Would Marriage Equality Have Won In Maine With Even A Tiny Bit Of Help From The DNC Or White House?

Yesterday a friend called my attention to an e-mail urging Democratic Party members in Maine to get involved in the election by joining the get out the vote effort-- in New Jersey. You think that may have pissed off the thousands of Mainers working their asses off to fight off an attack from the Catholic Church and right wing bigots against their right to marry?

This morning I've been seeing a lot of e-mails like this one from Michael Crawford: "The absence of the DNC and OFA was definitely noticed in the LGBT community and for a lot of us future donation requests will simply be deleted. If the DNC and OFA weren't even willing to send an email supporting our right to full equality, why should we give them one red cent? LGBT people are involved in virtually every progressive fight from health care reform and climate change to immigration reform and net neutrality and we are happy to do so because we understand their value to our collective futures. But, it seems that time and again when LGBT equality is the question, we are left to fend for ourselves. I don't mean to discount the work of some fantastic straight allies, but for the DNC and OFA this was missed opportunity to stand with members of the LGBT community who have stood for Democratic candidates with our wallets and our votes."

Pam Spaulding takes it in another direction today at her blog:

What this loss in Maine (and the victory in Washington State) says to me is that I am so grateful that my civil rights, as a person of color, were not put up to a popular vote. As we've seen over and over in the last year, the emergence of naked racism lives despite laws on the books banning discrimination based on race. Reality-based arguments to people who are raised with bias have little motivation to change their thinking outside of keeping their bigotry out of the realm of law-breaking (and even then-- it still occurs!). The feelings simply go underground.

That public expressions of racism have re-emerged and been cultivated by a major political party shows the work the LGBT community has to do as it waits for equality at the federal level. Changing hearts and minds every day is necessary -- not just when there's a pending bigoted mob rule ballot measure.

LGBTs-- and more importantly, allies-- need to come out of the closet advocating for equality in ways large and small. It's the only way to move many voters, particularly the ones who think they don't know someone who is gay. Too many politicians who support us privately still don't have the spine to step up their game when our rights are under attack. That has to change.

Doug may be holed up in Florida working on plans to bring down the Blue Dog caucus but that didn't stop him from taking some time to contemplate that for two years in a row, by popular vote, rights were taken away from gay people based on bigotry. He sent this:

I'm Saying Every Straight Person Who Doesn't Start Speaking Up Is A Spineless Weasel

-by Doug Kahn

A question for all the people in Maine (and in the 30 other elections) who rejected equality for LGBT people. What in flipping hell is wrong with you straight people? And what's wrong with you, all you straight people who won't speak up against the inhumanity of other straight people, you who let pass all the hate speech in day-to-day life?

You enjoy being the ruling class so much that you look away from reason, you refuse to think?

Count on it, in 40 years we'll all be talking about you the way we now talk about the idiots who opposed equality for African-Americans in the 1950s and 1960s. The morons who maintained that women really shouldn't be allowed to go to law school or medical school. And the larger group who stood around and did nothing, said nothing, didn't tell their friends off.

I hope your grandchildren read about this in school, come home and ask, with an attitude of disbelief, what you did about the injustice. You did something, didn't you grandma, grandpa? Your well-deserved destiny is the shame and disgust that comes from your loved ones.