that, just as in the past, organizing and outreach will be expanded significantly as we move closer to Election Day.
By building a lasting infrastructure in every state, and integrating outreach to our community throughout the entire DNC, Dean’s approach will provide our community even greater political representation. By training LGBT activists and teaching political organizers in states all across the country how to reach out to the LGBT community, the DNC’s new approach will empower our community and make it easier for us to stand up and fight for change in our country, and in our party.
One thing is clear: No one can question Dean’s motivations. No political party has ever had a national chair as committed to our community as Howard Dean. In Dean we have someone with a proven record of standing up for our rights at great personal and political risk.
MANY OF US remember that after Dean signed Vermont’s first in the nation civil union law, his children needed bodyguards, and he himself had to wear a bulletproof vest when marching in parades-—-even at home in "liberal" Vermont.
Why would he make such a bold and brave stand for our rights, then turn around and undercut our participation in the political process? The answer is simple: He didn’t and he won’t.
At the end of the day, we have to keep our eye on the prize: winning elections for the party that works consistently to move our agenda forward. In the Democratic Party, we have an ally that will never resort to the politics of fear and division to victimize us.
Our communities need to stand with our allies and fight Republicans who scapegoat us to win elections and seek to enshrine discrimination in our state and federal constitutions. We should stand with those who are working to protect the LGBT community from hate crimes, employment discrimination, health care disparities, and other types of bias and bigotry.
The horrible attacks in Massachusetts show what happens when hate-filled slogans and strategies metastasize into a climate of fear and anger. Real people pay a real cost.
Our community needs to support those who are standing with us. Howard Dean and the Democratic Party are standing with us. Let’s stand with them.
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