As you know, Servicemembers United released a statement asking HRC National Dinner keynoter White House senior adviser Valerie Jarrett to meet with DADT repeal proponents.
HRC has already issued its air kiss to the Obama administration as the nation’s largest LGBT advocacy organization’s National Dinner is tonight. The Obama administration, which to date has done everything to retard DADT repeal, and has accomplished zero of the promised equality gains to the LGBT community, clearly has the organization in its pocket. (The Advocate):
HRC president Joe Solmonese in a Friday release called Jarrett’s attendance “a tremendous addition to the event. … She and President Obama both care deeply about equality and are strong supporters of those of us fighting for LGBT rights.”
I’d love to see what efforts would come out of this WH if it didn’t “care deeply.”
In response, Alex Nicholson of Servicemembers United said:
“We certainly do not feel like the White House is a ‘strong supporter’ of gay and lesbian troops and veterans right now. To ignore the reality of the administration’s choices, a reality manifested in our daily lives, while appearing at a party hosted by an organization that has given cover to this administration would be incredibly insulting.”
And in what can only be described as a statement of an organization in internal political freefall, 
HRC’s vice president of communications Fred Sainz said this today, as the organization’s national “No Excuses” dinner is about to get under way:
“These latest hijinks by Nicholson are part of a troubling pattern of irrational, unprofessional, and unproductive behavior,” Sainz said. “[Nicholson’s] rant is also without substance. The Administration helped to craft the legislation that was successfully voted on by the House and the Senate Armed Services Committee. Never before has a Defense Secretary or a Joint Chiefs chairman publicly supported repeal. This president got them there, and for that, he deserves our gratitude.”
Who’s classy now? I thought it was the blogging set that had no couth, devolved discourse into personal attacks and was politically unsophisticated. What makes this doubly disgusting is that HRC has been on the inside of the DADT policy “planning” (for what that’s worth), and knows full well that this adminstration played the community.
It’s clear HRC doesn’t want to take responsibility for what has gone wrong under its watch, that it has no juice with an administration that took the money and ran (but threw a few cocktail parties for the insiders), and tossed the community Cinderella Crumbs to tout at the dinner (crumbs can be rolled back by a future anti-gay president).
I contacted Alex Nicholson for a response to Sainz’s outlandish attack. He said:
“When the spokesperson for the largest gay organization stoops to vicious personal attacks against committed, unpaid staff of the smallest gay organization, you know there’s a problem with the former. While I have more professionalism, rationality, and class than to return the favor and attack Sainz personally, I think this official ‘response’ from the Human Rights Campaign speaks volumes as to who is truly holding the administration’s feet to the fire on ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.'”
What else will it take for the HRC apologists to see that under its current leadership, has failed miserably, and has developed a circle-the-wagons attitude rather than admit fault. It would rather publicly try to shame SU or anyone not willing to shut up and fall in line behind HRC as the voice of the community. When you brand yourself as “the community”, you can’t pretend you’re the outsider and had no role in letting this administration and Congress crap on “the community.”
We need better leadership if HRC is supposed to be working on our behalf. Someone please stop this embarrassing madness.
Pam’s House Blend – Front Page
