Michelangelo Signorile reports today that he has a named source, Aaron Belkin of the University of California, Santa Barbara's Palm Center, claiming that "national gay rights organizations" have not only colluded with the White House to delay addressing Don't Ask, Don't Tell, which was reported by the Daily Beast yesterday, but have actually campaigned against Congressional efforts to lift the ban. A little background can be found in unspeakable's diary yesterday here.
While Bellini had unnamed sources, I, however, have a named source saying exactly what Bellini reports, someone I interviewed several weeks ago on the show: Aaron Belkin of the Palm Center, the research institute that focuses on the military and sexuality, located at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Belkin writes often for The Huffington Post and interacts with members of Congress. (I have including a few-minute clip from that interview here as well). I didn't see or know about the Bellini piece when I interviewed Joe (it either had just posted or wasn't up yet), but I did ask him about what Belkin claimed. Belkin was relatively certain in what he told me:
AB: "...Our major national gay rights organizations -- it would be one thing to say nothing, but there is pro-active lobbying on the hill for Congress not to consider [the "don't ask, don't tell"] issue. And so the community has been appalling on this issue.
MS: Have you seen any response from any of those groups, and I guess we're talking about the Human Rights Campaign, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, other Washington groups?
AB:...We've heard from so many offices that not only are they not doing anything but they're pro-actively lobbying against consideration of the issue. I feel very confident in saying that.
NGLTF doesn't lobby on the hill, so the reference was clearly about HRC. Joe Solmonese denied this claim when I quoted it, though for accuracy's sake I should state that I asked him specifically about lobbying the White House on the issue and not Congress.
http://www.signorile.com/...
Joe Solomnese, who heads HRC, denies this charge, and their web page does include information on the Military Readiness Enhancement Act. http://www.hrc.org/...
Based on the content of the two interviews, which I encourage everyone to listen to (full transcripts are not available), there appears to be a credibility gap here. Either Belkin was mistaken or Solmonese is being less than truthful.
If you're at all interested in repealing DADT, I'd encourage you to contact HRC and demand specifics. I haven't done so yet but will be doing so shortly. If the two reports are true, the backroom deal with the White House is only the tip of the iceberg. It would be bad enough for HRC to act on behalf of the entire LGBT community in negotiating deals to delay legislation with the White House; it is quite another for them to actively oppose congressional efforts to repeal the ban.
HRC Contact Info:
Human Rights Campaign
1640 Rhode Island Ave.
Washington, DC 20036-3278
Phone
HRC Front Desk: (202) 628-4160
TTY: (202) 216-1572
Toll-Free: (800) 777-4723
Fax
(202) 347-5323
Finally, Rep. Tauscher, the lead sponsor of the legislation to repeal DADT, has a contact page here.
Hopefully, some clarification will be coming soon.