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To the Editors:
Re: “Don’t trust Republicans in Virginia politics” (letter to the editor by Charley Conrad, March 16)
Charley Conrad and the Virginia Partisans certainly do good work in Virginia and have convinced many Democratic leaders to support gay rights. But his blanket assertion that “Democrats support us and Republicans do not” is so at odds with reality that I need to set the record straight.
It is ironic that Conrad cites two bills from this year’s session as evidence of this, because they both in fact prove the opposite. The hospital visitation bill he refers to, HB 2730, passed the Virginia General Assembly, in which the Republicans control both chambers, by a nearly unanimous vote. So it wasn’t Democrats responsible for passage of this bill but Republicans. Our usual Republican opponents voted for it, even though it was introduced by Democratic Del. David Englin.
The other bill he mentioned, HB 1727, which would have made it more difficult for gay-straight alliances in public high schools to operate, was indeed a bad bill that many Democrats voted for when it passed the House of Delegates. Fortunately, it was defeated in the Senate Education Committee because of the opposition of two key Republicans, including Sen. Russell Potts, who has helped derail more anti-gay legislation (and other bills supported by the religious right) than perhaps any other senator in Virginia.
There are other examples as well that disprove Conrad’s assertion. The chief patron of the public employment non-discrimination bill in the Senate this year was a Republican, Sen. Jeannemarie Devolites Davis from Fairfax County. The companion bill in the House, patroned by Del. Adam Ebbin, had numerous Republican co-patrons, a first for most of them. In fact, the first ever pro-gay bill to pass the Virginia Legislature, the health insurance parity bill of 2005, passed both chambers of the legislature with considerable Republican support, including the passive support of the Republican leadership in the House, which was key to getting it passed at all and signed into law by Gov. Mark Warner.
Finally, the so-called marriage amendment that passed in Virginia last November was supported by nearly half of the Democrats in the House of Delegates, including the House Democratic leader! So much for the theory that all Democrats support us.
So all we ask is that those Republicans who do support us get acknowledged when they do. And the simple fact is, it’s happening more and more.
There is one thing Conrad mentioned, however, that I think we all agree on: how important it is to defeat Del. Bob Marshall this November. Personally, I wholeheartedly support his Democratic opponent, Bruce Roemmelt, and I urge all Republicans, including Log Cabin Republicans, to support him as well.
DAVID LAMPO
Alexandria, Va.
Editors’ note: The writer is vice president of the Log Cabin Republican Club of Virginia.
HRC is not immune
to accountability questions
To the Editors:
Re: “HRC hits back at blogger criticisms” (news, March 16)
HRC loves to take credit for every victory that impacts the gay community, and the organization is certainly not shy in using the media and other means to promote that viewpoint. Further, as your article highlights, HRC attacks anyone who dares to publicly question the validity of those claims or of the organization’s effectiveness and efficiency.
Whether or not misdirected, Andrew Sullivan raises some fair points. Rather than address the underlying issues, however, HRC goes on the attack. Not surprising. That seems to be how it operates. It did the same thing last year when members of the community dared to question HRC’s decision to give Lance Bass and Reichen Lehmkuhl awards at the HRC National Gala. HRC argues that any debate or criticism should be kept internal.
That is ironic coming from an organization that refuses to release information to its members and makes little effort to create a dialogue with its “membership.” HRC remains an organization directed and led by a cabal of individuals who continue to use it, and the millions of dollars entrusted to it by its supporters, to promote themselves and their own agendas.
Did anyone question at the time the propriety of Hilary Rosen getting her now-former partner Elizabeth Birch appointed to lead HRC? Did anyone challenge that couple’s use of HRC to basically promote themselves for years on end? Birch certainly used the position to land a lucrative job with Rosie O’Donnell — a coincidence that O’Donnell was another HRC ...
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