Solmonese Wanted Obama Administration Job
Just how the hell did the American homosexual movement get to such a low point, where the collective gay groups in Washington still ain't delivering shit in 2010 and there is no viable alternative on the horizon? In case I have not made the point in my decades of kvetching against the Human Rights Campaign and Gay Inc, let me make one thing perfectly clear. We suck at affecting political change.
Except for when AIDS was cutting its wide swath, and no safe treatments were available, and our righteous fury was directed at radically forcing the federal government to meet our specific demands for drugs and trials, our national agenda has utterly failed to provide significant progress.
The plague years saw a blossoming of fierce and fabulous outsider activism and insider lobbying, and both gay and AIDS agendas were the better for it. But now, Gay Inc's chickens have come home to roost, and we are not going anywhere until we once and for all recognize the 800-pound gorilla in the room.
HRC is our biggest obstacle to not only lasting change, but also real advances beyond being able to see a partner, if he or she were in the hospital. That executive memo by Obama was nice, but akin to allowing blacks to sit at integrated lunch counters, while keeping them out of the polling station.
I cannot accept the argument of HRC is vital to the gay agenda. It is destroying the agenda, all for the executives and board members and the advances they're most interested in - their own careers.
Consider the following from Richard Grenell, a gay Republican blogger at HuffPo:
Solmonese, a seasoned Democratic Party activist who at first maneuvered for a political appointment in the Obama administration, couldn't even move Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, who represents the gayest district in the country, to put DADT or gay marriage up for a standalone vote in the House.
He angled for a personal appointment. Gee, guess Joe wasn't pressing the president on the community's behalf, not when he wanted to work for the commander-in-chief. I don't imagine the HRC board, whose directors were also probably looking for gig with Barry O, had any problem with the executive director pushing his resume over to the West Wing.
The problem before us is not just that Joe must go, along with other executives, and the board too, or their shameful attempt to cloak themselves in Harvey Milk's activist grassroots legacy, or HRC's happy homo lapdog routine for the Democratic National Committee.
It is in HRC's genetic code to FAIL. Expect nothing for the gays until the organization is dissolved.
The HRC is a huge problem, but it's not just them. We have too many groups competing for different issues. One group fights for the repeal of DADT, while another fights for ENDA, etc. so instead of hearing one loud roar from the gay community demanding equal rights, the government hears many small competing voices. Sure, we could say to pass all our legislation, but no way in hell is congress and the senate going to fill their calendars with gay bills. All of these various groups compete within the community too. How many different emails do any of us get from numerous groups asking for money and to call and write public officials? I can't help the community with DADT when I'm already donating and writing letters about UAFA and DOMA. I've personally gone around to gay blogs and leaders of some of these organizations saying we need to unite, fight full on civil rights 1960's style for our civil rights, and that goal of each organization should be to become obsolete, that no one should be planning to make a life long career out of activism for LGBT people. You know what response I got? Anger. Yes anger; because to many people in the community and gay Inc have built their careers and identity around our oppression, and it really doesn't benefit them for the oppression to end and for them to longer be needed in the political/LGBT activist arena. We are our own worst enemies. We need to do this like MLK did, like the women burning their bras for equal rights did. I do not have any desire to be a part of an opressed minority finding fulfillment in the constant struggle and the accolades from my peers every time we get new sponsor for a bill that will never pass. The community is stuck in a rut and needs to pull itself up and do what needs to be done.
ReplyDeleteHey Michael
ReplyDeleteKeep up the good work with your blog. I would add that we were also extremely effective in the gay liberation days when Gay Liberation Front and other groups blazed trails and built on the energy started by Stonewall to really shake things up. I know, I was there.
In GLF, that is, not Stonewall. Wish I had been at Stonewall.
As you noted, the fault is of organizationS plural, and it is not just the head of the Hilary Rosen Champagne Fund the Huffop article calls for: "Led by Joe Solmonese of Human Right Campaign and AUBREY SARVIS of the Servicemen's [sic] Legal Defense Network, gay leaders have been tripping over themselves to protect President Obama from blame for not making the promised progress on gay equality. Solmonese and Sarvis are the faces of the most expensive failed gay campaign in history. ... for this failed strategy, they should be judged harshly.
ReplyDelete...In early 2009 [actually, it was November 2008-mlb], Sarvis sent a strong message to his Democratic friends that it wasn't the right time for the Democratic Party to take up gay issues yet. He told the Washington Times that waiting until at least 2010 for some LGBT victories made sense. "Where does 'don't ask, don't tell' fall in all this?," Sarvis asked. "I would say it is not in the top five priorities of national issues." His Board should have fired him on the spot.
... We can do better and we should start by demanding for Somonese's and Sarvis' resignations."