News Article - July 9th, 2010

After weeks of pretending to ponder whether or not to veto a civil unions bill that the Hawaii legislature passed by a healthy margin, Gov. Linda Lingle (R) took the path of least resistance, fell back on fear-based falsehoods and single-handedly made sure that lesbian and gay couples in the Aloha State would be kept from basic benefits and security that civil partnership recognition would have provided. And broke a campaign promise in doing so.

It took minutes for the Right to scream bloody murder with the correct decision by a Federal judge in Massachusetts that DOMA is unconstitutional and keeps the Bay State from treating its lesbian and gay married citizens equally. Who brought that case against the Federal government? MA Attorney General Martha Coakley, a Democrat.

The contrast between the two major parties in America could not be clearer for LGBT Americans.

The vast majority of Republicans – and their rowdy stepchild, the Tea Baggers – love to talk about freedom and liberty while doing their very best to make sure that it doesn’t include millions of LGBT Americans. In my many years of doing of LGBT activism, I’ve had the opportunity to speak with many conservatives who admit that we should have some kind of partnership protection, some of them going so far as to say that they’d be fine with civil unions if we’d just leave the word marriage alone. Sadly, I can’t recall one Republican in my experience who has taken the initiative to offer a plan for partnership recognition for LGBT couples.

Not one.

Admittedly, I’ve seen a few brave members of the GOP make impassioned speeches about LGBT partnerships – even marriage – but they do so at the risk of enraging their leadership and their base, often facing fights from the far Right in primaries. Some of those Republicans have even gotten us over the finish line when it comes to passing domestic partnerships, civil unions and even marriage – and I applaud them for that. However, without the leadership of Democrats who crafted the bill, worked the floor, whipped the votes, beat back opposition and skullduggery from the right, those few Republicans wouldn’t have had the chance to take that risk.

Marriage and partnership rights aren’t the only issue where this scenario plays out. Time and again, it’s Democrats who show the way and Republicans, if they get on board at all, who obstruct.

Look, I know that not all Democrats are with us. Many in our community argue that the Democrats aren’t moving quickly enough on our agenda at the Federal level and on many points, I agree. We should never forget, however, that more progress has been made for LGBT Americans under the Obama administration and with Democrats controlling both houses of Congress than under any other administration – combined. If you think for one moment that a Speaker Boehner (or any other Republican speaker) is going to do anything other than use our lives as a political football, I’ve got news for you.

One has to look no further than the TX GOP platform that was recently approved to see just how backward – and terrifying – the GOP’s vision for America is. It’s only a matter of time before that bilge bubbles up to the national platform, wrapped in the flag and more fear.

Although Governor Lingle and the rest of her party obviously don’t think so, equality is meaningless unless it includes everyone. The freedom to marry, or to serve our country openly, or to sponsor our long-term partner for citizenship, or to work without fear of losing our jobs because of our actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity – basically, the freedom to be treated as equally as non-gay folks – comprise a collective birthright as Americans that is being kept from us.

Would you rather work with (and in some cases, educate) Democrats who believe in that basic birthright, or would you rather fight a GOP who would keep it from us? As we head into critical mid-term elections, the choice as Stonewall Democrats is clear.

For the sake of LGBT Americans, our friends, families and allies, I hope your choice is clear as well.

Yours in the fight,

Michael Mitchell