Here is a great interview with Act On Principles Champion Paul Yandura on the Sirius/XM OutQ Signorile show. He gives his inside view of LGBT politics in Washington, DC.
Yesterday Democratic strategist Paul Yandura, a former Clinton administration White House aide and Clinton/Gore ‘96 LGBT Outreach Coordinate came on the show. Paul was also executive director of the National Stonewall Democrats and in recent months he was instrumental in helping to bring together Get Equal, the group of activists committed to direct action who have been disrupting the president’s speeches and chaining themselves to the White House gate.
Paul had a lot of insights into how LGBT advocates are engage the White House now, particularly the approach by the Human Rights Campaign, which has not pushed the administration hard enough on LGBT issues. He talked about the problems with their approach and how direct action activism has changed the equation.
Washington Blade’s Editor Kevin Naff has a very interesting perspective on the LGBT’s community’s take on the lack of action from an Obama White House. A chant from GetEqual’s May 2nd protest rings true. ”We will remember, in November.”
If my e-mail inbox is any indication, LGBT Americans have finally arrived at the breaking point, outraged at the endless broken promises and delayed advances. Treating our full equality as an expendable bargaining chip is no longer acceptable. When will the Democrats stop running from their own shadow, ever fearful of what Fox News or Sarah Palin or the Tea Baggers might say about them? Fox News can’t attract two million viewers on a good night. We’re a nation of more than 300 million people, the vast majority of whom oppose “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” including many prominent Republicans. Supporting repeal of this odious law that compromises our national security and wastes billions of taxpayer dollars will not cost any Democrat his or her seat.
LGBT lobbyists, activists and everyday supporters of equality must now redouble their efforts. Call your members of Congress and the White House demanding an end to “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” this year. If Obama is unwilling to include repeal in his Defense authorization bill, then Congress must press forward and vote now, before the Republicans have a chance to win back the House in November.
The Human Rights Campaign, Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, and all other LGBT groups that are engaged in lobbying the administration and the Hill must make it clear that failure to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” this year will amount to a betrayal of the LGBT community and that there will be consequences. As Sunday’s White House protesters chanted, we must “remember in November.”
You can read Kevin Naff’s entire piece here.
