Jun 19, 2009  |  By: Chris Johnson  | COMMENTS     

Displeasure with the Obama administration’s handling of LGBT issues is prompting some activists and donors to boycott an upcoming Democratic National Committee fundraiser.

The event, set for June 25, is sponsored by the DNC’s LGBT Leadership Council and set to take place at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in D.C. The featured speaker is Vice President Joe Biden.

But several gay invitees to the event are pledging to boycott because of what they say is a lack of action from President Barack Obama on LGBT issues.

Many said they are particularly upset about the extent to which the U.S. Justice Department defended the Defense of Marriage Act last week in a motion to dismiss a federal lawsuit against the law.

Bruce Bastian, a gay businessman and prominent donor who lives in Utah and is on the list of special invitees, not only said he no longer plans to attend the fundraiser, but also that he no longer plans to donate to the Democratic Party as a whole.

“I will continue to support certain congressmen, congresswomen and senators whom I believe will continue to fight for our rights, but I don’t think blanket donations to the Democratic Party right now are justified, at least not in my book,” he said.

Bastian, a major donor to many LGBT groups, said he sent an e-mail to the DNC on Wednesday saying he wouldn’t attend the event “because of the remarks on DOMA.” He found the filing “very offensive.”

“The administration has said they have to support the federal government’s stance,” he said. “But in the brief, they go way beyond where they need to go to just defend DOMA. They basically go to terminology and language that you would expect from the Bush administration, not the Obama administration.”

Bastian said the brief was the “tipping point” for him in his perception for how the Democratic Party supports LGBT issues.

“The LGBT community raised a lot of money in support for Obama, and, I think he has to have the courage — well, not just him — but, I think the Democratic Party now has to have the courage to fight back, and when they do, they’ll have my support,” he said.

Bastian said he would change his mind on the donations and his attendance if there were action on passing hate crimes legislation in the Senate and movement to repeal DOMA and “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

‘Personally offended’

Marty Rouse, the Human Rights Campaign’s national field director, also said he “will not be attending the fundraiser” because of the language that was used in the brief.

“I was, like many people, personally offended by the words used in the [Justice Department] brief to defend DOMA,” he said. “And I just can’t see right now attending a fundraiser for the DNC at this time.”

Brad Luna, an HRC spokesperson, said Rouse was invited in a personal capacity and his decision to not attend doesn’t represent the viewpoint of HRC.

Rouse noted that his son completed second grade this week and that the words in the brief “were so offensive” that he “couldn’t imagine reading them to his son.”

But Rouse said he would rethink his decision to not attend if Obama were to speak out in favor of repealing DOMA before the fundraiser.

“If the president were to call for a repeal of DOMA between now and [June 25], if he were to make a public statement — that would make me reconsider,” Rouse said.

Andy Tobias, who’s gay and treasurer of the DNC, said LGBT people are understandably frustrated, but urged them not to abandon the Democratic Party and Obama.

“I think that we should push the administration for our equality, and I think that at the same time we should support the administration,” he said.

The Justice Department filing, Tobias said, was “completely indefensible,” but he noted it was a “Department of Justice brief, and it’s not the president’s policy and not what the administration thinks about DOMA.”

Tobias said supporters of LGBT causes should work toward building a “grassroots effort” throughout the nation “that is going to help the president move his agenda.”

“For an awful lot of reasons, we want to see this administration succeed, in part because one of the things on [Obama’s] agenda … is our agenda,” he said. “Different people have different levels of faith in the sincerity of the commitment. My level of faith is high, and I hope that it proves to be justified.”

Not all the special gay invitees have said they plan to boycott. Brian Fricke, a gay Iraq war veteran and board member for the Servicemembers ...