Today, the Associated Press put out a story saying something I've been saying for over a year--insufficient progress on LGBT rights will come back to bite us.
We could go over that old ground, but let's not. Instead, forget the past, forget "what should LGBT voters do", the question today is, what should we-the-Democrats do?
Across the country, activists say gay voters are angry — at the lack of progress on issues from eliminating employment discrimination to uncertainty over serving in the military to the economy — and some are choosing to sit out this election or look for other candidates.
Today, the Associated Press put out a story suggesting that the Democratic Party's lack of progress on LGBT rights has lead to LGBT anger, lost votes, and lost donations. This is something I've been predicting for well over a year, I doubt this is much of a surprise to anyone. We've been through a lot of this discussion over and over again for the last year and a half--we've long since worn out questions of what the motivations of specific elected officials are, of what the history of certain choices are, and the efficacy or moral virtue of certain voting choices. Today I ask you to put those questions aside for a moment.
Instead, I have a question.
What can we (the progressive Democrats) do from here? What concrete, real, significant steps can we-as-Democrats take to actually make things better for the LGBT community and win back a few of these votes we're losing, a few of those donations we're losing? Primary some blue dogs? Make some donations? Push our elected officials on particular issues we might be able to create some success with?
The press on this issue is getting worse, not better. Today's article follows an article in Newsweek on the failure to repeal DADT, another recent column there accuses the president of moral cowardice. When the even Dallas Morning News starts quoting people who suggest failure to repeal DADT as a problem for Democratic turnout, it's time for us to listen.
More and more, the general public is hearing about Democratic failures on LGBT rights. We-the-Democrats will eventually need to do something.
So.... What are your practical, constructive ideas?
(Update: I'm very disappointed with the derailing in these comments. I asked a question, very few people actually engaged with it.)