Campaign Trail Mix:
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June 29, 2006

Being Careful of What You Wish For

Republicans were gleeful when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled late yesterday that states could redistrict their congressional delegations at any point. The GOP shortsightedly saw it as a simple vindication of their mid-decade efforts in Texas to grant more seats friendly to their party. Tom Delay went so far as to try to spin it as a washing of the charges recently brought against him (it was not).

Our nation is now face with a situation that wasn't on anyone's political radar just a month ago. State legislatures are now free to draw new boundaries for congressional seats at whim. As long as a particular political party controls both legislative chambers and the governorship, it is possible for that party to remake maps fairly easily.

The upside for Democrats is that more legislatures and governorships will trend Democratic this cycle, as they did the last cycle (New York may be the next to fall in the Dems favor). Democrats have the opportunity to shift the balance of power in the U.S. House of Representatives to their party in the next few years simply through redistricting alone. Of course, the public could quickly sour on any partisan redistricting efforts and punish the parties who practiced such measures.

Our nation needs some quiet time to reflect on the greater ramifications for our Democracy. Do we really want more congressional seats to be guaranteed for life, which such plans will surely produce. Is it more democratic to allow state legislatures to actively redistrict, or does it blunt democracy? Unfortunately, in our current politically-charged national environment (ironically helped supplied by Tom Delay's redistricting plan upheld yesterday by the Supreme Court), I fear that the option to reflect on such larger issues will be quickly lost.

Posted by John at 03:26 PM | Permalink |

Bush Twin Outsourced to Latin America

Adios. For the first time in the entire tenure of the Bush Administration, it appears that both Bush Twins will be gainfully employed as each decamps from the District of Columbia. Barbara moved to Manhattan in past weeks to take a job with a design firm while Jenna is rumored to be leaving the country.

Jenna, whose presence has long frustrated the hipster residents of Columbia Heights and Mount Pleasant (DC) is rumored to be leaving her third-grade teaching gig in Mount Pleasant for an undisclosed teaching position somewhere in Latin America. Reporters have spotted moving vans outside here Georgetown home as she is believed to be crashing with her parents at 1600 until she makes a run for the border.

Posted by TrailMix at 12:12 PM | Permalink |

June 28, 2006

The Devil Wears Gucci

Girrrrrrrrrrl, this is getting good! (And yes, those were five r's in that one). Just when June entertainment was being dulled down by the World Cup, Star Jones and Barbara Walters go at it. This is better than a Tyson fight.

Star struck the first blow by announcing on yesterday's episode of The View that she would be leaving the show in July. After the show, Star quickly called into Ryan Seacrest's radio show on KISS-FM to complain about being dumped by ABC while crying that "Barbara did not have my back!" Oh no, she didn't.

Barbara quickly threw back by nixing Star from the rest of the season, having editors scrub her name and image from the opening credits and then issuing a smack-down in the opening segment of this morning's episode proclaiming that "The view made Star a star." Ouch. You can see Barbara's hit here (low bandwidth) or here (high bandwidth) thanks to our friends at The Malcontent.

Posted by TrailMix at 04:48 PM | Permalink |

Whose Agenda Is It Anyway?
Where Black Gays Are in Their Movement

Before you cry foul, if what I am about to say doesn’t apply to you, keep up the good work. We need your support to get the job done for all of us. For those of you who read this and think me to be anti-marriage equality, I am not. Remember, I started one of the first Black lead marriage equality campaigns in the nation—but enough with the disclaimers.
You may not know it, but there’s a contingency of gay people conspiring on ways to organize Blacks. And not only do they want to organize Blacks to spread their message of marriage for everyone, but they want to do it through Black gays.

Yeah, I said it, somebody needed too.

The relationship between Black gay organizations and some of the other gay groups is one where publicly they embrace us and applaud our efforts but behind closed doors they’re figuring out to move us out of the picture and do the job that we are doing.

Did you know gay organizations are meeting everyday to strategize on how to best mobilize Black gays for their purposes of “diversity?”

They’ve somehow gotten it into their heads that non-Black gays hold the key to breaking the cycle of homophobia in the Black community.

Can you imagine that?

Let me get this straight, no pun intended. Individuals who are not from Black communities, know little to nothing about our community, and for the most part aren’t even remotely interested in really working with our community know how to talk to Blacks about marriage.

And if that wasn’t bad enough, they’ve hired themselves a few Negro’s to be the Black face for their organization so that they can get into rooms where they’ve traditionally been unwelcome. But don’t get me wrong. These Negro’s for hire work overtime at earning their paycheck, at times even to the detriment of their own community.

The crisis in California

Similar to the co-opting of Black pulpits to spread the white conservative agenda during the 2004 Presidential election, Black gay groups are being taken over by the gay agenda and nowhere is this more prevalent than in California where one of the more prominent gay groups is working overtime at telling Black gays what they need to say to Black people about marriage.

To date, this group has hired a resident Negro who has no connection whatsoever to the Black community, bought and paid for one of the few Black gay groups in California, and is seeking to drive a “coalition” plan to get the other groups on board with their message. All of this in the name of diversity, yeah right.

But it gets even worse.

This gay group has now set their aspirations on Black politicians in California after hearing from other Black gays that they didn’t have a relationship with them. As with everything else, they’ve bypassed the Black gay leadership and are now trying to get the Blacks in Sacramento on their team, using any method necessary which usually means money and lots of it.

This is the reason why Black politicians and Black leaders don’t know anything about the Black gay leadership. Gay groups with more money beat us to the punch every time and take credit for everything.

Enough is enough

Recently, one of the resident Negro’s at one of the national gay groups announced that she had single handedly held a meeting with the editors and publishers of Johnson Publications in Chicago. What she didn’t say is that she got the idea to have the meeting because a Black gay group’s communications director, who quite frankly was wet behind the ears, called her and asked for Johnson Publications contact information and leaked his idea about the meeting. Because she was faster and had more money behind her to get the meeting, she beat him to the punch and has now probably earned herself a raise.

It’s that kind of atrocious and cut throat behavior that is destroying the Black gay community.

Which is not to say that Blacks working for these gay groups can’t do good work, but in the 20 plus history of this particular organization, they’ve never demonstrated a real interest in supporting the African American community?

Is there a need for Black gay social justice groups?

Black gays don’t need non-Black gays to organize them. We’ve been down this road before and it’s not an effective strategy.

Black gays can handle the Black community on their own. You don’t see us trying to message outside of our community on gay marriage with efforts to organize the overall gay community, so what the hell gives others the right to come into our community and try to undo all of the years of hard work that Black gays have put into fighting for our civil rights?

What is the use of having Black gay groups if the gay leadership is going to trample all over us and use their money to overstep us at every point?

Every time I turn around, I’m hearing about coalition building, but coalition building for whose benefit? Black gays would be better off building coalitions with the larger Black community, but we can’t because every time we turn around, the gay leadership is using their money to get in good with the Black leadership leaving us out of the picture completely.

Whose agenda is it anyway?

The time has come for the Black same-gender loving community to tell the gay leadership to back off and let us mobilize our own community. Black gay groups need to step to the plate and turn down the guilt money that comes with strings attached from these organizations who just want to use us. We don’t need people who are not from our community telling us what to do in our community. We already know what needs to be done, we’ve always known because we’ve always been here. What we need is for the gay leadership stand down and let us do our thing our way.

Marriage has never been number one on our agenda. Any campaign to win support for marriage in Black communities must start with an acknowledgement of that fact. Sure we want the right to get married, but we also want affordable housing, employment, universal healthcare, more funding for HIV/AIDS programs in our communities, and social security reform. We want to deal with the Black church and combating the homophobia that is spewed from the pulpit. Oops! I probably shouldn’t have said that part about the Black church because now the well funded gay groups are going to try and go into the Black church and do our work there too. My bad, they’re already doing that.

The only difference between the work that other gay groups are trying to do in our community and the work that we are currently doing as Black lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people, is that they have no problem using their money to get them what they want. That’s an attitude that more of us in the Black community need to have so that we can fund our own movement and not have to sell our souls just to keep the doors open and the lights on. While I understand that there is a need to be funded, we need to set the agenda and not the other way around. I am not oblivious to the fact that many of our Black organizations accept money from questionable sources including Wal-mart and big tobacco companies. The issue is this. If we are going to accept money from questionable sources, then they need to give the money and step away and let us do the work that needs to be done our way.

Black gays play the most important role in this movement

If Black gays are to have a movement of our own, we are going to have to be willing to play a role in our own liberation and that starts with our checkbooks and our time.

The reason other gay groups are so effective at their work is because they’ve gotten it that if there is going to a movement it’s going to have to be funded and they’ve made that sacrifice.

Philanthropy issues are not relative to Black gays only. This is an issue facing the entire African American community. We need to develop a culture of giving back to our community and not just at the club.

Black gays are going to have to accept the fact that if we aren’t willing to contribute financially and with our time to shaping our own movement, that there are groups just waiting for the opportunity to come into our community and do the work that we aren’t willing to do.

While I fault these groups for being so bold, at the end of the day there’s no one to blame but ourselves if we allow outsiders to come in and do our jobs.

If the majority of the community is okay with allowing other groups to come and message to our people, then we just need to say it and be through with it. At least we’ll know where we stand on the issue. However, on the other hand, if we feel differently then we need to own up and take responsibility for getting the work done ourselves.

In a recent article in the San Francisco Chronicle, Black gays were asked if they wanted to combine their Black gay pride celebrations with their mainstream counterparts. The sentiment was no: there needs to be a cultural celebration that was unique to Black gays. Well, why don’t we display that same attitude when fighting for our civil rights? Do you honestly believe that people outside of our community know our people better than us?

If we are to sustain any viable movement for our people, we are going to have to do better and quickly. We can’t afford to waste anytime because unlike other members of the gay community, we not only have to stand vigilant in the Black community but we have to manage to stay ten steps ahead of the gay community who is consciously trying to remove us from the picture.

We are Black first

What some of the other gay groups fail to realize is that Black gays are in fact Black and because we’re Black there are a myriad of issues that are facing us that may take precedence of marriage. Black gay men in particular are dealing with the issues of being a Black man in America, which includes an increased incarceration rate. As a Black lesbian, I am equally concerned about the lack of jobs with livable wages, healthcare, affordable housing, police brutality, gang violence, and the continued racism towards Blacks in this country. That doesn’t mean that my civil rights as a lesbian take second place but it does mean that I am just as concerned about my civil rights as a Black and that’s where many of these gay groups just don’t get it. They want everyone who is gay to be gay first and race is a secondary issue. Race is the reason why you will find the majority of Black gays living in minority communities and not the self created gay enclaves like West Hollywood, Dupont Circle, and Greenwich Village. Because like other Blacks many of us are struggling to make it and most of us can’t afford to live in these often times wealthier neighborhoods. Unfortunately, race is still an issue.

As for me, I will be always be, in this order, a Black women who is a lesbian and at the end of the day I believe that’s how a lot of Black gays feel, that they are Black first.

Posted by Jasmyne at 01:17 PM | Permalink |

June 22, 2006

Heart Breaker, Love Taker

I have to admit that we were a little miffed around the office when we learned that Patrick Murphy got married this week. Sure, we're thrilled for him and Jenni - but its a little like your best friend marrying the girl you always had a crush on.

For those who don't know, Patrick is a decorated Iraq War veteran, former JAG officer, prosecutor and constitutional law professor at West Point, Democratic congressional candidate this year in Pennsylvania's 8th congressional district and a general helluva guy. He's not too bad on the eyes either.

Congratulations Patrick and Jenni! You can wish them well on the Murphy06.com blog.

Posted by John at 02:19 PM | Permalink |

June 20, 2006

Donald Rumsfeld as Dr. Phil

Just as President Bush looked into the soul of Russian President (and quasi-dictator) Putin to judge his spiritual state, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is using his hunches to play doctor.

Posted by TrailMix at 10:44 AM | Permalink |

June 19, 2006

Fun with Fashion

Who would have ever thought we would have seen pink Santorum on the Senate floor? This is one step beyond the annual parade of Senate seersuckers (as a Southerner, I shudder when the trend creeps like kudzu beyond the Mason-Dixon to envelop even Yankee senators).

Dan Savage has a take here. So does the SMP.

Posted by John at 10:12 AM | Permalink |

June 15, 2006

Altar Call...or Wake Up Call?

As a veteran of Southern Baptist politics, I welcomed the news yesterday that Reverend Frank Page of South Carolina was elected President of the Southern Baptist Convention. In his stunning victory, Rev. Page defeated two candidates backed by the SBC leadership.

Over the past decade, the Southern Baptist Convention has made no apologies for becoming a proxy of the Republican Party. The leadership tended to heed the word of RNC Chair Ken Mehlman more than the actual words of Christ. As a result, thousands of Southern Baptists (like myself) became alienated from our denomination. The Texas Baptist Convention threatened to leave because of the leadership's political bully tactics and many churches made a full break from the convention, like the church home of President Carter. Other churches, like the District of Columbia Baptist Convention, were kicked out of the SBC because of their welcoming policy towards gay believers.

I'm sure that Reverend Page is equally as politically conservative as he is sculpturally conservative. The policies of the SBC most likely will not change, but hopefully their stands on political issues will adhere more closely to the founding principles of the Baptist faith - that the priesthood of the believer is paramount and that no follower should be forced to follow the political dictates of the church leadership. For the many Democrats and progressives in the Southern Baptist Convention, the adherence to our denomination's founding principle has been too long ignored.

Posted by John at 10:30 AM | Permalink |

June 14, 2006

Hajimemashite!

Stonewall Fellow Daniel Jasnow with Kanako Otsuji

Yesterday, Stonewall welcomed Kanako Otsuji as she met with LGBT organizations on a visit to Washington. Otsuji is a member of the Osaka Prefecture Assembly and the only openly-gay elected official in Japan (Japan is also served by a transgender individual).

Otsuji is a leader on women's issues in Osaka - the second largest city in Japan. At our meeting yesterday, Otsuji met with representatives from the National Center for Transgender Equality, the National Association of LGBT Community Centers, the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force, Freedom to Marry and the Stonewall Democrats. Otsuji was looking for models of LGBT organizing that can be reapplied in Japan, where the concept of a gay identity among the general population is not yet widely held.

Posted by TrailMix at 02:30 PM | Permalink |

June 09, 2006

Al-Qaeda Wants to Be Your Friend!

LOL..R..U..Kidding Me?

New Scientist is reporting that the National Security Agency (NSA) is funding research into the mass harvesting of information that people post about themselves on online networking sites like Myspace and Friendster.

From the magazine: "The idea is to see by how many links or 'degrees' separate people from, say, a member of a blacklisted organization."

Watch out. I'm sure that Osama bin Laden is hanging out in your online NYUGurlz4BoyBandz user group.

This is a largely gray area regarding domestic spying. Is it illegal for the military to intentionally browse through social networking sites? I don't know if it is, but its creepy and not-very-American at the least. I wonder if the military can use your Facebook link to Justin Timberlake as grounds for dismissal under "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

At Carlos&Charlies on Spring Break in Cancun. I was so wasted.

Posted by John at 10:02 AM | Permalink |

June 08, 2006

One Less Obstacle

It was great news this morning to hear that our military had eliminated terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. The details that are trickling out about the mission that killed him appear to be a testimony to our men and women on the ground in Iraq - who had been tracking him for than three weeks.

We hope that this victory in battle will help bring our victory in war about a bit more quickly. Its too soon to tell if the source of terrorism in Iraq was limited chiefly to al-Zarqawi, or if it has legs strong enough without him to go on. Lets hope it is the former, for the sake of our men and women and the people of Iraq.

Posted by TrailMix at 09:38 AM | Permalink |

June 06, 2006

Liddy Dole Loses It with Rabid Attack

We ususally don't like to repost press releases on the TrailMix blog. That's just lazy and uncreative blogging. However, we had to post the following from Elizabeth Dole as her committee flies off the handle in a rabid attack against the Stonewall Democrats National Convention this past weekend in Pittsburgh.

The committee accuses Stonewall of being a "radical gay group." They even complained about our Warhol-like convention logo because they thought it made Rick Santorum look bad. Just how radical are our members? Well, we began the opening session with the Pledge of Allegiance and a salute to veterans in our membership and concluded the day with a Pittsburgh Pirates baseball game. Edgy.

Oh...Rick Santorum was well aware of our grassroots trainings in Pittsburgh. Although he didn't register for the convention himself, he did send staff members in his place. After we caught an employee of his campaign videotaping Stonewall members from across the country at our opening reception, we asked him to leave. We're not sure why, but he literally ran down the street with camera in hand and squealed his wheels out of the driveway when he was caught. Some members of our college chapters sniffed him out as a plant early (he enthusiastically wore an anti-Santorum button on his blazer) and playfully flirted with the poor guy, who stiffened up and was visibly uncomfortable (those guys were out of his league anyway).

Click below to read the release from Elizabeth Dole.

NRSC PRESS RELEASE

The National Republican Senatorial Committee

Elizabeth Dole, Chair

For Immediate Release:
Friday, June 2, 2006
Contact: Dan Ronayne
(202) XXX-XXXX

ON EVE OF SENATE GAY MARRIAGE VOTE, "SILENT BOB" HIDES BEHIND HOWARD DEAN

DNC Chair To Stand In For Silent Bob in Pittsburgh With The National Stonewall Democrats, A Radical Gay Group Backing Bob Casey, Jr.

WASHINGTON--The NRSC released the following statement regarding Howard Dean's appearance in Pittsburgh before the gay rights group the "Stonewall Democrats" this Saturday in Pittsburgh.

"As the Senate prepares to vote on The Federal Marriage Amendment, Silent Bob is ducking an appearance before a gay rights group. The fact that Casey Jr. is having Howard Dean stand in for him speaks volumes about his political courage. When given a chance to stand up for something, Casey Jr. comes up empty again," said Dan Ronayne, NRSC Spokesman.
On June 5, 2006, The "Senate Meets At 2 PM To Resume Consideration Of The Motion To Proceed To S.J.Res.1, The 'Marriage Protection Amendment.'" (FNS Daybook, June 5, 2006)

DNC Chair Howard Dean Is Scheduled To Attend The National Stonewall Democrat Convention This Saturday In Pittsburgh. (National Stonewall Democrats Website, http://www.stonewalldemocrats.org/convsched/, Accessed June 1, 2006)

THE STONEWALL DEMOCRATS SUPPORT "MARRIAGE EQUALITY" FOR HOMOSEXUALS AND BACK BOB CASEY, JR. FOR U.S. SENATE

"U.S. Senate Candidate Bob Casey Has Won The Unanimous Endorsement Of The Capital Region Stonewall Democrats, The Harrisburg Area's Largest Political Organization Of LGBT Democrats And Straight Allies." (Capital Region Stonewall Democrats, Press Release, "Casey Gains Gay Endorsement," May 11, 2006)

And The National Stonewall Democrats' Convention Poster Features Pictures Of Senator Santorum And Says, "Pittsburgh: Where Warhol Began His Career, Where Democrats Will Help Rick Santorum End His." (National Stonewall Democrats Website, http://www.stonewalldemocrats.org/convention/, June 1, 2006)

Paid for by the National Republican Senatorial Committee and not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee. www.gopsenators.com

------

National Stonewall Democrats is the only national organization of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender Democrats, with more than 90 local chapters across the nation. NSD is committed to working through the Democratic Party to advance the rights of all people regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.



# # #

Posted by NSD at 12:49 PM | Permalink |

The GOP, Marriage Bans, and Blacks…Let’s Not Go Down This Road Again

You know it’s an election year when gays become the topic of conversation at the White House.

Not satisfied with dividing the entire country over immigration reform, for extra added insurance, President Bush has decided to bring up the issue of banning marriage for lesbians and gays…again.

In his weekly Presidential address, the President reconfirmed his commitment to banning marriage for gays in America. Citing that “marriage is the most enduring and important human institution, honored and encouraged in all cultures and by every religious faith,” he went on to say that, “an amendment to the Constitution is necessary because activist courts have left our Nation with no other choice.”

We’ve been down this road before and it wasn’t pretty.

In 2004, thirteen states, including Ohio, Mississippi, Georgia and Michigan, passed amendments to their constitution defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman. The Black leadership allowed right wing conservatives to come in and message directly to African Americans on gay marriage and supporting the re-election of President Bush because he would protect America’s morals. Seemingly, Black pastors allowed their congregations to be bought with faith-based money in the guise of protecting the institution of marriage.

And where did all of that get us? Absolutely nowhere.

There is still a disproportionately number of Black Americans that are still unemployed, disenfranchised, uneducated and uninsured.

Two years ago, the Black leadership failed African Americans by not exposing Bush’s political pandering for what it was. Choosing instead to focus on the war on terrorism, the economy, education, healthcare and affirmative action, they didn't see gay marriage as an issue they were ready to tackle.

We simply cannot afford to have that attitude today.

Like in 2004, but even more so today, there is simply too much at stake for us to be bamboozled into taking up an agenda that is not our own or in our best interests.

Look around you.

Are lesbians and gays the cause of the gang violence that is suffocating your neighborhoods? Are gays the reason why you can’t afford decent health care? Are gays the reason that your child’s school is under funded and that the minimum wage hasn’t been raised?

No.

Just like you, gays are trying to make it day to day and provide for their families. Black gays who tend to live where Blacks live in general and have the same economic characteristics as their heterosexual counterparts, are dealing with the same issues that most Blacks are.

We cannot afford to alienate any part of our community going into the 2008 Presidential election. We need every person at the table, heterosexual and gay.

We are going to have to get over our homophobia as a community. We all have a relative, co-worker, or friend who identifies as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender.

And no matter how you feel personally about gays, at the end of the day, they are not the source of what’s wrong with this country, President Bush and his right wing conservatives are.

Members of the Congressional Black Caucus, the Black Church and our traditional Black institutions like the NAACP are going to play a crucial role in exactly how far the GOP is able to sink its tentacles into our communities. If they continue to be silent on this issue and still see it as a non-issue while the rest of the country uses our votes to further their political agenda, then we are doomed to see a repeat of two years ago.

You don’t have to support equal rights for gays to not support the GOP’s bigoted agenda. It just means that this time around, we aren’t falling for the old divide
and conquer scheme.

Marriage bans, like immigration, continue to be one of those issues that GOP political strategists love to pull out their cloaks when all else fails. As Blacks, we know firsthand who stands to benefit the most from our community being divided, and it’s not us.

In closing, I pose the following questions: Was the judge who presided over Loving v. Virginia, the landmark case that allowed whites and Blacks to get married, an activist judge? Were the courts being activists when it decided that Black children could go to school with their white counterparts? Was it activism extending the right to vote to Blacks? No. It was an attempt to try and right the wrongs this country had committed against a group of people. Sound familiar?

Posted by Jasmyne at 02:02 AM | Permalink |

June 04, 2006

Thank You Pittsburgh

We've been blogging very lightly at TrailMix since we have been in the middle of our 2006 National Convention and Training in Pittsburgh. We've trained new activits, talked to new neighbors about Democratic values and shared grassroots strategies from across the country.

Look for more updates this coming week as we highlight our actions in Pittsburgh and around the country.

Posted by TrailMix at 09:31 PM | Permalink |