06/26/2009
Despite Protests, DNC LGBT Fundraiser Takes in More Than Last Year
[photo- flickr user bullneck]
Despite protests over Obama's Department of Justice DOMA brief and lack of movement on "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and other LGBT issues, last night's LGBT DNC Fundraiser brought in $1 milllion for the Democratic party, up from $750,000 last year, according to The Advocate.
"The vice president spent 20 minutes trying to convince the donors inside the Mandarin Oriental Hotel that President Obama is dedicated to following through on his campaign promises. He said he had asked to give the speech at the annual leadership dinner Thursday night, and he read from a TelePrompter. 'I am not unaware of the controversy swirling around this dinner and swirling around the speed or lack thereof that we are moving on issues that are of great importance to you,' Biden said."
Also: "Biden drew repeated standing ovations, according to a pool report, as he pledged the repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act and Don't Ask Don't Tell, the passage of the Lieberman-Baldwin bill on health benefits, a ban on workplace discrimination, adoption rights for all and an end to the HIV travel ban."
"Attendees of the 10th annual LGBT Leadership Council fundraiser for the Democratic National Committee Thursday were greeted by protesters carrying signs that read 'Gay Uncle Toms' and '265 Discharged Since January 20, 2009.' When Wisconsin Rep. Tammy Baldwin arrived, she chatted with the spirited flock of about 25 and then pivoted to enter the Mandarin Oriental Hotel as cries of 'Don’t go in, Tammy!' and 'Shame on you!' followed her. 'I think it’s so important that as gay and lesbian people who are denied equal rights, we do feel an impatience and a frustration and it’s really important that that be expressed both outside and inside,' she said."
The event was preceded earlier in the day by a blistering AP piece called "Promises, Promises: Obama Slow on Pledge to Gays", reporting that
the President's steps have been incremental and have had "little real
effect".
They added: "But he's still willing to take money from a reliably Democratic constituency — he was sending Vice President Joe Biden to a Democratic National Committee fundraiser Thursday evening with gay and lesbian donors. Some gay donors called for a boycott after Obama's Justice Department, in a court filing, compared gay marriages to incest. 'I don't think it's an appropriate time to be raising money. No one is happy now,' said Richard Socarides, who advised former President Bill Clinton on gay issues and did not plan to attend the event (on Thursday night). 'On gay rights, the country is already in the age of Obama, but he's governing from the Clinton era.'"
[photo (and above, right)- flickr user bullneck]
Posted 7:28 AM EST by Andy Towle in Activism, Democratic Party, DOMA, News, Washington DC | Permalink
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Expected...
Posted by: LoveLace | Jun 26, 2009 7:42:21 AM
And sad. Rights... say hello again to the back-burner. No feet to the fire, no movement on gay rights.
Posted by: Matt | Jun 26, 2009 7:50:31 AM
The attitude of the DNC towards us can be seen in the quote below. In spite of all the attendee's statements about "engaging on the issues" the true fact of the matter is that the DNC is unwilling to take up our cause.
“He said he would work with us on that,” Rosenstein said. “But he didn’t run down the litany of issues that the vice president did during his speech – it lacked a real commitment to showing what the DNC is going to do on our issues.”
Posted by: David | Jun 26, 2009 7:59:12 AM
What's the difference between the Democrats fooling us into donating to them and you taking money from the producers of "Bruno" to over-hype their movie?
Posted by: Dave | Jun 26, 2009 8:36:57 AM
Go point about Bruno! lol -- I lost a lot of respect for towleroad in the last few weeks because of that promotion.
And this whole fundraiser makes me very discouraged. Obviously those with the money to do these kinds of things don't care about progress, they only want nice cocktail parties.
Posted by: Dan | Jun 26, 2009 8:46:59 AM
Raised $1 million: That's a chunk of change for talk! Now, start showing the commitment, instead of using the same arguments (and insulting the community by saying the amount that equal rights would cost is reason to support DOMA, as well as supporting DADT in a recent case, ignoring the cost that discharging some highly trained military personnel is wasting).
Speaking of pocketbooks, and to a lot of us $! million is a deep one, let's remember that the event was a fundraiser, so of course Biden tried to make amends and made nice.
Posted by: gleeindc | Jun 26, 2009 8:47:12 AM
There goes our leverage. What a cowardly subculture we can be.
Posted by: MikeMick | Jun 26, 2009 8:55:17 AM
The DNC proved they have no reason to support the gays now. This was our shot to make a statement and by actually raising more money this year for them, we did the opposite. Good game gays, good game.
Posted by: Cory | Jun 26, 2009 8:56:48 AM
>>What's the difference between the Democrats fooling us into donating to them and you taking money from the producers of "Bruno" to over-hype their movie?<<
BRILLIANT!
Posted by: Keith | Jun 26, 2009 9:15:49 AM
This is just the kind of encouragement the administration needs to continue its lip-service to our community. We can expect another pro-DOMA brief from the DOJ (perhaps a bit toned down--with members of our community advocating that as "Progress"). My wallet is closed, permanently. No more money to HRC or any other "advocacy" group. There are blogs like Lawdork spending much more time attacking members of the LGBT community about the degree of the arguments (incest and pedophilia) rather than attacking the actual arguments in the brief. SAD DAY For Marriage Equality, DADT, and lifting the HIV travel ban.
Posted by: Leto | Jun 26, 2009 9:21:08 AM
25 people? ONLY 25 "spirited" people? How underwhelming!
Posted by: Perry | Jun 26, 2009 9:25:47 AM
Well, we all no what this means. With no unity in voices and support to an administration unwilling to take chances, we're gonna go right back to the back of the political bus again.
Shame on those who donated money, time, and appearances to this show.
Posted by: DR | Jun 26, 2009 9:30:05 AM
If they raised that much money with the boycott in place, I imagine the Democrats must be pissed off with the missed opportunity to raise even more. That being said, it's disappointing that so many gays and lesbians are so ensorcelled by their proximity to leading politicians that they ignore the grassroots protests.
Posted by: Darrien | Jun 26, 2009 9:49:09 AM
If less than 200 people attended yet they raised nearly a million dollars, that means a very FEW big pocketed donors coughed up the bucks to save face for the DNC. Who were they? In any event, the writing is on the wall and they can't hide it. NO ACTION = NO VOTES (and no more gay ATM machines).
Posted by: Wayne | Jun 26, 2009 10:02:18 AM
I feel everybody's frustration, I really do. But I think throwing in the towel on the Democratic party is a little overdramatic at this point. Not that I would expect anything less, but...
Just because politicians are moving at the pace of American politics, and not at the Pace of Justice, which is how we see it, does not mean everyone believes we're second class citizens and is instantly our enemy because they're not bringing about instantaneous exhaustive equality from coast to coast.
Let's stay in the real world. We're getting there, and the Dems are our friends. Let's not forget that we're asking for a sea change in the moral understanding of sexuality. That's a lot different than asking for a change in moral understanding of skin color, or even gender.
For as much as we've gained in the last 40 years, Americans deserve our patience. If we continue to be blinded self-serving drama queens, theirs will be short-lived.
Posted by: JeffRob | Jun 26, 2009 10:30:42 AM
"The Advocate reported..." Oh, the same Advocate that has Perez Hilton on their next cover? Yeah, I'm really paying attention to that publication. The Advocate hasn't been relevant since before Christopher Street ceased publication.
Posted by: hank | Jun 26, 2009 10:33:54 AM
What is with the Bruno comments?
Bruno is a satire that exposes the inate homophobia in this country. The trailers indicate that it will be an incredably funny & pointed movie. Sacha Baron Cohen is a major talent & not anyway a homophobe himself. I don't see any connection between this movie & the raising of funds by the Dems & their failure to move forward on LGBT rights.
Posted by: Stephen | Jun 26, 2009 10:34:57 AM
I am less discouraged about this than some of the other posters. Calls for the boycott have only appeared over the last few weeks, while requests to potential attendees have been out for a few months. I have no doubt that some of this money was raised from people who ended up supporting the boycott, but who did not get their donations back. And, as someone who is familiar with "papering the house", it is unclear how many of the attendees were donors and how many were place-sitters. In addition, many of the supporters of the boycott are people who gave smaller donations to the Democratic Party, even if those donations were significant in total. These people would not be among last nights attndees. It is of greater interest to me that Pelosi met with Frank, et al. re moving our agenda forward. This would not have happened if the boycott were not a significant concern. It's too early to get discouraged.
Posted by: silverkjk | Jun 26, 2009 10:39:28 AM
$1m up from $750k last year - you mean the year 'W' was still president? Big woop. Repeal DOMA, support states that allow marriage equality, repeal DADT, pass national hate crimes legislation, THEN hold another GLBT fundraiser for the DNC. I am piss-poor (i don;t drink, smoke, or eat out) but I would then find a way to send in $10 and I would challenge my bros and sis' to do the same. Like Barney Frank told us - get the Dem elected and then don't stop beating them up until we get what we deserve. We need all of us working smart by knocking on doors and on the phones to get local and state dems elected to replace the most conservative officials out there. It won;t happen without your help in the right way. We will make it to the land of equality - WE MUST!
Posted by: JD | Jun 26, 2009 10:39:37 AM
$1 mil for an event headlined by the VP? I don't think it's that impressive. I still bet they lost a decent chunk of change over at least a few boycotts.
We can't expect the subculture of the community apologists to change over night. We need to keep the gayTM closed. Next target *must* be the gay orgs that paid to go to that fundraiser. Make *them* feel the pain, as well as the DNC. A steady drip, drip will have an effect.
(Although, I must say, I'm disappointed that the Boston Rally I posted videos from seemed better attended. I hope John Avarosis and his friends showed up to that protest, lest they be hypocrites. They could have done more to promote it.)
Posted by: Ryan | Jun 26, 2009 11:29:46 AM
How do we know it's $1M? The DNC can say anything they want -- they don't have to legally report the haul from individual events.
Posted by: Chris | Jun 26, 2009 11:33:33 AM
It is important to remember that gay politicians are politicians first, and gay second. Just think of all the closeted politicians who still won't come out in Congress, as Governors, as state legislators. It is sad. But politics corrupts people who should know better.
Posted by: Daniel | Jun 26, 2009 11:47:29 AM
Chris is right.
There is something fishy about that $1 Million amount claimed to have been raised for the DNC fundraiser.
FEC reports will be filed at the end of this month so we will be able to check the DNC amounts for when the $$$ was raised, and who wrote a check from the LGBT community.
Posted by: RobertT | Jun 26, 2009 11:49:49 AM
They should be called the Log Cabin Democrats.
Posted by: Name: | Jun 26, 2009 11:53:27 AM
Obviously, too many fags have more money than sense.
Posted by: shane | Jun 26, 2009 12:04:18 PM