fallout from Maine rebuff by DNC

[panthera]

Every gay, every transgender who tends to vote for the Democrats ought to read this, I do believe.

Pam's, by the by, is becoming one of the most important blogs for our (by our I mean gay and transgender) community. The transgender have shown us a lot more support than many of us have given them through the years, sadly.

My parents donate the maximum every year. I am going to ask them to sign on to this and withhold their donations until we get some action.

http://www.pamshouseblend.com/showDiary.do;jsessionid=D7031883F63DE5F45E0015FB708C784B?diaryId=14010

 

[tomturbomatic]

We are an embarrassment, good for votes, but not good enough for national leaders to risk a trip to Maine to help us. The DNC has us figured out. We have no alternative and if we just don't vote, we might get those who actively hate us in positions of power instead of those doing the half-stepping we are now experiencing. I have no doubt that things would be trending a lot worse for us if the haters were in charge. Keeping pressure on the democrats is necessary, however it is done, simply because that is the way things work in politics.

Do some studying before you go someplace so that you are not putting money in the hands of those who hate us. I stopped going to Florida after I figured tourist dollars were supporting hate-filled yahoos. When I found out about the strong republican base in some counties in northern Maryland where we used to go to flea markets and thrift stores, I stopped going. I have not suffered, and, probably, neither have the shop owners, but they do not have my money to support their political causes. We need to be smarter about where our money goes because money has power and that power can be used to hurt us or help us.

 

[panthera]

The lessons we learned from the Colorado boycott

are already forgotten.
Tom, I am so glad to hear from you. Sometimes I feel like too many of us have internalized our second-class status.

The way I see it, the Democrats do need our votes and they aren't happy about it. They need for us to keep sending our money, keep voting and they are willing to give us crumbs to keep us in line.

As long as equal rights for gays and transgendered are withheld from us, we are going to be dependent upon coalitions. Since the Republicans and far-right Christians are against us, at first glance it appears we have no choice but to stay in this unholy marriage with the Democrats and let them beat us up whenever they feel like it.

But there are alternatives. You named an important one.

Don't give money to our oppressors. We are significant, sometimes major donors in many races. Make it clear to the local party that we would rather sit at home on our hands than to support a candidate who works against us. When they respond that that is supporting a Republican who is really bad for us, then we need to stand up to that threat and say - yes, true. But you will also lose. And we will make it very clearly known that you were blackmailing us and we wouldn't pay your Danegeld.

It will be a fight, but ultimately, I'd rather die a man than a mouse.

 

[panthera]

interesting discussion

I think we are learning from our mistakes. Just, how many more must we lose before we figure out that we are still letting the hateful Right-Wing Christians define the debate?

http://unitethefight.blogspot.com/2009/11/video-noms-maggie-gallagher-rubs-in-our.html

 

[gansky1]

I found this on one of my friend's Facebook comments, it's an interesting perspective for sure and there is some truth to what he says.

"Sometimes I wonder at how the Democrats don't just pummel Republicans in every election... and then I read the news. Herding cats doesn't even begin to describe it...

OMG, one year has passed... and he's only accomplished a fraction of his pledges! He's had so much time... you know, between the wars, battles over health care reform and all... Ooh, I have an idea... Time for a boycott, that'll sure accomplish a lot!

I'm sure the fracturing of the party that is happening with all of the interests (not just LGBT) within the Democratic tent will just love it when Republicans pick up a few more seats in the Senate and House next November... then their hopes of seeing things like DOMA repealed will go from a hard fight that might be winnable, to completely impossible....

Keep it up... us independents love it when ya'll drive folks to leave the party in frustration through misbegotten stunts like this. Come on over, the water is fine!"

 

[tomturbomatic]

You vote for Democrats who say that they are going to help then you ride them like a 2-8-8-2 locomotive rides the rails to get them to accomplish your agenda. Unlike big special interests, we don't have multiple lobbyists handing them huge bribes, I mean campaign contributions, so it's phone calls and emails from individuals that are needed, regularly. Enlist family and/or friends. The calls can't be whiney or demanding. They need to be factual, posssibly with a positive economic slant for passing our legislation.

 

[panthera]

position statement

I think this is really impressive. No, I don't agree with everything, but the general direction is right and every gay and transgender person needs to read this, IMHO.

http://www.pamshouseblend.com/diary/14025/dont-ask-dont-give-the-gaytm-is-officially-shut-down