Bernie's Campaign Bashes The Nation's Largest LGBT Rights Group Over Hillary Clinton Endorsement

[Cali_Democrat]

Bernie Sanders Bashes Human Rights Campaign Over Hillary Clinton Endorsement
BY ABIGAIL ABRAMS
01/19/16 AT 3:17 PM

The Bernie Sanders campaign was not happy after the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest LGBT rights group, endorsed Hillary Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination Tuesday. A spokesperson for the Vermont senator criticized the group, saying its endorsement “cannot possibly be based on the facts and the record,” the Washington Blade reported.

“It’s understandable and consistent with the establishment organizations voting for the establishment candidate, but it’s an endorsement that cannot possibly be based on the facts and the record,” Sanders campaign spokesperson Michael Briggs said.

Although the Human Rights Campaign endorsed then-Sen. Barack Obama in 2008 after he won the Democratic nomination, this time the group said in its endorsement of Clinton that they believe she is the strongest candidate to fight for their cause in November.

Read more:

http://www.ibtimes.com/bernie-sanders-bashes-human-rights-campaign-over-hillary-clinton-endorsement-2271261

[Prism]

1. LGBTers bash the HRC regularly

It's kind of a sport in the community.

I hope straight people aren't going to pretend to be offended on our behalf.

It'd be a bit gauche and insincere, to be honest.

[shireen]

5. if LGBTs bash Hillary regularly

why did HRC endorse her?
Disappointing.

[Godhumor]

10. Wrong HRC

I've made the same mistake myself.

[shireen]

36. opps! thanks. nt

[Prism]

13. LGBTers bash the Human Rights campaign

If I had to make an educated and anecdotal guess, I'd say the LGBT community is pretty split between Clinton and Sanders.

Which, of course, makes the HRC board's unanimous endorsement that much more amusing and transparent. Given that Sanders is highly regarded in the community, not a single board member went for him? Not one? Uh huh.

And if you don't believe me about the community's relationship with the HRC, just look up any contentious period regarding LGBT rights on DU. You'll see a lot of us with not amazing things to say about the organization going back more than a decade.

Personally, I like organizations like Get Equal a bit more. They're closer to the people on the ground, and they're more supportive of LGBTers of color, our trans brethren, and those on the lower economic rungs.

[kenfrequed]

23. Get Equal eh?

Well, now I know who I should be donating to instead.

[Prism]

26. The Trevor Project is another favorite

They work towards counseling LGBT youth who are at risk for suicide.

[shireen]

35. thank you ....

Didn't know that.

HRC has a pretty high profile. Many people outside the LGBT community who support LGBT human rights, but are otherwise clueless (like me), have no idea about these things. Appreciate your comments.

[m-lekktor]

6. yeah the straight Hillary people everywhere are scolding us uppity gays

for criticizing the assholes at Human RIghts Campaign!!

[Cali_Democrat]

7. Who scolded you? nt

[closeupready]

16. are we twins, prism? lol - I agree with everything you wrote.

Thanks.

[Prism]

20. LOL, you're why I don't post much

Whenever I'm reading through threads, you often have voiced what I was going to say anyway =)

[closeupready]

21. ...

[kenfrequed]

22. I will admit ignorance on this one

I am straight-ish and had been donating to this org for about 8 years now. I guess I didn't look closely enough at it until I told my friends on facebook that I had stopped donating to them today over their endorsement.

It was met with varying levels of amusement.

[Prism]

24. They're very, very good at marketing themselves

So, I think when most straight people look for an LGBT organization to support, HRC is considered the default. They're also very good at corporate partnerships and making themselves kind of like political gatekeepers. When politicians want to elicit support from the community, they often just show up at an HRC dinner.

Nowadays, I'm more supportive of organizations that are closer to being grass roots. Orgs like GetEqual, It Gets Better, or the Trevor Project.

But that's inside baseball with the community. The HRC hate is generally something we end up only discussing among ourselves. And I'll never have a bad word to say about people who donate to any LGBT organization because they're trying to further equality.

[TM99]

30. Thanks Prism for sharing this.

I am straight but my SO is a bisexual woman (as is her patner) and I have a sister who is gay. Her partner used to work for HRC and left for GetEqual.

My sister and her partner recently legally married, and they are both still fighting the good fight for civil rights protections at work and in their case for adoptions.

What you have shared in this thread has been my experience and what I know through them about HRC. I had stopped donating to them years ago, and like you, when I am able I donate to other groups like the Trevor Project or GetEqual. I also do some volunteer work here locally with run aways and teens kicked out of their families for being gay or transgender.

[Prism]

32. Congrats to your sis!

It's funny how it always seems like the biggest supporters of the HRC I encounter are straight people. I don't think I know a single LGBTer offline who has a kind word to say about them. The anti-trans kick they went on really damaged their brand in the community, and when they defended the Obama DOJ during a period of widespread LGBT dissatisfaction, they finally divorced from the community and became their own self-interested little club.

I'm like you. I do give money to the Trevor Project, but most of my activism is just working with a local youth shelter. It drives me batty to see the affluent white gays throwing their little parties when down here on the ground you have disproportionate LGBT youth of color who are economically struggling and still having a hard time with familial acceptance because of religion. I feel like they're just blatantly ignored by the HRC and other corporate focused crowds.

Frustrated. I checked out on them ages ago.

Keep up the good fight =)

[TM99]

33. I don't know a single gay person

in my circle or their's that supports Clinton. Not a single one. Yes, this is anecdotal but it is still the reality we are experiencing.

Yes, it is the LGBT youth of color who are desperately hurting right now. This was a decade ago but when I was still in Tucson, I worked for a pretty prominent drug and alcohol treatment facility. I was a youth therapist there. I had many Latino teens who would end up in my office being labeled suicidal, depressive, anti-social, addicted, and inevitably, I would let them know that their dysfunction was a normal response to their often repressive religious upbringing, culture, and families. Of course they were self-medicating. Of course they were depressed and suicidal. Of course they were angry and lashing out in rage. And yes, they felt trapped and hopeless. I helped not a few of them become emancipated minors in order to break free from those constraints.

I no longer work in facilities but like you I do volunteer at youth shelters.

You too my friend!

[Dawson Leery]

2. Don't worry Bernie.

Hillary has never spoken praise upon regimes that jail and torture gay people


For the record, 2006 was the last time I gave moveon any money.

[litlbilly]

3. they didnt poll the members, just 32 of the top officials, so there u have it.

[ViseGrip]

4. That org has causes other than LGBT issues. They are very involved in stopping human trafficking

Sanders is correct, the record is bad there, especially for Bill and Barak. Here is a cross post and I'm sure Bernie is aware of this, and what happens when the U.S. is involved in matters of war. After Bosnia, I thought Hillary would have been more careful with a vote for war.....
*************************
Strange, while under Bill's admin, women and children were trafficked out of Bosnia, by our own contractors! Just google Dyn Corp A Go Go. Then it was the 'Boys of Afghanistan' Dyn Corp were feeding up to adults there. Why were they allowed another contract after Bosnia?

Obama just gave DynCorp another contract.

Look, none of these folks deserve an endorsement from the Human Rights Campaign.

They are ignoring the truth, so I'll give them what they need to know right here:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-isenberg/its-dj-vu-for-dyncorp-all_b_792394.html

It's Déjà Vu for DynCorp All Over Again
Posted: 12/06/2010 8:47 am EST Updated: 05/25/2011 6:15 pm EDT
snip
For an example of how just one transgression can lead to endless bad publicity consider the movie titled The Whistleblower that was released earlier this year. To summarize the plot, in Bosnia in 1999, Kathryn Bolkovac, a U.S. policewoman served as a U.N. peacekeeper. Her post was with the International Police Task Force which was arranged by DynCorp Aerospace. She was assigned to run the IPTF office that investigates sex trafficking, domestic abuse and sexual assault. She ultimately alleges that peacekeepers, U.N. workers and international police are visiting brothels and facilitating sex trafficking by forging documents and aiding the illegal transport of woman into Bosnia. DynCorp responds by firing Bolkovac, who returns to the U.S. and files a wrongful termination case. She wins the suit but says she's still blacklisted.

Put bluntly, DynCorp was involved in a sex slavery scandal in Bosnia in 1999, with its employees accused of rape and the buying and selling of girls as young as 12. Dyncorp, hired to perform police duties for the UN and aircraft maintenance for the US Army, were implicated in prostituting the children, whereas the company's Bosnia site supervisor filmed himself raping two women. A number of employees were transferred out of the country, but with no legal consequences for them.
******************************
Bosnia: The United Nations, human trafficking and prostitution
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2002/08/bosn-a21.html

By Tony Robson
21 August 2002

There is mounting evidence that the United Nations has carried out a cover-up of the role played by its personnel in human trafficking and prostitution in Bosnia—a trade that has grown astronomically since the establishment of the Western protectorate seven years ago.
*******************************
*https://deeppoliticsforum.com/forums/showthread.php?11357-DynCorp-the-Balkan-child-traffickers-punish-whistleblower
DynCorp - the Balkan child traffickers punish whistleblower

I know this story has been posted here before by Magda. But....

What the UN Doesn't Want You to Know

In 1999, Kathryn Bolkovac went to Bosnia as part of a UN mission. She discovered terrible wrongdoing - and refused to stay silent about it. She tells Nisha Lilia Diu her incredible story, now the subject of a film starring Rachel Weisz.

Nisha Lilia Diu4:42PM GMT 06 Feb 2012

****************************
Now, why is the Human Rights Campaign endorsing Clinton? For all of the work I'm aware of, they cancels out their credibility! Folks, the truth is ugly. We as a country are in this horrible business. THIS is why, the country is fed up with establishment. But this endorsement is very very sad.

[Prism]

15. Are you confusing them with Human Rights Watch?

It's an easy mistake to make.

[bvf]

8. "Bashes"?

To paraphrase,

"You've made a mistake" = bashing.

Btw, how did the membership vote on this turn out?

[bowens43]

9. truth = bashing? Wow!

[TIME TO PANIC]

11. How long has Hillary supported marriage equality?

[JI7]

12. regardless of the organizations she still had a lot of support among lgbt

Even if they endorsed Sanders she would probably still end up winning most lgbt votes.

I think Sanders would probably have more chance of winning the black vote against her than lgbt votes

[SidDithers]

14. DU rec...nt

Sid

[tishaLA]

17. HRC endorsed Al D'Amato when Schumer ran against him

whenever that was...but I remember my reaction to them choosing D'Amato, who had a pretty miserable record on LGBT issues, over Schumer, who promised what was, at that point, Democratic Party orthodoxy--much more progressive than D'Amato. Well, we all know what happened there: Schumer won and HRC had egg on its face. They tacitly admitted that they did it because they thought D'Amato would win and they wanted access to power.

All that being said, kvetching about HRC after you lose their endorsement looks like sour grapes to me. All the campaigns wanted their endorsement because they are still powerful and raise lots of money. Nothing wrong with that. But suck it up instead of turning to the paternalism. It's unseemly.

[DemocraticWing]

25. They did the same thing with endorsing Susan Collins in 2014.

[HerbChestnut]

18. Then there's this little nugget:

Sanders’ campaign is not alone in questioning the Human Rights Campaign endorsement of Clinton. While the group fights for LGBT rights in many arenas, it has been criticized by many in the LGBT community for aligning itself with large corporations that don’t always have the most gay-friendly policies or are objectionable on other issues, for not being inclusive of transgender people and for a general lack of diversity.

[retrowire]

29. Yep

Hey! Let's watch the Hillary supporter ignore this fact!

PETA doesn't represent all of us vegans, and I'd be the first to celebrate if PETA got shut down.

So, it's kind of stupid for people to assume an attack on an organization equals an attack on the entire minority. lol

[JRLeft]

38. This vegan would happily celebrate with you.

[retrowire]

39. Awesome!

I just tried a new veggie today actually...

Never had it in my life...

*looks around*

Bok Choy is AMAZING. omg, I expected the flavors of cabbage and spinach combined but NO, it was nuttiness and butteryness all in one celery/spinach textured plant. So good.

[JRLeft]

40. I've never tried it, I may have to purchase it from Millennium restaurant in SF.

[retrowire]

41. Yeah, even raw it's surprisingly nice. nt

[JRLeft]

42. I've been killing kale, I guess it's good to break it up a little bit.

[retrowire]

43. Mmmm Kale...

Don't eat Kale when it's not ripe.

I yanked some out of my step dads garden once and chomped in...

Bitter as ground coffee. Yuck.

[JRLeft]

44. Kale is an acquired taste.

It's awesome in smoothies.

[retrowire]

45. you know we just bought a blender

and have yet to use it.

any recipe ideas?

BTW, I love how we just turned this place into a vegan food thread lol

[JRLeft]

46. Yeah, peaches, apples, pumpkin seeds, bananas, kale, and limeade.

[Gamecock Lefty]

19. Boo Hoo!

Don't endorse Bernie = trash the organization. Stay classy Bernie campaign.

[Metric System]

34. No wonder his supporters behave the same way. I'm sick and tired of the whining. I've already seen

posts saying that people should stop donating to the HRC, just as was said about Planned Parenthood a few weeks ago.

[livetohike]

27. Thin skin in the Sanders camp. Things don't go their

way and they have to demonize the organization's decision.

[Fawke Em]

28. So a mild statement about establishment supporing establishment is now a bash?

[TM99]

31. We must never criticize any organization or establishment

entity.

It is a vile attack or bashing don't you?

[Meldread]

37. This is funny. It will sway approximately zero queer votes toward Hillary.

I think only people outside of the community will get all twisted up in knots over this endorsement. Which is why I find Sander's reaction funny as hell. I literally laughed out loud.

Seriously, outside of the upper class queer people (mostly white) they don't have much sway. Those folks were all in for Hillary already, so the cards were already stacked in her favor. It's well known that Hillary and the HRC have been long time allies and close ever since she was in the Senate. I believe Chad is even one of her personal good friends. It's like being shocked that DWS is in the tank for Hillary, well duh.

Among most queer people I know, the HRC is tolerated as a sometimes necessary evil, but is frequently scorned. It has a history of throwing members of the community under the bus when it is convenient. They are basically Third Way Democrats. Necessary evils due to the need to form coalitions.

Most of the people who are going to be swayed by this are straight people who have a favorable view of LGBT people. "Oh wow! The Gays support Hillary! I think I will support her too! This must mean she is really pro-equality!" Yeah, so long as it polls favorably.

The best case that can be made for Hillary from a queer point of view is that when the chips are all down, she is going to hold onto the gains we made under Obama. We may make some marginal gains under her as well, depending on what she can get through Congress. Bernie Sanders, on the other hand, should he win the Presidency, will have to contend with not only Republicans going after him, but also Democrats to his right who will work to undermine him. This infighting could jeopardize what we've gained so far. That's the cynical and pragmatic argument for Hillary from a queer point of view.

My complaint against both of them is that they are still arguing over who supported gay marriage first. I don't care about what both of them have done in the past. The marriage debate is now settled thanks to the Supreme Court. I want to know that they both understand the challenges facing the community today, right now, not just here at home, but abroad as well, and what they plan to do about it if they become President. Two big things that I want to see done, outside of the Equality Act, of course, is instant asylum given to every queer person living in countries that discriminate against us either through law or through culture. (In other words, countries in which we face intense discrimination, marginalization, persecution, and even death.) If they can find some way to make it to the United States, I want to know that the nation will grant them citizenship, the same way we granted citizenship to people fleeing Cuba under Castro. The other thing that I want is an aggressive effort to help marginalized queer youth, not only those who are homeless, though they should receive primary focus, but those who are disadvantaged in other ways. How can we protect our youth from discrimination, particularly from their families? Kids are coming out earlier and earlier now, and this puts them at heavy risk of abuse from their families at unprecedented levels. I want to know that there are programs and such in place to help queer youth find safety, education, and ultimately achieve equal opportunity to their heteronormative and cis counterparts. I want to see Sanders and Clinton really show us how they support us--not fight over who was first in line in the past.

[Gamecock Lefty]

47. As a member of the LGBT community . . .

I wholeheartedly support Hillary over Bernie! Why? Because I like her better than Bernie. And after reading Bernie supporter comments about the HRC endorsing HRC I am even more solidly behind Clinton!

Granted mine is only one man’s vote but it’s for Hillary!