National
Veteran gay Dem to head LGBT caucus at convention
Stafford to attend 10th party confab
Rick Stafford (photo courtesy of Stafford)
When nearly 500 LGBT delegates attending the Democratic National Convention hold their first caucus meeting in Charlotte, N.C., next Tuesday, veteran gay Democratic activist Rick Stafford of Minnesota will pound the gavel to call the meeting to order.
Stafford, 60, has been credited with playing a lead role in lobbying, cajoling, and nudging the Democratic Party to take a strong stand on LGBT rights and to change its delegate selection rules and policies to reach out to minorities, especially LGBT people, resulting in a dramatic increase in the number of LGBT delegates.
“This will be my tenth convention,” he told the Blade. “I was out for nine of them.”
He said he kept his sexual orientation confidential during his first Democratic Convention in Miami in 1972, when the Democrats nominated George McGovern for president. He had been selected to attend as a page at a time when he lived in a small town in rural Minnesota.
“There were just a few openly gay delegates,” he said. “You could fit them all in a phone booth.”
Since that time, Stafford has played an increasingly prominent role in Democratic Party politics, both locally and nationally, according to party activists who know him.
With the exception of the 1976 convention, which nominated Jimmy Carter and his vice presidential running mate Walter Mondale of Minnesota, Stafford said he has attended every Democratic Convention since then.
In 1992, Minnesota Democrats elected Stafford as chair of the state party, making him the first out gay person to win election to chair either of the two major parties in a state.
Since the 1990s Stafford has served at various times as a member of the Democratic National Committee. He currently chairs the DNC’s LGBT Americans Caucus.
Gay Democratic activist Kurt Vorndran of D.C., who has worked with Stafford on LGBT party related issues since the 1980s, said Stafford worked “relentlessly” both behind the scenes and through official DNC channels to push the party into requiring the state parties to set goals for recruiting LGBT people, along with other minorities, to become delegates to the Democratic conventions.
“He has served as a member of the party and convention rules committees,” Vorndran said. “He made sure the rule had outreach policies for the LGBT community. Thanks to his hard work and the work of others, for the first time, every single state may have at least one gay or LGBT delegate.”
Stafford said one of the most memorable conventions he attended was in 1984 in San Francisco, when fellow Minnesotan Walter Mondale was nominated for president and selected U.S. Rep. Geraldine Ferraro (D-N.Y.) as the nation’s first female vice presidential candidate for a major political party.
Working with then gay Democratic activist Tom Chorton of D.C., who became the leader of the nation’s first national gay Democratic Party organization, Stafford said he used his Minnesota connections to arrange meetings and phone conversations shortly before the start of the convention with high-level Mondale campaign officials, including Joan Mondale, the candidate’s wife.
As a result of those efforts, according to Stafford, the Mondale campaign put out the word to the convention platform committee that the campaign would support proposed language in the platform calling for federal legislation to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation.
“This led to the first formal recognition of gays by the party,” Stafford said.
With the exception of what he calls a few setbacks and “bumps in the road” the strength of the party’s platform on LGBT issues and the presence of LGBT people increased in every Democratic convention since that time, Stafford said.
Asked what the main objective for the convention’s LGBT caucus will be at the 2012 convention in Charlotte, Stafford said it will be to pull out all the stops to facilitate the re-election of Barack Obama as president.
“The goal is to celebrate what this administration has given us and our community,” he said.
“And just look at the things we’ll be celebrating. The Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act, the repeal of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’ the Ryan White HIV Treatment Extension Act and a national AIDS strategy, the lifting of the HIV entry ban, the federal housing programs that ban discrimination on sexual orientation and gender identity throughout the federal government.”
He fired off many other actions he considers “highly significant” LGBT-related accomplishments by the Obama administration, including the large number of LGBT people appointed to high-level administration jobs.
Stafford said that as a staunch adherent of the Democratic Party’s liberal-progressive wing, he sometimes finds himself playing the role of pragmatist. He said that role has already surfaced this week, when he counseled LGBT delegates not to engage in a floor protest against the controversial appearance at the convention of Roman Catholic Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York and former GOP Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, who is backing Obama’s re-election bid. Dolan is scheduled to give the closing prayer at both the GOP and Democratic conventions.
LGBT activists last year denounced Dolan for taking a lead role in opposing New York State’s same-sex marriage law, which the state legislature passed. Activists in Florida have criticized Crist for not being more supportive on LGBT rights.
“I was a rabble rouser,” said Stafford. “But we knew about timing, when it’s the best time to pick and choose your battles. It’s just sheer stupidity when we’re even thinking about a negative protest when we have so much to celebrate.”
The Comings & Goings column is about sharing the professional successes of our community. We want to recognize those landing new jobs, new clients for their business, joining boards of organizations and other achievements. Please share your successes with us at [email protected].
Congratulations to Gil Pontes III on his recent appointment to the Financial Advisory Board for the City of Wilton Manors, Fla. Upon being appointed he said, “I’m honored to join the Financial Advisory Board for the City of Wilton Manors at such an important moment for our community. In my role as Executive Director of the NextGen Chamber of Commerce, I spend much of my time focused on economic growth, fiscal sustainability, and the long-term competitiveness of emerging business leaders. I look forward to bringing that perspective to Wilton Manors — helping ensure responsible stewardship of public resources while supporting a vibrant, inclusive local economy.”
Pontes is a nonprofit executive with years of development, operations, budget, management, and strategic planning experience in 501(c)(3), 501(c)(4), and political organizations. Pontes is currently executive director of NextGen, Chamber of Commerce. NextGen Chamber’s mission is to “empower emerging business leaders by generating insights, encouraging engagement, and nurturing leadership development to shape the future economy.” Prior to that he served as managing director of The Nora Project, and director of development also at The Nora Project. He has held a number of other positions including Major Gifts Officer, Thundermist Health Center, and has worked in both real estate and banking including as Business Solutions Adviser, Ironwood Financial. For three years he was a Selectman, Town of Berkley, Mass. In that role, he managed HR and general governance for town government. There were 200+ staff and 6,500 constituents. He balanced a $20,000,000 budget annually, established an Economic Development Committee, and hired the first town administrator.
Pontes earned his bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth.
Kansas
ACLU sues Kansas over law invalidating trans residents’ IDs
A new Kansas bill requires transgender residents to have their driver’s licenses reflect their sex assigned at birth, invalidating current licenses.
Transgender people across Kansas received letters in the mail on Wednesday demanding the immediate surrender of their driver’s licenses following passage of one of the harshest transgender bathroom bans in the nation. Now the American Civil Liberties Union is filing a lawsuit to block the ban and protect transgender residents from what advocates describe as “sweeping” and “punitive” consequences.
Independent journalist Erin Reed broke the story Wednesday after lawmakers approved House Substitute for Senate Bill 244. In her reporting, Reed included a photo of the letter sent to transgender Kansans, requiring them to obtain a driver’s license that reflects their sex assigned at birth rather than the gender with which they identify.
According to the reporting, transgender Kansans must surrender their driver’s licenses and that their current credentials — regardless of expiration date — will be considered invalid upon the law’s publication. The move effectively nullifies previously issued identification documents, creating immediate uncertainty for those impacted.
House Substitute for Senate Bill 244 also stipulates that any transgender person caught driving without a valid license could face a class B misdemeanor, punishable by up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine. That potential penalty adds a criminal dimension to what began as an administrative action. It also compounds the legal risks for transgender Kansans, as the state already requires county jails to house inmates according to sex assigned at birth — a policy that advocates say can place transgender detainees at heightened risk.
Beyond identification issues, SB 244 not only bans transgender people from using restrooms that match their gender identity in government buildings — including libraries, courthouses, state parks, hospitals, and interstate rest stops — with the possibility for criminal penalties, but also allows for what critics have described as a “bathroom bounty hunter” provision. The measure permits anyone who encounters a transgender person in a restroom — including potentially in private businesses — to sue them for large sums of money, dramatically expanding the scope of enforcement beyond government authorities.
The lawsuit challenging SB 244 was filed today in the District Court of Douglas County on behalf of anonymous plaintiffs Daniel Doe and Matthew Moe by the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Kansas, and Ballard Spahr LLP. The complaint argues that SB 244 violates the Kansas Constitution’s protections for personal autonomy, privacy, equality under the law, due process, and freedom of speech.
Additionally, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a temporary restraining order on behalf of the anonymous plaintiffs, arguing that the order — followed by a temporary injunction — is necessary to prevent the “irreparable harm” that would result from SB 244.
State Rep. Abi Boatman, a Wichita Democrat and the only transgender member of the Kansas Legislature, told the Kansas City Star on Wednesday that “persecution is the point.”
“This legislation is a direct attack on the dignity and humanity of transgender Kansans,” said Monica Bennett, legal director of the ACLU of Kansas. “It undermines our state’s strong constitutional protections against government overreach and persecution.”
“SB 244 is a cruel and craven threat to public safety all in the name of fostering fear, division, and paranoia,” said Harper Seldin, senior staff attorney for the ACLU’s LGBTQ & HIV Rights Project. “The invalidation of state-issued IDs threatens to out transgender people against their will every time they apply for a job, rent an apartment, or interact with police. Taken as a whole, SB 244 is a transparent attempt to deny transgender people autonomy over their own identities and push them out of public life altogether.”
“SB 244 presents a state-sanctioned attack on transgender people aimed at silencing, dehumanizing, and alienating Kansans whose gender identity does not conform to the state legislature’s preferences,” said Heather St. Clair, a Ballard Spahr litigator working on the case. “Ballard Spahr is committed to standing with the ACLU and the plaintiffs in fighting on behalf of transgender Kansans for a remedy against the injustices presented by SB 244, and is dedicated to protecting the constitutional rights jeopardized by this new law.”
National
After layoffs at Advocate, parent company acquires ‘Them’ from Conde Nast
Top editorial staff let go last week
Former staff members at the Advocate and Out magazines revealed that parent company Equalpride laid off a number of employees late last week.
Those let go included Advocate editor-in-chief Alex Cooper, Pride.com editor-in-chief Rachel Shatto, brand partnerships manager Erin Manley, community editor Marie-Adélina de la Ferriére, and Out magazine staff writers Moises Mendez and Bernardo Sim, according to a report in Hollywood Reporter.
Cooper, who joined the company in 2021, posted to social media that, “Few people have had the privilege of leading this legendary LGBTQ+ news outlet, and I’m deeply honored to have been one of them. To my team: thank you for the last four years. You’ve been the best. For those also affected today, please let me know how I can support you.”
The Advocate’s PR firm when reached by the Blade said it no longer represents the company. Emails to the Advocate went unanswered.
Equalpride on Friday announced it acquired “Them,” a digital LGBTQ outlet founded in 2017 by Conde Nast.
“Equalpride exists to elevate, celebrate and protect LGBTQ+ storytelling at scale,” Equalpride CEO Mark Berryhill said according to Hollywood Reporter. “By combining the strengths of our brands with this respected digital platform, we’re creating a unified ecosystem that delivers even more impact for our audiences, advertisers, and community partners.”
It’s not clear if “Them” staff would take over editorial responsibilities for the Advocate and Out.
Comings & Goings
Kansas passes bathroom bounty hunter bill
ACLU sues Kansas over law invalidating trans residents’ IDs
After layoffs at Advocate, parent company acquires ‘Them’ from Conde Nast
Spring into sold
New book profiles LGBTQ Ukrainians, documents war experiences
PHOTOS: Queen of Hearts
Two very different views of the State of the Union
Va. activists preparing campaign in support of repealing marriage amendment
