Message from BGDSD President

It is with a great deal of sadness but also a great deal of expectation that I announce I am resigning as president of the Barbara Gittings Delaware Stonewall Democrats as of Saturday, March 10, 2012.   As we approach the heat of the 2012 election season and the coming votes by the Board of Directors on endorsements of non-Stonewall members who are seeking office, it is clear that the process must be free of any conflict, real or perceived, between those endorsements and my own campaign for the office of Insurance Commissioner. 

My years as a board member of Delaware Stonewall Democrats, including my two terms as Political VP, followed by two terms as president, saw major accomplishments for those we represent.  We saw enacted three major pieces of legislation in just 3 years: Hospital Visitation Rights; Anti-Discrimination against LGB, but sadly not yet "T" Delawareans and, last year, civil unions.  All three seemed long away just 4 years ago.  We also saw the change of our organization's name in honor of Delaware native and LGBT pioneer, the late Barbara Gittings.   There is still much to do.

The 2012 election may see the victory of what may be the only openly gay elected officials holding partisan office in Delaware.  We may see not just one, but maybe two or more.   My election alone would make me only the second openly gay individual holding a statewide elected office in America ( Tammy Baldwin would be a nice number three).   The greatest thing about my election is that, so far at least, sexual orientation is not an issue.   I hope to be judged on my qualifications for office and my vision of a pro-consumer insurance department-like the one I was hired to work in in 2007.

I want to thank my board members and the general membership for supporting me, supporting Stonewall and for helping advance the cause of equal rights for all.  There is an election to be won, and there is work to be done to make the purpose of Stonewall a reality.

Thank you,

Mitch

 

Will You Walk With Us?

Last year was a good year for the LGBT community here in Delaware and the future promises to be just as exciting.

We need to be more visible in our communities so I’m asking for volunteers from all over the state to join us to march in the many local parades coming up so that people can be more aware of who we are and what we do. Ideally I’d like to have as many as ten or more folks to march with some of us from the Board.

If you are interested in joining us in this endeavor, I ask you to contact your county coordinators.  They are Norm Spector (nspectorlo@aol.com) for New Castle County , Shirely Semple (shirleydial@yahoo.com) for Kent County and John Workman (workmanjr2@aol.com) for Sussex County.  This would be a great way for us to get the community to recognize us and have some fun in the process.

 

LGBT Truth Squads

We often hear members of the LGBT community complain about how little President Obama has done for our Community. National Stonewall wanted you to know that the Obama campaign team has put together a truth team to counter the myths. Information about it is included below from National Stonewall.

-- You may have already heard the Obama campaign is putting together a program called Truth Team to combat the lies from the right. The program has three parts: AttackWatch, KeepingGOPHonest, and KeepingHisWord. Each piece is designed to tell the truth about President Obama's record and negate the dishonesty machine on the right.

The critical part is the link to sign up: http://www.barackobama.com/truthteam

Annual Meeting hears from Electeds

The Dover Century Club auditorium was nearly full at the annual meeting of the Barbara Gittings Delaware Stonewall Democrats on Saturday, January 14th. President Mitch Crane deftly conducted the business of the annual meeting while inviting elected officials in attendance to give remarks as they appeared, allowing these busy people to move on to other appointments. In the business meeting, Norm Spector, of New Castle County, was elected Vice President-Development to fill the unexpired term of Betty Deacon, who resigned to dedicate her time to the upcoming elections. Executive Vice President Steve Kotrch guided to approval much needed by-laws amendments. Membership Vice President Larry Peterson reported on the progress of the "Trans Task Force" he heads-dedicated to gaining protection and rights for that important segment of our community.

Read full post here

 

Civil Union Law goes into effect New Year's Day

The Civil Union Law passed by the Delaware General Assembly and signed into law by Governor Markell last Spring is in effect as of 10am on New Year's Day.  We are happy to pass along this important fact sheet created by the University of Delaware LGBT Faculty and Staff Caucus. Please find the download link below:

Download Civil Union Fact Sheet here

 

Review the posts we made as SB30 made its way through the Senate and House? Click on the links below to read about it:

Visit our Legislation page for all the articles we posted on the Civil Union bill »
Download/Print a copy of the full Civil Union bill »