legalmoose (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
legalmoose) wrote2005-11-02 11:42 am
legalmoose) wrote2005-11-02 11:42 am
On Lobbying & The Blade
How scary, for once I agree with Chris Crain of the Washington Blade, in his condemnation of HRC's anemic and ineffectual lobbying and PR policies. HRC put on a march, raised a ton of money, got a new building, and we got shafted with Don't Ask-Don't Tell-Don't Pursue. They're not doing a very good job at their supposed job (lobbying for equal rights for Gay BLT americans), and they need to be called on the carpet about it. Bravo to Crain for his efforts there.
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Hamburger Mary'sDakota Cowgirl kinda dish.no subject
No
Way
In
Hell.
Can't stand his writing, can only imagine what an ass he is in person. :-p
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Still, I have my own beef with HRC over their National Coming Out Day quiz...
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Sometimes it is good to hear both sides
Longtime Blade readers will recognize this editorial for what it is, yet another swipe from an editor with a grudge against an organization. In fact, in a letter to the editor published the same day in the Washington Blade (but left out of the other two publications that carried Crain’s editorial), Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese wrote:
“I was disappointed but not entirely surprised by the Washington Blade’s story last week about … Brad Luna, our director of media relations, who formerly served as a spokesperson for Congressman Brad Carson. … I’m not entirely clear on the point of the story. It was clear to me, though, that it had been a couple of weeks since the Blade had criticized the Human Rights Campaign. …”
An example of the Blade’s inaccuracies was the charge that the Human Rights Campaign chose not to “publicize” a marriage equality hearing on Oct. 20. But an Oct. 20 press release (http://www.hrc.org/Template.cfm?Section=Press_Room&CONTENTID=29422&TEMPLATE=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm) drew widespread attention to the hearing, to the discriminatory amendment and to the need and support among Americans for equal rights and responsibilities for all families.
The Blade also criticized the Human Rights Campaign for the challenges of passing a bill on Capitol Hill, claiming there are still no protections for gay Americans in the workplace. As a result of our leadership advocating for employment protections and our relationship with the Clinton administration, a 1998 executive order banning anti-gay discrimination in the federal workplace has ensured protections for countless employees. Because of HRC’s leadership, an effort to overturn this executive order was defeated in the House of Representatives.
Through HRC’s leadership, efforts to further roll back our rights have been stopped. Efforts to ban same - sex adoptions in the District of Columbia, overturn the San Francisco equal benefits ordinance in Congress and ban domestic partnership benefits in Washington, D.C., were all stopped successfully by HRC.
And in the states, in 1980 no states had laws protecting people from discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. Today, 16 states have laws that protect gay, lesbian and bisexual, and in 6 states transgender, people from discrimination. The Human Rights Campaign is proud to turn out supporters and work alongside state leaders in these fights.
Our strategies for defeating the Federal Marriage Amendment twice in Congress were noted for their effectiveness by an editorial in the New York Times and by leading Washington opinion makers.
Wins in Congress don’t come in sprints, but in marathons. And any distance runner can tell you that it takes patience, determination and dedication to make it to the end. That’s what the Human Rights Campaign team has done and will continue to do in its lobbying work. It’s why HRC’s dedicated and professional lobbyists are communicating with Capitol Hill every day on issues of importance to the GLBT community.
The Blade also neglects to inform readers of the Human Rights Campaign’s success in securing protections for millions of American workers. When we started ranking companies in 2002, only 690,000 Americans had full protections. Today, 5.6 million workers are protected on the job. These are only a handful of the accomplishments we've made over the last 25 years.
The Human Rights Campaign has a job to do. So we’re not going to take up more time making a case against inaccurate editorials written by an editor with an agenda.
Absolutely...