To help PDA continue this work, please become a Sustaining Donor.

New York State News

Vol. 1, No. 4--Post-Election, 2004

Thank you for welcoming me to the PDA community. I went to a Town Meeting at the LGBT center in NYC tonight. I am really glad I went--it was a window into the challenging moment that queers and all of us are in.

The room was packed with hundreds of people. There was talk about taking over the Democratic Party (and for that matter re-shaping the "gay" movement). The Democratic Party focus was met with a few hisses and some applause. I will list just some of the comments I think are of relevance to PDA.

1. This election revealed a lot of what we already knew.
2. Karl Rove decided that this election was about gay marriage. But in fact the numbers (of Bush voters in swing states with marriage initiatives) did not make the difference in this election. It is a homophobic spin that the general public is defining gays as a the crux of the country being divided.
3. Paraphrase: "It is important that we do not confuse ourselves with the Democratic Party. We need to provide a vision and the voters will follow."
4. The LGBT movement cannot be a single issue. Our lives are all interconnected and we need to see how LGBT struggles strengthen other struggles. More importantly, LGBTs are in EVERY community--gender, race, class, religion, immigrant, etc.--and there are sweeping offenses taking place against all of these communities.
5. We must work with every organization we are a part of to be as progressive as it can be (this is a different position in every location).
6. We need to build an alternative to the churches--provide everyday contact (like unions), a community, and start a secular values discourse.
7. This is a moment when coalitions can be formed.
8. Paraphrase--"I shouldn't have to get married to someone who gets benefits from her/his workplace to have healthcare. I should get healthcare because I am human."
9. A translation of a Brazilian saying--"When you fall, you feel the ground beneath you, you shake yourself off, you look around, feel yourself in your body, and begin walking forward again, knowing you will fall again."
10. The loudest resounding message was that legislation never describes or defines the movement, it just describes the changes desired. We must ORGANIZE LOCALLY! Be Strategic! And GET IN THE STREETS! Barge into Congressional hearings, put yourself on the line and fight!

I made an announcement about the PDA Summit and told people that if they were interested in taking on the Democratic Party they should come and lead this effort! One person who had spoken extremely eloquently before I spoke came up to me and said he had looked at the PDA website and was interested.

Peace, Danielle

Back to Index