Editor:
I’d like to provide some context about the Liberty City LGBT Democratic Club’s endorsement process as described by Jay McCalla in his letter to PGN (May 15-21).
Liberty City is a 15-year-old, all-volunteer, member-driven organization. Each and every endorsement vote the club makes is decided by a vote of our members. Membership is defined by attending two events per year and paying annual dues. Membership is open to all. There is simply no way — short of ballot-box stuffing — for our board or endorsement committee to fix a vote. This is partially because we revamped our bylaws in 2006 to close any loopholes that would allow a stacked vote. But mostly our process is fair because our club is set up so that all members are equal, rather than allowing decisions about endorsements to rest in the hands of an elite group.
Members come from all walks of life and membership is open to the community. All decisions about endorsements are made by club members. To criticize the decisions of Liberty City without acknowledging the role of various and diverse individuals from the community is a folly. I invite everyone to visit www.libertycity.org to read the explanation there about why club members endorsed each candidate included in this year’s slate, as well as the candidates’ original answers to our questionnaire.
Mr. McCalla is right that many of the candidates we endorse for office make contributions to our get-out-the-vote effort. We are an all-volunteer group and, although we rely as much as we can on our members to fund our work, to cover 100 divisions on E-day, as is our plan, and to print literature and place ads requires extra funds.
We have asked candidates to contribute toward our GOTV program every year that I have been involved in the organization: Some do and some don’t. And that has had nothing to do with who has been endorsed or supported on Election Day. We have a solid track record among candidates for office and political insiders as having a fair endorsement process and a transparent get-out-the-vote operation. That perception is reality.
Mr. McCalla also makes the claim in his letter that the club endorses candidates who do not support “full equality.” To some, equality only means marriage. To me, full human rights must also include the freedom not to be beaten when walking down the street, harassed at school, or to be able to get or keep a job regardless of gender or sexual identity. It’s not a simple matter to determine which candidate for office will best serve the long-term interests of the LGBT community, and the larger city in which it exists, especially when the offices in question each have a different impact on the issues important to us. Despite that, I think our members do a pretty good job of figuring it all out, especially considering that none of us are policy experts.
That doesn’t mean that we all like the outcome of our group’s endorsements — I have certainly not been crazy about some of them over the years — but those are the breaks when a majority is allowed to rule. We utilize a truly democratic process to make decisions and the simple fact is that if all agreed about who to vote for in the first place, there would not be a need for a group like Liberty City to exist.
Last, I’d like to point out that Liberty City’s board has spent the last year diversifying our leadership to be as inclusive of the entire LGBT community as possible. We think that our diversity helps us to make the best possible political endorsements for the LGBT community by representing the opinions of as many different parts of the community as we can. That is why our board has a majority of women and people of color — something not too many other progressive or LGBT groups in Philadelphia can claim. And we’re working hard to make sure that our membership is equally representative of the community and that our entire organization is more welcoming to transgender folks.
So Mr. McCalla is right on target when he suggests that Liberty City examine its internal process to better itself. Luckily, this is something we already and always will do. If he — or other members of the community — wish to share their ideas or suggestions, I encourage them to get more involved in our group and be a part of a community of decision-makers next time around.
Ray Murphy Co-chair, Liberty City Lesbian and Gay Democratic Club