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Lawsuit exposes rift between gays and blacks at the DNC
Not surprisingly, gays and lesbians have favored the Democratic Party in recent elections. The Democratic platform, after all, commits the party to full inclusion of gay and lesbian families in the life of the country. The Republican platform, on the other hand, proposes limiting marriage to a man and a woman.
But an increasingly nasty lawsuit against the DNC, brought by Donald Hitchcock after he was fired as the party’s gay and lesbian outreach director, has exposed the rift between gays and one of the party’s most important constituencies, African Americans.
DNC Chairman Howard Dean describes the rift in his deposition in the lawsuit, a portion of which was just recently posted on YouTube and is causing more than a little political heartburn as the party prepares to nominate Barack Obama as its first African American for president.
In the video, Dean describes how he has tried to be a peacemaker between gays and lesbians and prominent African American leaders, led by onetime Gore campaign manager Donna Brazile, who had objected to goals and timetables for gay and lesbian delegates to the party’s national convention.
“I wanted equal representation for gay and lesbian Americans, and I wanted to achieve it in a way that wasn’t offensive to the history of the civil rights movement,” Dean says in the deposition, which was videotaped in March but only made public a week ago.
Hitchcock’s lawsuit, bad enough politically for the Democratic Party, has taken another turn for the worst for the DNC, at least in terms of publicity during an election season. Negotiations for a possible settlement collapsed last Thursday and the case is now headed to trial - unless, of course, settlement talks resume.
However, in a letter sent this week to the DNC’s lawyer, John Hardin Young, Hitchcock’s attorney, Tara Jensen, claims Young assaulted her following a mediation session in the Superior court for the District of Columbia. In the letter, Jensen claims Young spit on her face and told she should “know her place.”
Hitchcock was fired by the DNC in May 2006 after his domestic partner sent an open letter to gay Democrats criticizing Dean and suggesting that gays should temporarily withhold donations to the Democratic Party.
In his suit, filed 11 months after the firing, Hitchcock alleges that the DNC discriminated against him and that he was a target of retaliation and defamation - allegations the DNC has repeatedly denied.
Comments
By Open Process
August 5, 2008 3:32 PM | Link to this
You can read more about Leah Daughtry, the Democratic National Committee Convention Chairwoman. She has a significant role in this DNC Mess…
http://www.queerty.com/?s=Leah+Daughtry
and this… http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andrew-belonsky/leah-daughtry-has-been-upb83328.html
Democratic National Committee Chief of Staff Leah Daughtry may not have been entirely honest with Washington DC.
The New York-born Pentecostal minister turned politico allegedly exploited DC’s property tax exemptions. That’s not a scandal, of course. Countless citizens use the Homestead Deduction to cut their tax rates nearly in half. The district’s law states, however, that to take advantage of the deduction, you must vote in DC. Some say Daughtry didn’t get the memo, because she’s been registered to vote in New York City since February 21, 1996. The original deduction law said nothing about voting in DC, but lawmakers changed the rule back in 2002.
If this story sounds familiar, it should: Bush henchman Karl Rove played the same game back in 2005 until the Washington Post exposed his illegal exploitation.
One would think that an insider such as Daughtry would have noted Rove’s outing, but the DNC staffer must have been distracted - she’s voted in New York four times since the new law went into effect. Daughtry’s property is currently valued at $239,250. That price doesn’t include the land, which boosts the total to $341,780.
Daughtry isn’t alone, either. As The Washington Blade reported, Gay and Lesbian Leadership Council chair Claire Lucas also stands accused of manipulating DC’s laws to her financial advantage.
Ms. Daughtry did not reply to our comment inquiries by press time. We’ll definitely let you know if and when she offers a statement. In the meantime, you can pour over all the evidence, which we’ve included below.
Update: The DNC just sent over this statement. They claim Daughtry had no knowledge of the deduction:
Rev. Daughtry has made clear that her legal residence is in New York, that she did not believe she was entitled to the Homestead Deduction, and that her accountant is correcting the error. Once again, while the DNC has consistently refused to comment on this case out of respect for the legal process and to protect the interests of everyone involved, the plaintiffs continue to use dishonest and increasingly desperate smear tactics to try their case outside the courtroom.
We wonder if she’ll be paying DC the money she owes…
This post first appeared on Queerty.
By elg
August 6, 2008 10:41 AM | Link to this
Donna Brazile, who is black but also a lesbian, should be ashamed of herself. Internalized homophobia rears its head again.
By RodeoNut
August 6, 2008 1:50 PM | Link to this
Seems like the DNC always promises blacks everything but never delivers….they just want the votes…
By YRM
August 8, 2008 12:02 PM | Link to this
Speaking of Donna Brazile and her role with the DNC, did you know she and Karl Rove became great friends back in 2002 and have been planning to swindle the 2008 nomination away from Clinton since that time?
http://www.thecityedition.com/Pages/Archive/Summer08/BrazileRoveConnect.html
By Portia
August 8, 2008 2:29 PM | Link to this
This story doesn’t answer an interesting question: Just who is paying Donald Hitchcock’s legal bills? The GOP?
By Bill P
August 11, 2008 12:13 PM | Link to this
Good Gawd, more in-fighting among the DNC and it’s members. Keep it up you childish brats, and the GOP will win as “level headed” leadership.
Ask yourself this, do you really want 4 more years of McCain/BushCo??
Stop the bickering, and use fairness with the heteros and gays which the party claims “inclusiveness” of all.
If McCain wins, it will be on your heads!!!!!!
By Bob
August 11, 2008 2:23 PM | Link to this
Wow, the DNC is not doing so hot right now. They swindled and discarded the most qualified and inspiring candidate we have seen in years for that fraud, and now this story is gaining steam.
They have shot themselves in the foot, over and over and over again, and now they can’t even walk anymore.
By Jenny
August 13, 2008 1:21 PM | Link to this
This is a prime example of why the old saying “scratch a white democrat, find a racist”, is true. You all have regressed the party back to when it was the party of slavery.
By Joe Sandler
August 25, 2008 10:32 AM | Link to this
This story does not accurately reflect the medaition proceedings, which are confidental, or the exchange between counsel. It should be disregarded.