Vice President Joe Biden was scheduled to speak at Thursday’s DNC fundraiser, which several gay invitees planned to boycott. (Photo by Mary Altaffer/AP)
Tension continued to build this week over a LGBT fundraiser for the Democratic National Committee with several gay invitees boycotting the event, while others who planned to attend said they would voice their frustrations to party leaders.
Chuck Wolfe, president of the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund, withdrew from the event on Tuesday.
The event, scheduled for Thursday after the Blade’s print deadline, was sponsored by the DNC’s LGBT Leadership Council and set to take place at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in D.C. (Visit washingtonblade.com for news updates on the event.) The featured speaker was Vice President Joe Biden. Other scheduled speakers included DNC Chair and Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine as well as gay Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.).
Several gay invitees pledged to boycott the fundraiser because of what they said is a lack of action from President Obama and Congress on LGBT issues.
Many also expressed frustration over the extent to which the U.S. Justice Department defended the Defense of Marriage Act earlier this month in a motion to dismiss a federal lawsuit against the law.
But Joan Garry, a former executive director of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, said she planned to attend to “carry a message directly to the senior DNC leadership” and say that “the controversy is about more than a group of people withdrawing from a fundraiser and it’s about more than impatience.”
“I fear that the language of the DOJ brief is causing a crisis of confidence, and I believe the administration needs to address those words head on because words really do matter,” she said.
Garry was a co-chair for Obama’s LGBT finance committee during the 2008 campaign.
When asked to comment on the decisions of others not to attend the event, Garry replied, “the important piece of the puzzle is to be engaged in whatever way makes the most sense for you.”
DNC treasurer Andy Tobias, who is gay, confirmed Tuesday that the fundraiser would go ahead as scheduled. He predicted that speakers at the event would address concerns and demonstrate the Democratic Party’s commitment to LGBT issues.
“I don’t know exactly what they’re going to say, but my hope is that most people are going to leave feeling reaffirmed that the administration is really a wonderful ally,” he said.
Aubrey Sarvis, executive director of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, said that his organization planned to protest outside the event to urge Obama to take action on repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”
“We will be wearing and handing out buttons with the number 265, representing the number of service members who will have been discharged … since President Obama was sworn in,” he said.
But while SLDN planned to protest outside, two of the organization’s board members planned to attend the fundraiser, Sarvis said.
Brian Fricke, a gay Iraq war veteran and SLDN board member, told the Blade last week he planned to attend the fundraiser even though he was disappointed by the Justice Department brief.
Sarvis said SLDN won’t “dictate how members of our board or our Military Advisory Council make their political views known.”
“I also understand they will be making their own spirited and creative statements once inside the room,” he said.
National Stonewall Democrats also declined to encourage its members to attend the event.
Politico broke news on Stonewall’s decision not to help out with Thursday’s event by publishing an e-mail exchange between Stonewall’s board of directors and Tom Petrillo, who heads LGBT fundraising for the DNC.
In addition to criticizing the language used in the Justice Department brief, Stonewall’s board of directors expressed frustration that the DNC provided no financial support for Stonewall’s annual Capitol Champions fundraiser last month, even though the DNC sponsored the event in the past.
Stonewall also complained that the DNC provided no materials or support for producing materials for Pride activities across the country, noting that in previous years, the DNC provided such materials.
“[W]e are incredibly disappointed that the DNC has made a decision to withhold any financial support to National Stonewall Democrats this year but is in turn asking us to help raise money for the DNC in a difficult financial environment,” the board wrote.
Petrillo responded that he had a recent conversation with Kyle Bailey, Stonewall’s director of chapter and national development, and said the DNC would be able to sponsor a project with Stonewall later this year.
Jon Hoadley, executive director of the National Stonewall Democrats, confirmed that the e-mail exchange published by Politico was accurate and that Stonewall was not ...
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equalityNOW Washington, DC
2
I wonder what Stonewall alumni would say if 40 years down the road, homos sipped champaigne with leaders of a party that control the Justice Department - and compared homos to pedophiles in their brief defending DOMA.
Shame to anyone who attended the event at the MO last week.
Kudos to those who protested it!
Posted 6/27/09 - 9:20 PM
mushroomhead
-1
equalityNOW: I wonder what Stonewall alumni would say if 40 years down the road, homos sipped champaigne with leaders of a party that control the Justice Department - and compared homos to pedophiles in their brief defending DOMA.
Shame to anyone who attended the event at the MO last week.
Kudos to those who protested it!
If my gay brethren largely feel this way, then why did so many flock to the White House this week to meet with the Messiah?? It must have been just to see the Messiah instead of his image on the Shroud of Turin.
