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| A gay former Clinton official assailed the leadership of DNC Chair Howard Dean last week, claiming he has ignored appeals to party officials to ‘care about and defend the dignity of gay and lesbian families and friends, in the same way they defend the dignity of other key constituencies.’ (Photo by Tom Hood/AP) |
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HOME > NEWS > NATIONAL NEWS
By: LOU CHIBBARO J COMMENTS
 
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Millennium March on Washington for LGBT Rights in 2000.
She again declined to discuss the matter in a telephone interview this week, though she cited her past gay rights advocacy over many years within the DNC and within the DNC’s Black Caucus.
Daily News blog writer Ben Smith reported he obtained his information about Brazile’s and other Black Caucus members’ reported opposition to the Shay proposal from an e-mail that an unknown person forwarded to him.
New York gay Democratic activist Jon Winkelman, who serves on the board of National Stonewall Democrats, wrote the e-mail, which Smith said he published verbatim in his blog. In his e-mail, Winkelman said he obtained his information about purported opposition to the Shay proposal from gay DNC member Rick Stafford of Minnesota and New York party activist Emily Giske, a lesbian who is one of several vice chairs of the New York State Democratic Party.
Stafford and Giske did not return calls seeking comment.
Winkelman said the e-mail, as published by the blog, was out of context and contained inaccurate information. He declined to say which information was inaccurate.
"This was intended to be a private communication," he said. "Whoever released it is trying to create divisiveness within the party. That’s my take on this."
Yandura’s letter also comes after some gay Democratic activists criticized Dean for abolishing the DNC’s constituency outreach desks, including the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual & Transgender Desk. Dean said he eliminated the party’s "desk system" last year, shortly after he won election as DNC chair, in an effort to streamline and improve constituency outreach efforts.
He insisted the party’s commitment to gay civil rights was as strong as ever, and his new system of integrating constituency efforts throughout all of the DNC’s departments and offices would strengthen gay outreach efforts. Stafford, who chairs the DNC’s Gay & Lesbian Americans Caucus, said at the time he was willing to give Dean’s changes a chance to work.
But the former chair of the gay caucus, Jeff Soref, said he resigned from the DNC to protest Dean’s action, which Soref said would diminish the party’s outreach to gays just as the party would need a high turnout of gay voters for the 2006 elections.
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