I’ll say, honestly, first of all, that I don’t think HRC has done everything they could to put pressure the White House. I believe that there are some there who believe they have done everything they can. I think there are others who may have other agendas and professional careers and things like that to worry about, but I have been begging HRC to scale up their operations on DADT since early last summer. […] Lately, [DADT] has been their number one priority. … I think they would argue it has been a top priority for a while. … But, realistically, I do think there was more they could do earlier this year, and I think there was more they could do last year. … I would have loved to have seen the ramping up going on a year ago. You just can’t build the infrastructure, you can’t get the operation going, get the wheels going as fast as you need them to go in a matter of two months. And of course we’ve seen a large scaling up of the community’s operations on DADT since March, but in my opinion, that really needed to happen last summer.
—Alex Nicholson, founder of Servicemembers United (who does not earn a salary), breaking his silence about the Human Rights Campaign, which SU works closely with to battle DADT [via]
AndrewW
Alex assumes HRC has “influence” with the White House. They do not.
It is odd that many people believe we can “put pressure” on politicians and they will respond favorably.
With politicians you get what you elect.
mattsmith
Service Members United is a great group. They deserve our support. Find their web site and send the guys some cash.
Jocaine
http://28.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_kz293k3Okn1qzdmibo1_400.jpg
pretty much how i feel about all this bullshit
Phil
OK I get th
Phil
OK I get that HRC has been worthless but other sites are reporting that Nicholson’s comment came during an interview on Signorile’s show in which he also said he was at a meeting at the White House with HRC on February 1st in which they all found out that the White House was going to be no help with repeal.
Why is he only now revealing that when he could have gone public then and kept people from being suckered by Gates and Mullens fake out on repeal to the Senate THE NEXT DAY?
AndrewW
@Phil: Because Alex and others thought they could “put pressure” on the White House. They were (are) delusional.
I agree with your assessment – simple honesty would have been better.
Gay Inc. made a lot of people waste their time and effort with lobbying and protesting. The deal was done in February.
Lanjier
Gays can voice their opposition to the failure to end the DADT disgrace of American gay veterans by not showing up to vote in the November elections.
The no vote is our voice. Vote “no” in the elections in November by not supporting any sitting congress member.
Cam
Easy, now HRC can make a big deal about DADT for a month or so, pretend that they ramped up and did everything they could. Raise money, and when it fails they get to spend the entire next year raising money to supposedly fight it…even though most of that money will go towards Joe Solomnase’s trips and another gala.
If they were SERIOUS about lobbying this issue, Solomnase wouldn’t have been in England during importnat mark ups and lobbying efforts.
Cam
No. 1 · AndrewW
Alex assumes HRC has “influence” with the White House. They do not.
It is odd that many people believe we can “put pressure” on politicians and they will respond favorably.
With politicians you get what you elect.
_____________________________
Lobbyists pressure politicians to do what they want every single day. Our problem isn’t that politicians won’t respond to pressure. It’s that we have bad lobbyists, who would rather pal around with politicians than work for the people who actually sent them money. Add to that that HRC was also attacking any other group that tried to do anything and that is a huge part of the issue. But when Politicians are willing to change their votes on Banking reform, offshore drilling, stem cell research all because of lobbying it’s silly to say that politicians don’t respond to pressure. That is ALL they respond to…well that and money.
AndrewW
@Cam: I agree that lobbying has an impact in politics – but NOT for LGBT issues. It never has and it never will. Anti-gay positions are based on morality – that makes them non-negotiable.
I wish it did have an impact because our community has give HRC +$550 million in the last 30 years. But, during those years not a single Member of Congress changed his/her mind. None.
A politician’s position on LGBT-issues is determined by their individual “faith,” and the majority beliefs of their constituents. You can’t change it with lobbying, but polling would work.
GetOutAndShout
All of this political talk is a waste of time. We NEED to DEMAND.
We NEED to make people UNCOMFORTABLE.
We NEED to MARCH and raise our voices. Only when the other side fears us will we win. Raise your voices. Express your anger.
If we are LOUD enough we will WIN.
ChrisC
@Phil: I know for a fact (because I’ve been watching him do it) that Alex Nicholson has been sounding the alarm all year this year. I would assume that none of the participants in that meeting can reveal the exact words that were spoken there, so he hasn’t either. But what I have seen him do all year is tell the LGBTQ media that the White House has not been communicating with them, tell the LGBTQ community that the White House is not doing nearly enough, and actually ACT ON whatever it was he heard in that meeting. Others who were there have not done that.
MickW
I admire what they are trying to do but I thought Americans wanted lobbyists out of our government, let the people speak with their votes and their personal appeals not lobbyists.
Jason_Activist
@MickW: Let the people DEMAND as LOUD and as OFTEN as possible. Politicians will only listen to us when we drown out ALL OTHER issues with our voices.
Some people have suggested that protesting doesn’t work. It is the only thing that works. Just look at the progress we’ve made since Dan Choi risked his life chaining himself to the White House fence. That kind of bravery scares the hell out of Obama and other politicians. If he got hurt, Obama would have been in even bigger trouble.
MLK was right about civil rights – you have to demand them and take them, they won’t be given to you. If we need to March down the street with baseball bats, let’s do it. We won’t be taken seriously until we take ourselves seriously. Get angry and make demands.
Join the new movement: getEQUAL.com
Jon
@Jason: Are you fucking kidding me? Are you somehow suggesting that Dan Choi chaining himself to the White House gates is responsible for this? I sincerely doubt that. I knew the GetEqual crowd would somehow take credit for this. Have you forgotten about the more than decades of work that has been done by countless people that may have led up to this point? It’s very ballsy of you to suggest GetEqual is solely responsible by DADT’s latest developments. If Obama comes out and thanks GetEqual for their stance, then maybe I will believe you.
Jason_Activist
@Jon: The “decades of work” didn’t include DEMANDING and acts of heroism like Dan Choi. This new strategy is working and we ALL have GetEQUAL to thank for it.
We could have achieved our rights in the 60s or 70s if we had the courage to DEMAND them. Politicians are now running scared. I think Obama will thank Choi and GetEQUAL for their acts of bravery. So far, 23 of us “crazy” activists have risk our lives and been arrested.
Because of activists, not HRC or Stonewalled Democrats or any other Gay non-profit, we will probably change the outcome of mid-term elections. GetEQUAL is what most of our community is talking about now. We should be applauding them and then honoring them. We are finally on the road to victory.
Jon
@ Jason. You and the rest of GetEqual need to eat a giant slice of humble pie.
Jimmi
The HRC=Useless PAC Lobbyists.