Petrelis Files

How Much Lack of GetEQUAL
Follow-up Will Gays Tolerate?

For an organization that has taken in close to a million bucks, pays its top executive a just-under six-figure salary, boasts of its young hip wired paid co-directors, and promised to be a grass roots org accountable to the community, they've done a piss poor job again this week with follow up.

Let's start at the top of GetEQUAL's actions this week over the Employment Non Discrimination Act. GE gave only a few hours notice to San Francisco activists that a traffic blocking was scheduled to send a message to Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and got much uncritical attention from A-List gay bloggers beforehand. The action took place at evening rush hour at Castro and Market streets. A few dozen protesters, a dozen arrests, a few minutes of traffic blocking.

As noted by the SF Chronicle, GE wrote a generic notice on the protest before it happened. No, GE doesn't break into a sweat to give any details about what actually happened at their supposed rally. Just a bunch of standard quotes from paid advocates. And forget about any explanation as to how the action influenced Pelosi. Essentially, GE failed to properly report back to the community.

The leaders think a photo showing the usual small number of GE protesters and canned releases are accountability. They aren't, especially when GE has contracted (care to disclose the compensation, Robin?), with former Human Rights Campaign propagandist and now-"independent" consultant Brad Luna.

Showing their laziness and cookie-cutter approach to communication with the community, GE's release about their zap of Congressman George Miller included one photo from the action, and bare bones statement that an action had occurred. No fresh details on what took place, and just like the Pelosi release, GE spouts on about stale stats and canned rhetoric. Info regarding how the zap pushed Miller on ENDA is omitted.

In Pennsylvania, three GE members staged a sit-in, with no arrests, at Congressman Chris Carney's office. That link is to a Google search on the sit-in. There is no info on the action on GE's own site. Why bother having a web site and not sharing basic, but comprehensive follow-up and all actions?

Over at the GE Facebook page, they have shared more pics, vids and tidbits of info on the Pennsylvania action, namely, that the Congressman's office was ignoring the sit-in and that a local news radio station wasn't covering the action. Additional details on the other zaps. Nothing about how it all added up to a hill of beans.

GE ended the week with an emergency 3-hour rally at the White House over Don't Ask, Don't Tell being declared unconstitutional by a federal judge. Not sure what deemed the "emergency" action, but it was more than 24-hours ago, and I've not seen a single pic, vid or written report, and not even a canned Brad Luna release, on either GE's site or Facebook page.

It must be asking too much of Robin McGehee, as the chief executive of GE, to give a cogent report on how all of her org's zaps and rallies last week collectively moved the gay agenda forward. She fails in this regard on a par with HRC's Joe Solmonese.