By LOU CHIBBARO JR.
Aug 22 2006, 6:17 PM |
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By unanimous voice vote, the 447-member Democratic National Committee on Aug. 19 approved a rule change that requires party leaders in all 50 states and the District of Columbia to establish "inclusion programs" to increase the number of gay delegates selected for the 2008 Democratic National Convention.
The vote came several weeks after party leaders, in behind-the-scenes negotiations, turned down a proposal by gay DNC members to include gays in the party's longstanding affirmative action rule for selecting delegates. That rule currently is limited to African Americans, Latinos, Asian-Pacific Islanders, Native Americans, and women.
Critics called the new inclusion rule a rehash of existing DNC policies calling for inclusion of gays in the delegate selection process. Gay Democratic activist Donald Hitchcock, the party's former gay outreach director who was ousted by DNC Chair Howard Dean, noted that the new rule doesn't require state parties to set the same goals for including gays that the affirmative action rule includes for other groups, such as African Americans.
But the National Stonewall Democrats, a gay partisan group, and the DNC's Gay & Lesbian Americans Caucus, disputed Hitchcock's assessment, hailing the "inclusion program" rule as a major breakthrough. Officials with the two groups said they yielded to objections by some African American DNC members, who felt the affirmative action rule should be reserved for groups that historically have suffered the denial of voting rights.
"The reason for the separate rule and the different phrase was to respect the sensitivities of the party's largest voting block, who as we all know were long barred 'by law' from voting, and later sometimes lynched or shot when they tried to," said gay DNC member Andy Tobias, who serves as the Democratic Party treasurer.
Tobias said members of the African American community on the DNC expressed "very strong feelings that the term 'affirmative action' should not be broadened further, even as the goal of LGBT inclusion should be supported."
Rather than have "division and ill will," Tobias said, gay caucus members decided it was better to adopt the new "inclusion" rule in a unanimous vote.
Tobias and Jo Wyrick, the National Stonewall Democrats executive director, said the inclusion rule for the first time calls on state parties to strive for "full inclusion" of GLBT delegates to the national party convention in proportion to their numbers in the "electorate." The rule does not say how state parties should determine the proportion of gays in the electorate or whether the proportion should be on a state or national basis.
NSD spokesperson John Marble said DNC officials said they would work out details of the proportional figure later after consulting with gay Democrats and others. The new inclusion rule specifically states that quotas for selecting gay delegates are strictly forbidden.
Former DNC press secretary Terry Michael, who is gay, said gay DNC members and other party activists could hurt the party's chances of winning elections against Republicans by getting "bogged down in identity politics."
"It should be clear to everyone by now that the Democratic Party is open to everyone, including gays," Michael said. "What we should be doing is joining forces and working together to win back the Congress and the presidency."
Hitchcock said he could support Michael's suggestion if all groups within the party agree to drop their official status. He said it is unfair for the party to treat gays differently from other minorities in its affirmative action program.
"I doubt the existing groups would be willing to give up affirmative action status any time soon," he said.
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