Assemblymember Betsy Butler, a candidate for the 50th AD, and WeHo Mayor John Duran at Stonewall Democratic Club meeting Jan. 18, 2012 (Photo by Karen Ocamb)
(Editor’s note: Earlier I posted a piece by Lisa Davidowitz about her support for openly gay 50th AD candidate Torie Osborn and what happened at the contentious West Hollywood/Beverly Hills Democratic Club endorsement meeting on Wednesday. Openly gay, longtime civil rights and criminal attorney and West Hollywood Mayor John Duran, who supports Osborn’s rival incumbent Assemblymember Betsy Butler, angrily interrupted Osborn’s acceptance speech after she won that club’s endorsement. Here’s a post by Duran on why he was so outraged. – Karen Ocamb)
John Duran on Why He Was Outraged by WeHo/BH Democratic Club Endorsement
The West Hollywood/Beverly Hills Democratic Club is like most local political clubs: 100 members or less, maybe 25-30 who are active, well-meaning Democrats who gather monthly. Very grassroots. Local. Everyone knows everyone in the room.
But what occurred on January 25th at our local club was inexcusable. The Torie Osborn for Assembly campaign purchased over $1100 in new memberships on December 29th. The new members were from places far away from West Hollywood. Places like Glendale and Norwalk and communities outside of the Assembly District. About 40 of those people showed up at our meeting. People none of us had ever seen before (and will probably never see again). They are probably Democrats. They are probably allies of Torie. But they are not part of the West Hollywood community. At least when West Hollywood candidate John D’Amico’s campaign enrolled 12 new members last year – they were all West Hollywood residents and Democrats.
50th AD candidate Torie Osborn and supporter Lisa Davidowitz (Photo courtesy the Osborn campaign)
(Editor’s note: As I noted Thursday, Jan. 26, the race for the 50th Assembly District between straight ally Assemblymember Betsy Butler and openly gay grassroots organizer Torie Osborn is raising questions about the endorsement process – an issue I’m writing about for the next issue of Frontiers magazine. But tensions erupted at the West Hollywood/Beverly Hills Democratic Club meeting when WeHo Mayor John Duran yelled at Osborn, interrupting her acceptance speech. Duran supports Butler. I offered both Osborn and Duran space on LGBT POV to share their views on what happened. Osborn asked Lisa Davidowitz to write the post on her behalf. According to Osborn, Davidowitz “a decade-long WeHo resident, a writer, and progressive activist. She’s a straight ally who has worked on issues of local poverty at both the Progressive Jewish Alliance and United Way of Greater Los Angeles.” Duran’s piece will be posted shortly. Here’s Davidowitz’s post in full – Karen Ocamb)
Lisa Davidowitz in Support of Torie Osborn for the 50th AD
It’s amazing how much sound and fury emerges when you threaten machine politics-as-usual with a little grassroots democracy.
The old guard has started coming unglued at the energy and new blood unleashed by the fresh candidacy of Torie Osborn, a longtime community organizer, change agent, and progressive leader running for the new open 50th Assembly District seat. One angry outburst came Wednesday night when an elected official lost it when he couldn’t deliver the endorsement of the West Hollywood/Beverly Hills Democratic Club to South Bay Assemblywoman Betsy Butler, who has parachuted into the new district in search of a safer seat. Osborn won the endorsement 43-28 – her eighth endorsement in recent weeks from a local Democratic organization.
Los Angeles City Council President Herb Wesson (Photo from Herb Wesson's website)
Thanks to a lot of hard work and political savvy, the Los Angeles LGBT community is finally strong and vibrant enough to expect LGBT-friendly elected officials in the halls of local government. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is a longtime strong ally, as is former LA City Council President Eric Garcetti. And of course, there is stalwart openly gay Councilmember Bill Rosendahl who aggressively advocates for LGBT people, as did his gay predecessors Jackie Goldberg and Joel Wachs in less favorable times.
But what of Herb Wesson, who made history when he was elected the City Council’s first African American President? The Stonewall Young Democrats club is honoring Wesson on Feb. 4.
As Jordan/Rustin Coalition co-founder Ron Buckmire points out: the LA City Council President is “the second most important position in the government of our country’s second largest city. Interestingly, Los Angeles has previously had an African-American mayor (Tom Bradley), but in a city which is now only around 10% Black with 3 Black members in a City Council of 15 people, Wesson’s election is historic.”
What a younger generation of politicos might not know is that Wesson did not come to embrace LGBT people because it’s now de rigueur. In fact, his journey to acceptance is so powerful and moving that his emotional story marked a turning point in his political career.
NGLTF Executive Director Rea Carey giving her "State of the LGBT Movement" address at the opening of the Creating Change Conference on Friday, Jan. 27, 2012 (Photo courtesy NGLTF)
US Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan is scheduled to address the conference on Saturday, Jan. 28 to discuss federal efforts to advance the rights and well-being of LGBT people and their families “at HUD and beyond,” according to a White House press release. Donovan’s remarks will be followed with a panel focusing on international issues, including the Presidential Memorandum from President Obama and a historic speech from U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on the importance of international LGBT human rights. Panelists include Jake Sullivan, director of Policy Planning at the State Department and Clinton’s deputy chief of staff – as well as LGBT activists from Malaysia, Guyana; and Uganda.
Executive Director Rea Carey presented the annual “State of the LGBT Movement” – see MetroWeekly’s first report here. (Find full text of Carey’s speech below). Actor Wilson Cruz is scheduled for the Closing Ceremony.
West Hollywood Mayor John Duran points at endorsed candidate Torie Osborn at the Jan. 25, 2012 meeting of the WeHo/Beverly Hills Democratic Club meeting (screen capture from Marta Evry video)
Torie Osborn, the openly gay candidate for the new 50th Assembly District, won another local Democratic club endorsement Wednesday night, Jan 25, when she got more votes than her rivals incumbent Assemblymember Betsy Butler and Santa Monica Mayor Richard Bloom. But the process getting to the final vote for endorsement so infuriated West Hollywood Mayor John Duran, a Butler supporter, that he interrupted Osborn’s acceptance speech, yelling: “We’re not going to work for you, Torie. This is bullshit. …. You divided our community. You divided our community.“
An Osborn supporter yelled back, “You got out organized!” Ironically, on the same day, Butler won the endorsement of the Los Angeles/Orange County Building and Construction Trades Council and on Thursday, Jan. 26, she received the endorsement of the United Farm Workers.
Fred Karger displaying his tax returns at Adrian College, home of the George Romney Institute for Law and Public Policy (Photo courtesy Fred Karger)
When Newt Gingrich released his 2010 tax returns on the day of the CNN debate in South Carolina, the pressure became even more intense for Mitt Romney to release his returns for 2010 and an 2011 estimate, as well. Reference was made to the Republican presidential candidate’s father George Romney, who unsuccessfully sought the presidential nomination himself but set the standard for transparency.
On Thursday, openly gay Republican presidential candidate Fred Karger released his 2000 to 2010 federal tax returns today in front of the George Romney Institute for Law and Public Policy at Adrian College in Michigan, site of the next GOP primary where Karger is officially on the ballot. Karger’s eleven tax returns are now posted on www.fredkarger.com plus his 2011 estimate.
“George Romney did the right thing 44 years ago when he released 12 years of his federal tax returns. He was the first presidential candidate to do so when he ran for president in 1968,” said Karger. “At the time he said he released so many years of tax documents because one year was not enough. I just followed his lead.”
Actor Justin Long portrays Mitt Romney in MoveOn.org’s latest political send-up: “The One Man In America You Probably Don’t Want To Work For.” MoveOn’s Julia Rosen writes in an email to MoveOn members:
This may seem like comedy, but have you heard everything that’s come out about Romney lately? It turns out he’s been offshoring his money in the Cayman Islands, he’s got Swiss bank accounts, he only paid 13.9% of his millions in taxes, he profited off of foreclosures in Florida, and on and on.1 It’s really astounding.
Mitt Romney is the poster boy for the 1% [on Wall Street]. His company, Bain Capital, took over companies, laid off workers, sent their jobs overseas, and made millions off it.2 And just the other week he told the press: “I like to be able to fire people.”3
Rep. Barney Frank and his partner Jim Ready in Los Angeles, 2010 (Photo by Karen Ocamb)
Congratulations to Congressmember Barney Frank who intends to marry his partner, Jim Ready, in Massachusetts. The news lit up Twitter after it was first reported by New England Cable News. According to the Victory Fund, which confirmed the news with his office, Frank, 71, “is the longest-serving openly gay member of Member of Congress, and was the first one to come out voluntarily.”
California’s LGBT politicos remember watching in horror in 2009 when the same antigay forces that stripped marriage rights from same sex couples in this state exported their Yes on Prop 8 campaign tactics to Maine and succeeded in repealing same sex marriage rights at the ballot box there, too.
On Thursday, Jan. 26, advocates in Maine announced plans to take back their marriage rights with a new Citizens Initiative. They delivered more than 105,000 signatures to the Secretary of State’s office to get the issue on the November 2012 ballot.
“The number of signatures we gathered and the thoughtful conversations we’ve been having with voters tell us that Mainers are eager to speak on this question again,” said Betsy Smith, executive director of EqualityMaine, said in a press release. “Our polling shows a 54% majority of support for same-sex marriage in Maine. Many Mainers have changed their minds and want a chance to bring equality and fairness to our state.”
“I grew up in Maine and always considered myself a conservative guy, but I have taken a journey toward supporting marriage for gays and lesbians,” said Pastor Michael Gray of Old Orchard Beach United Methodist Church, the original signer of the Citizens Initiative petition. “I really struggled with the issue of same-sex marriage, but through study, prayer, and patience, I can gratefully say that my faith now informs me differently.”
And then I hope you will join us for “Office Hours” focusing on LGBT issues tomorrow, Thursday, January 26, at 11 a.m. EST. You can ask your question using the hashtag #WHChat and follow the Q&A through the @WHLive Twitter account. Learn more about this event at the White House State of the Union portal.
Eliza Byard, Executive Director of GLSEN (Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network), speaks with Renee Sotile & Mary Jo Godges of Traipsing Thru Films about the FAIR Education Act. GLSEN is preparing curriculum for California schools, which under the new law will now include historical contributions from LGBT people in social studies classes.
Recent Comments