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There has been a lot of sour grapes over the last few months about the
Stonewall DFL and I think much of the criticism has been deserved. It has
been deserved because the Stonewall DFL has strayed away from evaluating
candidates commitment to GLBT issues and installed litmus tests that have
little or nothing to do with these very important issues. Candidates sought
the Stonewall DFL's endorsements based upon their commitment to these issues
and in many cases came away with something else.
How is one candidate better than another on GLBT issues because they are
abiding by the DFL endorsement? This question has never been satisfactorily
answered by any of those folks defending the Stonewall endorsements and
acceptability ratings this time around. It may make you heroes to DFL
central committee types but for all the rest of us on the ground it just
seems arbitrary and capricious.
One of the other big reasons Stonewall has gotten more criticism is all the
chest thumping that goes on when a Stonewall endorsed candidate is endorsed
by the DFL, Labor doesn't do that, Progressive Minnesota doesn't, and
neither does the Feminist caucus. To be an effective caucus you need to act
like you've been there. This also means that you can't be thin skinned
about criticism when the process you've created is as controversial as this
one has been. You are not getting more criticism because you are a GLBT
organization, you are getting more heat because your endorsing process has
been questionable. In politics you have to take the s_ _ _ with the roses,
and this year the Stonewall has had a lot of both.
I hope there have been some important lessons learned and I hope one of
those lessons is some new leadership the next time around. This latest post
about Barb and Robert (two folks who I don't know personally but I know
deserve better treatment) being losers is embarrassing. Despite all the
great success Stonewall has had, I think there are many of us who will
remember the unnecessary infighting this process has created much longer
than the positive accomplishments and Stonewall candidates who become
officeholders in November. To me that will be unfortunate.
Respectfully,
Scott Persons
Lyndale
8-12
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