Date: Thu, 29 Feb 1996 20:52:04 -0500 From: GLUD@aol.com *** Who's Threatening Whom? In February, state Democratic leaders including state Reps. Kelly Atkinson, Judy Buffmire, Frank Pignanelli and Grant Protzman, state Sens. Scott Howell and Joseph Hull, and Chair Mike Zuhl asked to meet with Gay and Lesbian Utah Democratsx leaders. The state Democratic leaders asked GLUDx leaders to change the group's name and stop using the word "Democrats" because of these complaints: 1. The belief that GLUD has threatened to oppose the renomination and re-election of some incumbent Democratic state lawmakers, 2. The belief that GLUD is promoting a radical legislative agenda, and 3. The belief that GLUD poorly communicates its legislative and political plans. The state Democratic leaders also said that they'd examine how the party creates convention caucuses. The implication was clear: Change the group's name or face a challenge to its caucus status. We believe that these statements are unusually provocative and unfair. Many of our supporters have expressed concern about how these statements might affect the role GLUD maintains with the Democratic Party. Here are some answers to several questions which have been asked recently about this matter: Is GLUD going to stop using the word "Democrats" and change its name? No. The names "Gay and Lesbian Utah Democrats" and "GLUD" are trademarks of the group and protected like any other asset which the group owns. Hundreds of supporters have contributed much to the meaning and value of these names since the group was started in 1990. We call ourselves by these names because they describe clearly and simply who we are. We're very proud of the name. These state Democratic leaders haven't asked the leaders of other Democratic groups including the Young Democrats and College Democrats Caucus, Democratic Women's Political Caucus, Utah Public Employee's Democratic Caucus, Educator's Democratic Caucus, Hispanic Democrats Caucus, African-American Democrats Caucus and the Progressive Democratic Caucus of Utah to change the names of their groups. We believe we're owed the same respect. Many other state Democratic leaders including congressional candidate Ross Anderson and leaders of national bisexual, gay and lesbian groups have strongly supported our decision to keep the name. Is GLUD threatening our Democratic friends? No. While it's true that GLUD has successfully supported Democratic challengers to Democratic incumbents, no such action has been made this year. We remain unopposed at this time to the renomination and re-election this year of all incumbent Democratic state lawmakers. We have, however, encouraged some incumbents to be more supportive of certain issues because of the disproportionate gay and lesbian constituency that those incumbents enjoy. In 1992 and 1994, we recommended the nomination and election of challengers Pete Suazo and Loretta Baca instead of incumbent Democratic state Reps. Ted Lewis and Ron Greensides. In both campaigns, we received the encouragement of many state Democratic leaders including state Rep. Frank Pignanelli. The ability of any group of voters to support new-comers instead of incumbents is called democracy. Is GLUD promoting a radical legislative agenda? No. Since GLUD was started more than six years ago, the group has described and pursued a public-policy agenda of protecting the equal rights of bisexual, gay and lesbian people in the state. We've successfully supported the Salt Lake County laws that ban discrimination against sexual orientation and the state law that lets terminally ill people sell their life-insurance policies in viatical settlements. We've successfully fought certain laws which require unfair HIV testing and discriminate against bisexual, gay and lesbian people, and we led the fight against the state law that bans recognition of marriages of same-sex couples. Our message has never changed. Unfortunately, our repeated warnings to state Democratic leaders since 1990 that hostile and homophobic actions would increase often went unnoticed. As times get tougher, we remain committed to helping our state Democratic leaders understand and respond appropriately to these discriminatory measures. Is GLUD poorly communicating its legislative and political plans? We hope not. GLUD leaders have been successful in the accomplishment of some of our public-policy agenda because of our combined experience and ability to convince elected party and public officials to agree with us. Some state Democratic leaders have said that we get too much attention for our activities and opinions. Some national political leaders have said that they know more about us and our activities than they do about politics in other states. It's difficult to believe that we communicate our message poorly. Despite our successful efforts, we hope to always improve our ability to communicate the goals, ideas and opinions of our supporters to the public. We remain committed to helping our state Democratic leaders understand and support our work. We hope that they join us with this commitment by becoming more cooperative with their activities which affect bisexual, gay and lesbian people in the state. Why would these state Democratic leaders make these statements about GLUD? Many of them have suggested plans to campaign this year for nomination and election to higher public office. Some observers believe that these leaders benefit politically by appearing to be more electable by opposing GLUD and our supporters even if this opposition isn't shared by the Democratic Party. Some of these state Democratic leaders have frequently called for the Democratic Party to make itself more appealing to moderate voters in the state by supporting conservative Democrats and minimizing the party's support of so-called fringe issues. Is GLUD different from other political-action groups? No. GLUD is doing what every other political-action committee and political-party caucus does: Protecting the interests of its supporters. To do this, we describe and pursue a public-policy agenda of protecting the equal rights of bisexual, gay and lesbian people, and support Democrats who join us in that pursuit. This is what we've done since 1990 and shouldn't surprise most people. It's a double standard to suggest that GLUD behave differently than any other political group - particularly in the name of political expedience. Can I help GLUD remain a strong advocacy group? Yes. Join us as a supporter of the GLUD TEAM96. We've included information with this letter about how you can contribute. You can also become a Democratic delegate from your neighborhood by attending your voting-precinct caucus at 7:00 to 8:00 p.m. on Monday, March 25. Help keep GLUD one of the largest caucuses in the state Democratic Primary Convention!