Top Queer Bloggers Jump on the Bandwagon Calling For Joe Solmonese's Resignation

Pam Spaulding, Andy Towle, Bil Browning (Bilerico Project), Joe Jervis

HRC president Joe Solmonese has taken a lot of criticism over the past two years for his grand pronouncements, empty promises, high-dollar fundraisers, expensive suits and lush lifestyle. Many of us in the queer blogosphere have been saying he should step down for a long time.

Now that we're hearing our window of opportunity slamming shut and have only one legislative victory (Hate Crimes) to show for our efforts, suddenly the interwebs are all abuzz with the headline, "Top LGBT Bloggers Call For Solmonese to Resign".

These top bloggers, Joe Jervis of Joe.My.God, Pam Spaulding of Pam's  House Blend, Andy Towle of Towleroad.com and Andrew Sullivan of The Atlantic's Daily Dish column have each written posts calling for Solmonese to step down in light of his list of non-accomplishments. Solmonese has a knack for making big promises that he is in no position to keep.

He promised to pass ENDA. Fail!

He Promised to repeal DOMA. Fail!

He promised to end the taxation on employee benefits for domestic partners. Fail!

He also promised to repeal DADT, colossal fail!

Joe Solmonese

Now, let's face it, nobody could deliver on all those promises, especially someone who isn't even an elected official. But Joe S. is just arrogant enough to make them anyway and did so repeatedly early this year. But in the last couple of months as the other LGBT activist groups like GetEqual, Servicemembers United and Servicemembers Legal Defense Network have become more aggressive, Joe has been missing in action, allowing other HRC spokespeople to make public statements.

I was saddened to hear last month that my friend and contact at HRC, Terry McGuire, who helped Roanoke Equality on several projects over the last couple of years, is leaving HRC. Say what you want about Joe S., but Terry and field organizers like him, work their asses off in small cities and towns across the nation, knocking on doors, making introductions between local activists and their representatives, providing guidance on starting activist groups and explaining how things work in DC to those of us outside the Beltway.

These dedicated activists are the heart and soul of HRC and spend weeks at a time on the road, criss-crossing their districts, often alone. Terry covered the entire southern half of Virginia by himself and did one hell of a job. Terry didn't give a lot of details about why he was leaving, but in light of the lack of movement on LGBT issues, I can only guess that he must be feeling a great deal of frustration, not to mention exhaustion. I wish him the best of luck wherever he lands.


It is my fear that HRC will loose more hardworking, dedicated people, due to Joe Solmonese's incompetence. These  people do what they do because they have a passion for the cause. They ~ and we ~ deserve better than a preening, fashionista, fame-whore to be the public face of our fight.

So it is with all sincerity that I say "Welcome aboard!" to Pam, Joe, Andy and Andrew and all the rest the of A-List of the Gay List.

What took you so long?
 

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Breaking:Dan Choi Hijacks HRC/Kathy Griffin DADT Rally, Chains Himself to White House Fence

This story has been burning up the interwebs all afternoon. Details are coming in quicker than I  can keep up. At about 1:00 pm this afternoon, the Human Rights Campaign held a rally at Freedom Plaza in the heart of a very busy DC, just two blocks from the White House, to kick off tomorrow's lobbying effort for the repeal  of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (DADT).

Towleroad's Andy Towle reported the following earlier today:

According to Tweets from Robin McGehee at GetEqual (see stream below) reporting from the Kathy Griffin - Human Rights Campaign "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" rally, McGehee, who is traveling with Lt. Dan Choi, asked Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese if Choi could speak at the rally and he rebuffed her, telling her it was Kathy Griffin's rally.

McGehee is the co-director of the National Equality March and the organizer of the Meet in the Middle 4 Equality rallies in California.

Choi took the stage anyway, told Griffin DADT is not a joke, and announced that he was marching to the White House. Choi then began leading hundreds on a march to the White House. Reports are now coming in that Choi has chained himself to the White House fence, "Until we have full equality," Choi reportedly says. Choi and Captain Jim Pietrangelo are reportedly both handcuffed to the White House fence.

According to McGehee's tweets from the scene, within minutes, about 20 secret service agents were on the scene along with DC police, who proceeded to put yellow police tape around Lt. Choi. The crowd that followed Choi from Freedom Plaza was estimated in the hundreds, but disbursed to 50 or less after authorities arrived.

Reports from the scene say that Lt. Choi, Capt. Jim Pietrangelo, who also handcuffed himself to the fence, where arrested along with McGehee, founder of Get Equal and Meet in the Middle and an organizer on the National Equality March.

Radio host, blogger and activist Michelangelo Signorile tweeted from the scene, "Dan Choi took HRC's and @kathygriffin 's celebrity photo op and turned it into a real protest at White House. And they stayed behind."

The following video of the White House prtest was posted on YouTube this afternoon. You can see Lt. Choi and Capt. Pietrangelo in the middle of the screen:

HRC's Joe Solmonese finally gets it "...our time is now"

With the entire city of Washington, DC consumed with passing and/or blocking health care reform for the past year it's become abundantly clear to many in the LGBT community that very few, if any, of the promises made to us by President Obama during his campaign were going to be kept.

We were fortunate last year to see the passage of the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act.But when we pushed for Washington to move forward on repealing "The Defense of Marriage Act" (DOMA) and "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (DADT), we were told by Human Rights Campaign president Joe Solmonese and other dyed in the wool gay Democrats to slow down and be patient. The "slow and steady" crowd told the rest of us we were whining like spoiled brats demanding instant gratification and that we didn't understand the political process. Solmonese even told us to wait until after Obama's second term before we assess his record.

As Washington insiders, Joe and his crowd where awfully short-sighted not to see that the president was spending so much political capital on health care reform, that there would be precious little left to advance LGBT rights. They ignored the growing nationwide discontent with the Democrats, who squandered their super-majority over the last year and accomplished virtually nothing. They didn't seem to understand until this week that the mid-term elections would mean a reshuffling of the balance of power in DC. They didn't see the window of opportunity slamming shut... until now.

A couple of weeks ago I reported on the "blog swarm", a coalition of LGBT bloggers, including John Aravosis of AmericaBlog, Pam Spaudling of "Pam's House Blend", Bil Browning of The Bilerico Project, Joe Jervis of Joe.My.God, Andy Towle of TowleRoad on several others, that was formed in order to put pressure on the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) to use its influence in Washington to push the president and congress to move more quickly on repealing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" this year. As expected, HRC initially poo-pooed the gay net roots and again called for patience.

Pam Spaulding attended the HRC Carolinas Gala fundraiser in Raleigh, NC Saturday night. Guest speakers included Clay Aiken and Meredith Baxter, but the real show stopper turned out to be Joe Solmonese himself, who made some bold pronouncements that appear to signal a reversal in strategy for the nation's largest LGBT advocacy organization.

Pam reports that Solmonese made the following four promises to the crowd:

1. "We are going to eliminate the tax that you pay on domestic partner benefits. We're going to get rid of that this year at long last."

2. "We are going to extend domestic partnerships to federal employees."

3. "We are going to get people living with HIV/AIDS treatment much earlier if they are on public assistance."

4. "And finally, finally this year we are going to bring down the discriminatory policy known as 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'...once and for all."

Solmonese added, "I also get that there is a drumbeat coming from our community to put more pressure on, to make more demands of the President and members of Congress to get it done this year because who knows what's going to happen at the mid-term elections and frankly they are right and our time is now."

I'm not quite sure how Joe can make such grandiose promises, but it should be interesting to see how all of this plays out. The year-long Pentagon study on repeal of DADT hasn't even begun yet and there has been no timetable put forth for full repeal. Solmonese has a habit of making grand pronouncements only to reverse himself weeks later. I'm glad he's finally gotten on board, but I can't help but wonder for how long. 

The following video of Joe Solmonese's speech at the HRC Gala is courtesy of Pam's House Blend:

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LGBT Bloggers Receive Courage Award in NYC

In an award ceremony last night in New York, bloggers Pam Spaulding (Pam's House Blend), Bil Browning (The Bilerico Project), Joe Jervis (Joe.My.God) and Andy Towle (Towleroad) received the 2009 Courage Award from the NYC Anti-Violence Project for calling attention to anti-LGBT violence.

Congratulations to four of my favorite bloggers who inspire me daily. Their work has not only kept our community informed and motivated, but has caught the attention of the haters as well, who regularly monitor their posts.

Pictured from right to left, Pam Spaulding, Andy Towle, Bil Browning and Joe Jervis.

Joe.My.God posted a story on Monday about an incident involving a comment on his site that questioned whether the fight for LGBT Rights was on the verge of becoming violent. Joseph LaBarbera of the Liberty Counsel has filed a complaint with the FBI over the comment


Pam's House Blend has full coverage of last night's Courage Awards ceremony.