Opinions
Perez and the disappearing DNC
Party must focus on building strong state organizations
DNC Chair Tom Perez is traveling with Bernie Sanders, while his party’s national apparatus is suspect. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)
The Democratic National Committee has all but disappeared since its recent elections — except when they’re asking for money.
I receive dozens of emails from the DNC but not one explains who will be making the decisions on how to spend the money they raise or what the criteria for spending it will be. I have tried calling many times but get no response. When I finally got someone in the press section on the phone, I was politely told they would get back to me but no one ever did.
Now before the attacks start I want to make it clear my goal as a Democrat is to see the DNC rebuilt and to build strong state Democratic parties. Despite what some might suggest after they read this, I am not looking to re-litigate the Democratic presidential primary. I was a strong supporter of Hillary Clinton but respect Bernie Sanders’ ideas and hope he will continue fighting for them.
I supported Tom Perez for chair of the DNC and was pleased when immediately after he won he asked dynamic Democratic Congressman Keith Ellison to join him in a leadership role. That was on Feb. 25 in Atlanta. Since then there has been little of substance coming out of the DNC and the staff has all been asked to hand in their resignations.
In the most recent fundraising email from the DNC, signed only by Perez, he said “Next week, Bernie Sanders and I are hitting the road to meet with Democrats around the country and talk about how we’re getting the Democratic Party back on track.” Bernie didn’t sign the letter. Bernie sent out a fundraising letter about the same road trip never mentioning the Democratic Party, but rather asking people to donate to his reelection campaign. My question to Perez is what track are you getting the DNC on?
Sanders is building his own organization ‘Our Revolution’ and raising money for his own campaign. He has said he will only support the Democratic Party if he likes what it does. He was pretty strong about that in an interview after the DNC election when it was reported, “Sanders also implied in response to Tapper’s questioning that he would not give the DNC his presidential campaign’s massive email list, which shattered previous records by raising $218 million online from 2.8 million donors. The list will be used “to transform the Democratic Party into a party that stands for working families,” he said, implying that he wants his new group, Our Revolution, to decide which candidates will get access to that list and reap its benefits.”
My support for Perez was based on his commitment to work toward the goal of rebuilding both the DNC and state Democratic Parties for the future not based on any one person’s ideas. He would urge support of all Democratic candidates in the next two election cycles 2017 and 2018 to take back control of the agenda in state government and Congress.
I don’t question Sanders’ right to fight for the things he believes in. What is being questioned here are the decisions being made by Perez and whether he is truly doing the right things to keep the commitments he made during his campaign to rebuild the Democratic Party in every state and territory for the future.
I recently had a conversation with one of the candidates who lost her bid to be a vice chair of the DNC. She told me she was participating on a DNC transition phone call. My suggestion to her for the DNC was they should be working with Democrats on the Hill to draft a bill to fix the Affordable Care Act. When a draft is created the DNC could hold public forums in every state to bring voters into the discussion and at the same time use the forums to build the state parties. Her answer stunned me; she said she doesn’t think they can as Bernie is already holding forums. Well, Bernie has every right to do that but what does that have to do with the DNC?
Democrats need to focus on taking the party into the future. Not in any one person’s image but rather as state parties that will be able to field candidates who can take back the Congress in 2018 and just as importantly take back state legislatures and governorships to stop the current hemorrhaging of districts through redistricting to favor Republicans in 2020 and beyond.
For the next two years, we shouldn’t be spending money and time challenging incumbent Democrats who have proven they can win in their districts and statewide. The DNC should be discouraging primaries such as the one in Virginia where the Lt. Governor Ralph Northam who has won statewide and has announced for governor is being challenging in a primary by Tom Perriello, a one-term congressman who has never run statewide. Northam already had the endorsement of nearly every Democratic state official and the governor. While in normal times primary challenges may be good, in this case we are wasting millions of dollars and thousands of volunteer hours that could be better spent on winning the Virginia state legislature for Democrats. Sanders has endorsed Perriello thereby encouraging this primary. Again he is more than entitled to do that but dividing Democrats isn’t helpful to the party in these times.
In Kansas, Democrats came close to winning Mike Pompeo’s open seat. The DNC needs to do an in-depth analysis of that race to find out if we lost because of the issues focused on by the candidate or was it lack of money? We need to know as we determine the type of candidates the DNC and state parties will recruit across the nation in 2018. A good candidate for Democrats in Kansas might be a terrible candidate for Democrats in New York or California. That is why we need strong state Democratic parties to help with recruitment.
Two months seems to be long enough to wait to have staff in place and a focused plan for the work needed to rebuild the party. During this congressional recess, Perez should be touring the nation with Democratic officeholders in each state — those men and women who have won office as Democrats because they found the way to reach their constituency. Democrats need to build a base for the future and highlight those candidates in local news rather than focusing on national figures. These Democratic winners should get the exposure they need to move up the ranks; from school board to county council to state legislature to Congress.
Our goal can’t be to build an ultra-progressive Democratic Party in each state when in some states that won’t win elections. Rather, we must build a strong Democratic Party in each state that can win elections. We should build organizations that can speak to the voters they need to win over. Voters ranging from moderate to progressive; the poor, young and old, millennials, immigrants, workers, the middle class and voters from every ethnicity, gender, race, orientation, religion and culture.
These voters will not agree on every issue or every candidate. But the successful Democratic Party in each state, while supporting the overriding principles of fairness and decency the Democratic Party stands for, will be able to find and support candidates in each area of their state who can and will win.
Peter Rosenstein is a longtime LGBT rights and Democratic Party activist. He writes regularly for the Blade.
Opinions
A dangerous precedent on trans rights in Texas
State compiling list of those who have updated gender on driver’s licenses
Recent reporting from Texas Standard revealed what should alarm every American who values privacy, civil rights, and constitutional restraint: the state of Texas is compiling a list of transgender residents who have attempted to update the gender marker on their driver’s licenses.
Under a policy quietly implemented after August 2024, the Texas Department of Public Safety stopped accepting court orders or amended birth certificates as valid documentation for gender marker changes. Instead, DPS employees were instructed to forward the names and identifying information of applicants seeking such updates to a dedicated internal email channel labeled “Sex Change Court Order.” Those records, which include sensitive personal information, are now being collected internally by the state.
Texas officials have not offered a clear explanation for why this information is being gathered, how long it will be retained, or what it will ultimately be used for. That lack of transparency is deeply troubling on its own. But in the broader context of Texas’s recent legislative trajectory on transgender rights, the implications are far more serious. This is not merely a bureaucratic shift. It is the creation of a targeted registry of transgender people.
The discriminatory nature of this practice is difficult to ignore. Governments are generally prohibited from singling out individuals based on protected characteristics for special monitoring or record-keeping. Since the Supreme Court’s decision in Bostock v. Clayton County, discrimination against transgender people has been understood as a form of sex discrimination under federal law. Compiling a list of people solely because they sought to align their identification documents with their gender identity runs directly counter to that principle.
Even states with restrictive policies around gender marker changes have historically focused on procedural barriers rather than surveillance. Texas has crossed a new threshold by moving from denial to documentation. The state is no longer just refusing recognition; it is actively cataloging those who seek it.
This practice also represents a profound violation of privacy. Driver’s license records contain some of the most sensitive personal data the government holds. Associating that data with a person’s transgender status without consent or statutory justification creates obvious risks, particularly in a political environment where transgender people are already subject to heightened hostility.
The chilling effect is unavoidable. Trans Texans will now have to weigh whether engaging with basic state services could land them on a government list. That fear will discourage people from updating identification, interacting with public agencies, or asserting their legal rights at all. When a government’s actions deter a specific population from participating in civic life, the harm extends well beyond administrative inconvenience.
What makes this development especially dangerous is how neatly it fits into a broader pattern. Texas lawmakers have spent years advancing legislation that narrows the legal definition of sex, restricts access to gender-affirming care, and limits the recognition of transgender people across public institutions. The creation of this list does not stand apart from those efforts; it complements them.
Once such a database exists, it becomes a tool. Data collected today for “administrative review” can be used tomorrow to justify new exclusions, enhanced scrutiny, or punitive enforcement. History shows that registries built around identity rarely remain benign. They become mechanisms of control.
Other states are watching. Texas has increasingly functioned as a testing ground for anti-trans policy, with lawmakers elsewhere ready to replicate measures that survive legal or political backlash. If compiling a list of transgender residents becomes normalized in Texas, it will not remain isolated. Red states searching for new ways to restrict trans lives will take notice.
The constitutional issues raised by this practice are significant. The Equal Protection Clause forbids states from treating similarly situated individuals differently without sufficient justification. Singling out transgender people for special tracking invites heightened scrutiny. There are also serious Fourth Amendment concerns when the government collects and retains sensitive personal information without a clear, lawful purpose.
At stake is not just the safety of transgender Texans, but the integrity of government itself. If states are permitted to quietly assemble lists of disfavored populations, the precedent does not stop with gender identity. It becomes easier to rationalize similar measures against other groups, under different political conditions.
This moment demands scrutiny and resistance. Texas must be compelled to explain why this data is being collected, how it will be protected, and whether it will be shared across agencies. Civil rights organizations and federal authorities should treat this practice as a serious warning sign, not a minor administrative quirk.
The United States has made meaningful progress toward recognizing the rights and dignity of transgender people, but that progress is fragile. It can be reversed not only through sweeping legislation, but through quiet bureaucratic maneuvers that evade public attention.
A list of transgender citizens is not a neutral administrative artifact. It is a signal. It tells a vulnerable population that their government is watching them differently, recording them differently, and preparing to treat them differently. That should concern everyone, regardless of where they live.
If we allow this to stand, Texas will not be the last state to do it.
Isaac Amend is a writer based in the D.C. area. He is a transgender man and was featured in National Geographic’s ‘Gender Revolution’ documentary. He serves on the board of the LGBT Democrats of Virginia. Contact him on Instagram at @isaacamend
One year gone, another just beginning. The best of all worlds would be no regrets about how you lived your life in 2025, and a positive outlook for 2026. I wish that for all of you, along with good health and happiness.
For me, 2025 was a good year. No new health issues as long as I don’t consider my recent root canal. Friends kidded if that was my worst, life is OK. But then they didn’t sit in the dentist chair for three hours. As you are aware, if reading this in the Blade, I write about politics. The felon in the White House ensures there is always something to write about. Unfortunately, it’s 99% bad. He recently said he will interfere in Europe, and support far-right parties. Not surprising for him, and his fascist leaning administration. Again, as you know, I usually refer to him as ‘The felon,’ my most polite name for him. He has a slew of scary incompetents around him, but truly frightening are the fascists like Russell Vought at OMB who wrote Project 2025, and his personal Goebbels, Stephen Miller. They are proposing policies that are destroying lives. While many don’t impact me, they create a certain amount of guilt in how I live my life. I am a white, privileged, cisgender, older, male and can escape the immediate repercussions of some of the worst things happening in the world today. Nearly all perpetrated, or supported, by the evil SOB in the White House. There, another name for him.
As long as my Social Security keeps coming, and Medicare still pays 80% of my doctor bills, I should be OK. In 2025, I continued to join friends every morning for coffee. In D.C. at Java House; in Rehoboth Beach, it’s The Coffee Mill, owned by my good friends Mel Damascena and Bob Cartwright.
My regular column allows me to vent and comment on the world. My second column is the Blade’s Comings & Goings column. It lets me share the successes of so many in the LGBTQ community. We have a truly amazing community, of which I am so proud to be a part. In 2025, I also began my second book, this one on politics, but don’t hold your breath for a publication date. I am also a theater reviewer for the Georgetown Dish. I get to see as many plays as I like, and share thoughts about them. Mind you, I call myself a reviewer, not a critic. I always try to find something nice to say about every production, even if I don’t recommend others see it. Maybe a good actor, great scenic designer, always something good even in a bad production.
I am fortunate to continue to travel. Now it’s on cruise ships. Great to unpack once, and know where the bathroom is. This past year I went on two cruises, and the Blade was kind enough to publish my blogs. One, a bucket list cruise, something I wanted to do for over 40 years, to the Norwegian Fjords, and the Arctic. Twelve days on Celebrity APEX out of Southampton. It was amazing, and met all my expectations. The second was my recent transatlantic cruise, something I do annually, with a large group of friends from around the country, and world. It was 13 nights from Rome to Ft. Lauderdale. I’ve already booked next October; 16 nights on Celebrity XCEL, Barcelona to Miami. I even have two cruises booked in 2027, one a transatlantic, the other a river cruise on the Douro, in Portugal. Feel free to join me if you like cruising, at least the kind done on the water.
All-in-all, 2025 was a good year. I look forward to the same in 2026. More travel, including a barge trip in June from Lyon to Paris, through the canals of Burgundy. I hope for good health, time with good friends, and more writing. In addition, I promise my friends, and community, I will continue to fight with, and for you, trying to make our lives better. I will demonstrate against the felon and his policies, work hard to elect Democrats, especially my friend Zach Wahls, running for United States Senate in Iowa. I will stand up, and speak out, for my trans friends, and friends who are immigrants, all threatened by the felon.
I ask you to join me and do everything we can to take back our country and look forward to maybe seeing many of you on a cruise, but definitely on the battle lines, here at home. Together, we can work in 2026 and beyond, to ensure everyone can live the life they want, and deserve; in what again must be the land of the free and home of the brave.
Peter Rosenstein is a longtime LGBTQ rights and Democratic Party activist.
Opinions
Trump’s ‘American people derangement syndrome’
Voters must stop him before he destroys democracy
Trump, in a deranged, evil, post on X, accused Rob Reiner of suffering from “Trump derangement syndrome.” I guess that would apply to everyone who thinks Trump is an evil, dangerous, asshole who is trying to destroy our society as we know it. With that definition, I would surmise the felon himself suffers from “American people derangement syndrome,” because clearly, he thinks we are all evil, dumb, assholes, and a danger to him, and the fascists surrounding him.
His speech to the nation was called bellicose, by the New York Times. I would call it unhinged and vile. It was a plea to the populace, containing a pack of lies, to continue to believe his lies, and distortions. We all know the felon is full of shit when telling us prices have come down. We go shopping every week to feed ourselves and our families, even if he doesn’t. We have to pay heating and rent bills each month. We know since he became president nearly a year ago, all those costs have gone up. Talk to any honest person at a chamber of commerce in your area, and they will tell you small businesses are suffering. They will tell you the felon’s tariffs are hurting everyone. We know he is screwing the poor and middle class; trying to end SNAP benefits, and refusing to help with healthcare costs. All the while giving tax breaks to corporations, and the rich. People are not dumb Mr. Felon, and your lies are no longer resonating.
The evil, deranged, felon in the White House lives in a world where he can do favors for his friends in return for getting them to donate hundreds of millions for his follies. He is a grifter who hosts dinners for rich people to make money for his crypto business. He is said to have made more than $3 billon since his election. This while farmers are going broke, and losing their farms, because his tariffs screwed them. He is undermining vaccines and caused a measles epidemic in the United States. This a disease eradicated before he came into office. He ended grants to research cures for HIV/AIDS, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, cancer, and an assortment of childhood diseases. He stopped research grants for mRNA vaccines. When we have the next pandemic, and it will come, that will result in millions of deaths, all on his head.
He is embarrassing the United States around the world. They watch him give unhinged speeches, raise and lower tariffs irrationally, screw our allies, and now trying to interfere in their elections. He is bombing fishing boats, claiming they are carrying drugs, with no proof at all. Then he releases from prison the man who brought more cocaine into the country than anyone else ever did. All this is what the lying, cheating, grifting, evil, heartless, felon in the White House, is doing to you, the good people of the United States, and the world. He sounds more unhinged every day while trying to blame everything on former President Biden and Democrats, who haven’t controlled the levers of government in nearly a year.
I know the results of the 2025 elections must scare him. They show him the majority no longer accept his BS. We will go into 2026, and the midterm elections, with our eyes wide open. He wants to be King and we don’t want kings in our country. He has what his chief of staff calls, “an alcoholic’s personality” “because he believes there’s nothing he can’t do.” She is right about that, but we will call him on it in the next election. We will say clearly, with our voices, and our votes, “no more, enough is enough.” We are taking back the country and will throw out anyone in office who still supports him.
We try and forgive those who voted for him, as long as they now recognize he lied to them, and is screwing them. Young people must understand they will suffer their whole lives because he is a climate denier. Latino and Hispanic voters, who believed he was going to support them, now see he wants to deport them. Farmers who once thought he supported them, until he screwed them. We must now all join together, and show the evil SOB in the White House, who is building his grand ballroom, taking planes, and other gifts, and pardoning the guilty; his time is coming to an end. Again, we will go into the voting booth, eyes wide open, and vote to stop him before he completely destroys our lives, our families, our democracy, and brings fascism to our country.
Peter Rosenstein is a longtime LGBTQ rights and Democratic Party activist.
