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Donald Hitchcock claims the DNC fired him unjustly after his partner, Paul Yandura, criticized the party.
(Blade photo by Joey DiGuglielmo)
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Newly revealed documents show the Democratic National Committee struggled last year over how to respond to a top general’s homophobic comments.
A flurry of e-mails sent the day after Marine Gen. Peter Pace called gay sex “immoral” in March 2007 shows DNC staff couldn’t quickly decide how to handle the situation.
Discussion that began at 11:34 a.m. March 13 lasted several hours before the DNC issued a statement at 4:06 p.m. that noted Pace had “no business condemning the noble service and sacrifices made by our gay and lesbian soldiers.”
In the hours before the statement was released, DNC staff debated who should be quoted and what should be said.
“Personally, I’m concerned that we’ll create too many problems if [DNC Chair Howard] Dean condemns the sitting Chairman of the Joint Chiefs during a time of war,” wrote Damien LaVera, a DNC spokesperson.
Leah Daughtry, the DNC’s chief of staff, asked in one message, “What are the pros and cons of issuing a statement?” Karen Finney, the DNC’s communications director, responded with a message saying, “We will get hit from LGBT if we don’t do something.”
LaVera at one point noted that Daughtry only wanted “to issue a statement from me to reporters who ask for it.” But Brian Bond, executive director of the DNC’s Gay & Lesbian Leadership Council, asked in response, “Then what is the point of a statement?”
According to a message sent by LaVera, Daughtry eventually “signed off” on a statement for limited distribution. But the rebuttal did not please all.
“This was our response?” wrote Parag Mehta, the DNC’s director of training. “I love you all, but this is lame. I can’t believe that today, a Republican Senator from Virginia showed up the DNC when it came to standing up for gay Americans!”
Sen. John Warner (R-Va.) said the same day that he “respectfully, but strongly” disagreed with Pace’s view “that homosexuality is immoral.” |
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HOME > NEWS > NATIONAL NEWS
By: JOSHUA LYNSEN COMMENTS
 
To stop what it calls an “abuse of the discovery process,” the Democratic National Committee is seeking new safeguards as it fights a gay man’s discrimination lawsuit.
Motions filed in D.C. Superior Court last week aim to halt document leaks stemming from the lawsuit. The leaks are described in court filings as “embarrassing, oppressing and damaging” to the DNC and Rev. Leah Daughtry, its chief of staff.
DNC attorneys also note in the Jan. 30 filings that much of the leaked material has “nothing whatsoever” to do with the case filed last year by Donald Hitchcock.
“In this case, the only conceivable reasons for Mr. Hitchcock’s dissemination of discovery materials to the press are to damage the DNC financially and otherwise in the LGBT community and to damage Rev. Daughtry’s reputation,” says the filing. “Therefore, good cause exists to enter a protective order restricting public dissemination of discovery materials.”
If granted by Judge Jeanette Clark, the protective order would “prohibit public dissemination” of subpoenaed documents and deposition testimony. It would not seal the case.
But the request drew strong objections this week from Hitchcock’s attorneys.
“The DNC’s motion for a ‘limited’ protective order is actually seeking a complete gag order that would improperly prohibit any public disclosure about this litigation, and flies in the face of First Amendment protection,” said Lynne Bernabei, who represents Hitchcock.
“The alleged harm of which the DNC complains — the disclosure of non-confidential information about the defendants’ own discriminatory conduct — was self-inflicted and a problem of their own making. The DNC has failed to establish good cause for entering a gag order.”
Hitchcock’s lawsuit, filed in April 2007, says he was the target of discrimination, retaliation and defamation during and after his tenure as director of the Gay & Lesbian Leadership Council.
Hitchcock, who joined the DNC in June 2005, was fired in May 2006. The move came days after Hitchcock’s domestic partner, Paul Yandura, a longtime party activist, sent an open letter to gay Democrats criticizing DNC Chair Howard Dean and suggesting that gays should temporarily withhold donations to the Democratic Party.
The lawsuit names as defendants the DNC; Dean; Julie Tagen, the DNC’s deputy finance director; and Andy Tobias, DNC treasurer. Tobias is the DNC’s highest-ranking openly gay official.
Joe Sandler, the DNC’s general counsel, has said the charges “have no merit” and that the DNC is “committed to defending its position vigorously in court.”
Separately, Stacie Paxton, the DNC’s press secretary, this week chided Hitchcock and Yandura.
“While most Democrats are focused on keeping anti-LGBT Republicans like Mitt Romney and John McCain out of the White House, the plaintiffs in this case are more concerned about their campaign of inappropriately leaking court materials for the sole purpose of damaging the reputation and privacy of people who aren’t even parties to the case,” she said. “We have consistently refrained from commenting on this matter, and have asked the court to put an end to false and misleading smear campaign by granting a limited protective order.”
In a statement to the Blade, Paxton also noted the steps DNC officials have taken to incorporate and prioritize gay issues.
“While their case is crumbling and these personal attacks seem to be all the plaintiffs have left, the truth is the DNC’s commitment to combating the Republican Party’s anti-gay attacks is clear,” she said. “We are proud to have invested unprecedented resources in combating anti-gay ballot measures in a half dozen states, adopted new delegate selection rules that will expand LGBT participation in the convention to historic levels, appointed a record number of LGBT leaders to the standing committees of the convention, and pursued a 50-state strategy that helped elect Democrats who stood up for the LGBT community in states like Iowa, Colorado, Ohio, New Hampshire, Oregon and Indiana.”
In response, Bernabei said case documents show the DNC repeatedly resisted “taking action in favor of the LGBT community.”
She said the DNC refused, at least through the first half of 2006, to fund efforts to combat state ballot initiatives that sought to ban same-sex marriage.
She also said the DNC delayed adding gender identity to its anti-discrimination policy and fumbled a response to former Marine Gen. Peter Pace’s homophobic comments in March 2007.
“We realize that the DNC and its representatives are not used to being held accountable and that they want nothing more desperately than to change ...
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