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Maine, Obama and the LGBT Community Wednesday, 11/04/09
David Mixner

President Obama and his team were zero help in this critical battle and in the last week might actually have hurt us. That is a fact.

Despite repeated pleas for assistance from this community from the start of the campaign, he chose to ignore every opportunity to grant us such relief. At the recent Human Rights Campaign dinner he never said the word "Maine" once. The most we were able to get out of the White House office of communications was that he was opposed to such efforts. Try weaving that into a powerful ad or robo-calling!

However, practicing benign neglect was not the end of it. This past week, Eric Holder, the Attorney General of the United States in the state of Maine said that this administration had no position on the ballot measure. Read that sentence again carefully. Our nation's chief law enforcement officer and the president's hand picked choice said that the issue was just not that important to this administration! Now don't be fooled by any rhetoric that presidents don't take stands on such issues. Going back as far as President Carter when he opposed Proposition Six, they have taken such stands.

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MUST-READ: Oh California! Wednesday, 07/29/09
David Mixner

The room was intense and packed. Angry people from both sides stood up to give righteousness to their view on rather we should fight the ballot initiative coming up. Major donors said it couldn't be won and they wouldn't finance it. The leader of The Advocate said if they attempted to go for it he would destroy those who wanted to proceed. Polls showed that we couldn't win and the focus groups weren't much better. Those who wanted to proceed were neophytes and didn't understand politics. The overall tone in the opposition was that we can't win, "Not Now. Oh, Lord Not Now."

No, that wasn't this weekend's meeting in San Bernardino, California of activists discussing whether to place a repeal of Proposition 8 on the ballot in 2010. It was 1978 and it was whether to fight Proposition 6 (the anti-gay school teachers initiative) in California. Sounds familiar doesn't it?

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http://www.davidmixner.com/2009/07/observations-from-turkey-hollow-on-the-lgbt-civil-rights-movement-part-four-what-now.html Friday, 07/24/09
David Mixner

There are so many options an individual, straight or gay, can put their time and resources toward. Some might chose the political path, others the grassroots and others work within the legal system. They all are needed and appropriate places for one's time. However we choose to participate we should always have foremost in our minds - "Is this good for the community or am I doing this to please others?" or "How has this worked in the past and can I learn from history?" and finally, "Will the gift of my talent be used effectively and wisely?"

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Observations from Turkey Hollow on the LGBT Civil Rights Movement: Part Two: Learning from History. Friday, 07/24/09
David Mixner

The community should not waste time and resources attempting to stop those with whom we tactically disagree. Celebrate our differences! If you don't think someone is proceeding in the right fashion, stop attempting to bring them to a halt and create your own way if you feel it would be better.

Embrace and acknowledge that we are indeed in the midst of the greatest civil rights battle of this generation and we are not a fringe issue, a special interest group or on some politicians list of 'things to do'. Until we fully realize this, we can't expect our allies to do the same.

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Observations from Turkey Hollow on the LGBT Civil Rights Movement: Part One "Oh Lord Not Now!" Wednesday, 07/22/09
David Mixner

The cabal of powerful decision makers wants everything to be safe, clean and perfect before moving. Don't upset anyone, don't jump ahead of ourselves and most of all don't deviate from a well-laid plan that hopefully will eventually lead to victory. Every one of our allies has to be comfortable, the polls have to show us way ahead, and proof of victory has to be assured before trying anything new. The unpredictable grassroots could be destructive and create instability.

Sounds pretty good doesn't it? Except that it doesn't fit any model of success that I have seen in my near 50 years of organizing. In fact, my journey has proven to me that the unpredictable often is just the stimulus that movements need; victory often comes from an unplanned event that organizers could not have pulled off if they had worked years to do it. Most candidates would never be elected to office if they waited for their turn, had hard proof of victory and listened to the political pros. Our own current president is a perfect example of this fact.

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