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HRC Leader Shrugs Off Demands From the ‘Blog Swarm’ That It Do Anything Substantial

Under formal attack from a loose-knit group of bloggers for being an Obama administration mouthpiece and Democratic lapdog, one of the Human Rights Campaign’s field chiefs today responded to cries that it do something substantial. By telling them to screw off.

HRC’s Orange County/Long Beach/Palm Springs governors board member Eric Kenney responded on the chapter’s blog (in a “this is not an official HRC statement” manner) in part: “While I disagree with this specific approach, calling your member of Congress and Senators would be a better use of your time. However, if you are partcipating [sic] in this today, please read this entire blog entry first, and also please be respectful of the person answering the phones. The person answering the calls is most likely either an unpaid intern or an entry-level staffer. They do not work for the legislative team, the field team, or the exectutive [sic] team (Joe’s office). … We don’t get our direction from DC; we set goals each year in our own communities and those are fed up through our national leadership team to the national organization. We are a grassroots organization at our core. If you don’t like how HRC runs things, then I empower you to locate your local Steering Committee and get involved. Volunteer your time, step up, show some leadership, and make your voice heard to the people who do the work. The real power of HRC is us. Without us willing to do the work, HRC does not exist.”

It’s unclear whether the organization’s chieftains like Joe Solmonese (pictured) will issue a formal response, but if Kenney is setting the tone, the HRC rebuttal goes like this: Stop calling us. Call your legislators.

Which is what they’ve always encouraged. Well, after they collected your donation.

UPDATE: And now, a message from HRC toppers, which in October was willing to wait until 2017 to grade the White House’s LGBT equality record:

Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell has to be repealed this year. That has been the Human Rights Campaign’s position from the start, and at this point there is no one in the White House who does not know it. We and the community to whom we are accountable agree: This is the year.

We firmly support including repeal in the annual Department of Defense Authorization bill, and have not only indicated as much, but continue to make that case, all while working to gain support for the Military Readiness Enhancement Act….

We have been lobbying the White House relentlessly, and we’ve seen more movement in recent weeks than in the previous 16 years. Our nation’s top defense officials testified, before the Senate Armed Services Committee, that Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell should be repealed. That did not happen in a vacuum.
These events are just the start. There is a clear path to repeal, and that’s the one we’re on.

(photo via)

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