MLGPA reborn

Things are finally quiet, and Maine’s primary lesbian and gay advocacy group has time to hire a new executive director, launch a new Web site, and continue to hammer the legislature

By Tony Giampetruzzi

GALENA AND ALLEN: moving the MLGPA toward legislative victories.

November 2000. Gay activists and their allies lost again when Mainers, by a ridiculously slim margin of 4000 votes, decided to deny equal rights to gays and lesbians for the second time in three years. When it happened in 1998, fingers were pointed and blame was placed. Much of the fault was attributed to gay leaders including members of the Maine Lesbian and Gay Political Alliance even though that venerable statewide organization had little to do with the campaign in the first place. MLGPA is the only group with extensive name recognition, though, and have thus experienced the brunt of fall-out after fall-out.

But, if backlash was expected as a result of last year’s loss, it was never realized. Why? MLGPA quickly got off the mat and continued with its legislative goals in Augusta. Now, with a very successful year behind them, they’re moving into the important election year of 2002 and looking to help gays and lesbians to build on their successes rather than wallow in their defeats. It’s a renewed agenda, a broader focus, and a sense of purpose that is finally anchoring the organization as a force to be reckoned with.

It’s also time to take a much needed breath.

When Karen Geraghty took over the reigns at the Maine Lesbian Gay Political Alliance (MLGPA) in 1993, the organization was already 10-years old but still seeking an identity. “We consisted of a PO Box and an executive board and we would meet in the basement of the Unitarian Universalist Church in Augusta,” Geraghty remembers. “We weren’t doing any campaigning, we hadn’t even campaigned for the Portland [gay rights] ordinance [in 1992]. We were actually just trying to get a phone and an office to put the phone in.”

Over the next few years, MLGPA was forced to grow-up, and quickly at that. In fact, from 1993 to 2000, MLGPA and the slew of community leaders involved in gay politics in Maine operated in crisis mode, fighting back bills and referenda aimed at stripping gays of the few protections they have while trying desperately (but unsuccessfully) to somehow pass a measure that would simply affirm equal rights for gays and lesbians. All the while, folks like Geraghty developed a political identity of their own by involving themselves in mainstream politics and diversifying their political clout.

A lot has changed for Geraghty since her days at the helm of MLGPA. As one of Maine’s best-known openly-gay politicians, Geraghty, a three-term Portland city councilor, may soon be at the helm of our largest city as Portland’s mayor. And she isn’t the only stalwart gay activist who is likely to ascend to mainstream political leadership in the coming year. Rumor has it another former MLGPA prez, David Garrity, has his eyes on a House seat in Augusta. And did you know that Susan Longley, the State Senator from Friendship who announced her bid for John Baldacci’s 2nd District Congressional seat a few weeks ago, isn’t making any bones about her sexual orientation these days?

Even the current MLGPA executive director, Rick Galena, says that he’s gonna make a go at openly-gay Michael Quint’s Portland Parkside district House Seat. That’s because Quint will enter the arena with Portland gadabout Ethan Strimling in a face-off for what will be a wide-open State Senate seat left vacant by term-limited Anne Rand — that primary race will likely be one of the most contentious in Maine as influential Portland dems will be forced to pick sides and rally their troops.

As for Galena, it should be a busy year. Not only is he gearing-up for a possible run for Quint’s spot in Augusta, he is enthusiastically committed to changing the landscape of gay life in Maine as the new head of MLGPA. It’s true, since 1993, through good and bad, gays have gained unprecedented political clout in Maine. At the same time, MLGPA finally got its phone . . . and a backbone. The sum of that experience and growth appears to be coming to a nexus in the coming months as 2002 promises to be a hectic year for the state’s gay community.

For the first time in almost 10 years, it’s peace-time at MLGPA. No legislative bills or referenda promising an equal rights law are looming and, say leaders, there are no plans to introduce any such measure in the immediate future. Believe it or not, that is actually good news for gay leaders in a state that has been dogged by a decades-long string of failed statewide gay rights attempts. But that’s not to say that the leaders have given-up, they simply are relieved that they can get down to equally important business.

Contrary to popular belief, MLGPA has never been the engine driving the most recent attempts at passing a statewide equal rights measure (or, for that matter, beating down one of a handful of ballotbox attempts at dogging Maine’s gay and lesbian community). In fact, Maine Won’t Discriminate was formed to oversee a 1995 campaign to stave off a right-wing coup to outlaw future attempts at equal rights. The group, which some claim actually shut-out MLGPA from the process, was revived for the 1998 campaign. YES on 6 was formed to run the 2000 campaign. Even though professional campaign machines oversaw the day-to-day workings of these efforts, most Mainers assumed that MLGPA had a greater involvement than they did. MLGPA’s indirect involvement did come at a price, however. The losses sullied MLGPA’s reputation, sucked the organization’s resources and cut deep chasms into the community that it serves. The result has been MLGPA’s inability to reach its full and necessary potential. Until now, that is.

With the recent decision to hire 26-year-old Galena as executive director and the ascension of Maggie Allen from vice president to president, MLGPA and the people they serve could soon experience a much needed renaissance, bringing it closer together and providing it with the advocacy tools and resources it has lacked in the past.

ýllen and Galena say that they now have the opportunity to help gays and lesbians to get down to more of the nitty-gritty issues that are affecting their everyday lives — sound health policies; women’s health; HIV/AIDS advocacy and funding; economic issues; equality in employment; domestic partnership issues; and adoption rights to name a few.

“As our community gains visibility and respect, our issues actually become much, much more complicated,” says Allen. “Our community is looking at those things and looking for an organization that is more responsive to those types of things. Our community is at a critical point where we need viable, sustainable, and effective legislation.”

Much of that groundwork began last year when MLGPA was instrumental in advocating for domestic partnership benefits for state employees; fending off an attempt to ban gays and lesbians from adopting; and stopping a measure that would have repealed protected classes in the Maine Human Rights Act.

MLGPA also successfully worked with legislators to pass legislation that 1) gives gay couples the same hospital visitation rights as heterosexuals; 2) requires insurance companies to sell policies with domestic partnership benefits to all Maine companiesý and 3) funds a historic $500k civil rights team project in Maine schools. The next legislative session, which begins in January, will likely produce another $750k in HIV/AIDS prevention funding and a pilot program to fully implement the Maine Medical Marijuana Act of 1998. If MLPGA has their way, that is. And, more and more, MLGPA is getting their way.

Galena and Allen say that they not only have their fingers on the pulse of what needs to be done to continue to fix problems, they have the vision and a realistic plan for getting things done.

“We do face some real challenges,” says Allen. “After 18 years, we are still an all-volunteer organization focused on very specific functions and services, namely acting as the legislative advocate of the gay and lesbian community. That will certainly continue to be a major role of MLGPA, but the reality is that our community needs and wants a more broadly focused organization.”

“People are burnt out with [the] politics [of another gay rights referendum] right now,” explains Galena, who spent a number of years in the Maine statehouse as an operative in the Democratic Party. “So we have to have a broader appeal.” Yes, the equal rights Holy Grail has yet to be found, but the raw political maneuvering undertaken in the past two years by MLGPA and outgoing president David Garrity has anchored Maine’s gay and lesbian community as politically adroit and passionate about securing rights and responsibilities.

“They have a wonderful vision and a plan for reaching the community. They just have to stay the course,” says Garrity. “The climate in the gay community isn’t as negative as it may have been in the past — the 2000 campaign, even though we didn’t get the votes that we needed, didn’t split the community like others did because it wasn’t as Portland-centered as the other campaigns were perceived to be. As for lobbying, Rick can do that now. He brings amazing skills and experience in these areas. He also knows the players, the members of the legislature. That’s really incredibly invaluable, to know the players and to know the interest groups at such a young age. He knows all about political realities as well as how to affect good public policy.”

Allen and Galena agree that working with the legislature is key to forcing change, but they actually see that as back-ending their greater goal, to once and for all build community among Maine’s gays and lesbians.

“A lot of the political activity in the state has taken its toll on the gay community in recent years,” says Allen of the several equal rights law campaigns that often tore the LGBT community apart rather than pulling it together. “Unfortunately, we are factionalized, but we do all have our eyes on the same prize.”

From philosophical disagreements surrounding the effort to involve the Catholic Diocese in the 2000 campaign to socio-geographical tension, Maine’s gays and lesbians don’t always get along. Increasing MLGPA membership and working with coalition partners to discuss ways to come together are just a couple ways that Allen and Galena see short-term success in mending fences. Allen says that building community is really the key, and she expects to mount a massive membership drive for the organization, ramp-up the political action component of MLGPA, and forge stronger, more cohesive bonds with coalition members. Allen points to a cohesive executive board and the organization’s first paid staff member (Galena) as the first steps in planning for change.

Garrity thinks that Galena’s position will make the difference. “They finally have a paid staff person and that gives statewide advocacy for the LGBT community the credibility that is has always deserved. It’s high time that people in the community start putting their money behind the issues and the complaints that they find important,” criticizes Garrity. “They have to support this organization. It just shocks me how many people are not members.”

But Karen Geraghty actually disagrees, to a point. She says that it is enormously challenging to create programs that “constantly and consistently” provide outreach and education because “there are always local, state, and national issues that are important to people, and there are entire groups of people that want to be informed.”

“I think that sometimes they have it backwards,” says Geraghty. “They can’t just say ‘give us $25 and we’ll send you a quarterly newsletter,’ it has to be the opposite. They have to provide a product, and then they’ll get the membership.”

That product is on its way, says Allen. In the next few weeks, MLGPA plans to finally drag itself into the Information Age with a capital Web project they say is long overdue.

“Maine’s gay and lesbian community lacks a clearinghouse of information, links to their legislators, access to legislative position papers, message portals, up-to-the-minute news,” says Galena. “That’s what a new, comprehensive Web site is going to provide everyone, and we plan to market the hell out of it.”

With the funding in place and a search underway to find the most savvy Web contractor, a new gay dot com is on its way.

DAVID GARRITY: the outgoing president of the MLGPA considers a run for statewide office.

Galena is particularly excited about a Web Action Center so that community members can get involved and take action on important issues while at home. “One of the things that we are learning is that you don’t actually have to travel to affect policy,” said Galena. “Cyber activism can be very powerful.”

Galena says that improving communication should also make the legislative component of MLGPA more effective. “The truth is, we defeated every piece of anti-gay legislation that was introduced in the last decade, but most of that went unnoticed.” Galena and Allen agree that it’s time for MLGPA to toot its horn. They expect that the Web site will help, but they also intend to work closely with media to get the word out on all the happenings at MLGPA. And, with a new focus, new goals, and new energy, success is more tangible than ever before.

“We’re not in crisis mode anymore,” says Allen. “There’s a lot to be done, but we’ll be doing it differently: namely involving more people and sharing more information, and most important, making sure that we are financially stable. Everyone wants to be an important part of their community now and we are going to become the savvy, well-funded organization that will be the key to helping them affect positive change in and around their communities.”

While MLGPA is getting their act together and re-organizing, they’ll likely have their hands full with endorsements and education when it comes to the November 2002 elections. Key seats are up for grabs and candidates will be looking for more than just endorsements this year. In the Portland region alone, five gays and lesbians have already expressed interest in becoming candidates for various state offices, among them Garrity, Galena, and Quint. The openly-gay incumbent South Portland state rep. Larry Bliss is expected to mount a re-election campaign, and a handful of other names have been mentioned.

Conventional wisdom says that all the candidates would have a better-than-average shot at winning their respective seats — all have extensive, well-rounded political experience that speaks for itself. Further, there is no indication that a person’s sexual orientation would discredit their abilities. In fact, for an opponent to make an issue of one’s sexual orientation these days would not only be passé, but dangerous. At least in Portland, where liberals rule the roost.

The real show will play itself out among Maine’s gay and gay-friendly Washington delegation hopefuls. First, Susan Longley, the progressive State Senate Judiciary chair, wants the seat that’s about to be vacated by Democrat John Baldacci, the man likely to succeed Angus King.

Longley is known for a lot of things. According to the Bangor Daily News, she created the Cub Care legislation, the health care expansion program for children of working parents; worked to establish a nationally acclaimed incentive program for businesses that help with dependents’ health care concerns; and helped develop Start ME Right, a child care initiative that included tax credits for parents as well as scholarships for child care workers.

What BDN didn’t note, however, is that Longley is a lesbian facing six other democratic candidates in a very conservative and socio-politically mixed congressional district. “I don’t really think that a lot has changed as far as being an openly-gay candidate,” says Geraghty. “There are still major challenges that some candidates face after coming out. Things have certainly changed in the Portland area where people are largely unconcerned with a person’s sexuality, but I think that outside of Portland, people still face challenges.”

Geraghty adds that she is concerned that Longley faces an uphill battle. “If you look at the voting record on basic civil rights referenda in the second district, well, let’s just say that could be a problem for her.” Not only do voters in Maine’s 2nd Congressional district overwhelmingly oppose equal rights at the polls, the district is geographically the largest in the nation. That could prove to be another stumbling block for Longley because, for better or worse, though she’s the daughter of former Maine governor Jim Longley, she is largely unknown, having opted to be a bit reclusive when it comes to the media.

Garrity has confidence in Longley, though, adding that she deserves the strong support of the gay community. “I think it’s great that she’s running and that she’s out. Every time we get out there and identify as gay, we show that we are just as able and just as well-rounded as every other candidate and we advance the community.”

Although supporting “out” candidates should be at the top of gay and lesbian to-do lists this year, at least one major straight US Senate candidate is courting the support of gays — Chellie Pingree, another former Maine state senator who has mounted an aggressive, no-holds barred campaign to wrestle the coveted US Senate seat from the flaky Susan Collins. Pingree isn’t gay, but she is fiercely gay-friendly and has won the early support of some heavy hitters in the gay community. In fact, last month a handful of Maine activists sent a letter to potential Pingree supporters throughout the nation skewering Collins’s anti-gay policies and seeking funds and volunteers for what promises to be a spirited campaign.

“Serving for eight years in the Maine State Senate, four of which she spent as Senate Majority leader, Chellie twice co-sponsored legislation to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation. Chellie also voted against a bill that would have prohibited same-sex marriage in Maine,” wrote Pingree supporters in the fundraising letter. “. . . and every time we have faced a civil rights referendum in Maine, Chellie has been at our side, traveling the state and country, talking to voters about our cause and to supporters about raising much needed funds.” The letter was signed by attorney Pat Peard (Maine Won’t Discriminate), David Becker (philanthropist), and Karen Geraghty.

“She’s a very straight shooter and she is good on all the issues that we care about,” says Geraghty, a Pingree fundraiser. “The reason to support her is a no-brainer — she’s running against Susan Collins who does not have good positions on gays and lesbians or on civil rights in general.”

At present, Collins is considered by Maine’s gay community to be a blight on the state’s Washington delegation — she even split with her colleagues, including Republican Senator Olympia Snowe, to vote against the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. “Indeed, for more than a century, workers have relied on Washington to secure their rights,” wrote the Portland Press Herald in their condemnation of Collins. “That’s why we find it astounding that Senator Susan Collins doubts the federal government’s role in preventing workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.”

But Collins’s disregard for the gay community runs deeper than simply failing to support certain pieces of legislation. Geraghty suggests that Collins’s views are “troublesome” and that she has exhibited a “very strange relationship” to gay issues and the community in general.

Here’s why: When Collins launched a bid for Maine governor in 1994, she claimed to support equal rights for Maine’s gays and lesbians, even going so far as to state that she would sanction an equal rights measure. “It was not a comfortable position for her, but she took it nonetheless,” says Geraghty.

So impressed with Collins’s bravery in light of Maine’s powerful right-wing lobby, the Maine Lesbian and Gay Political Alliance announced in 1995 that they would give Collins an award. In a bizarre turn of events, Collins declined the award. “It was really shocking to us,” says Geraghty. “She claimed that there were a lot of things in our agenda that she didn’t agree with. At that point, our agenda had two components: equal rights and AIDS prevention. So her message was bizarre.”

Geraghty says that the news disappointed the gay community.

When Collins was elected to the US Senate in 1996, many in the gay community expected that she would revive her support for gay-related issues. To the contrary, Collins has been largely regarded as a puppet of senior Republican lawmakers, signing on to a host of anti-gay efforts. She voted against ENDA, stating that such issues are best left up to the states. However, when Collins was asked to endorse last year’s equal rights referendum in Maine, she declined saying that her policy is to not comment on statewide issues.

“She is speaking out of both sides of her mouth. Once voters really get to understand what she has done, they won’t tolerate that kind of conservatism,” says Geraghty, who is confident that Pingree will prevail. “Collins won in 1996 with 49 percent of the vote. That is not a resounding success.”

Garrity, another active Pingree supporter, agrees. “I’m just shocked at some of her positions. She has also sold us out on health care and education every time. I wouldn’t say she’s a puppet, but she’s certainly one of the Republicans’ token women,” says Garrity. “As for Chellie, I adore her. She is truly one of the best things that has happened to Maine. She is a brilliant progressive and this is an especially important race because there is a 50/50 split in the Senate and I think that to protect the country from the excesses that are being dished out in the name of corporate welfare right now, we need a change.”

MLGPA will of course play a large role in all races, from powerful endorsements, to community education, to Web updates and Action Alerts. Involvement in electoral politics is one of their greatest strengths, says Garrity, and with candidates like Pingree and Longley looking towards Washington, DC, it will be up to MLGPA to do what they can to help.

Ten years ago it would have been difficult to imagine that a gay organization would one day develop the clout to not only affect legislation, but to actually be considered one of the strongest lobbying organizations in the state. At the same time, it is no longer unusual for openly gay men and women to seek office and to be elected. In fact, it is rare that mainstream media actually harps on one’s sexuality as an identifier when it comes to policy.

MLGPA has certainly had a significant hand in shaping the current climate for gays and lesbians. For years, they have done their research to let people know what laws and candidates to support. They still have plenty of work to do, though. After all, it is still legal to fire people in Maine because they are gay, but activists say “hang in there.”

“We gave people the proof,” says Garrity, “that we may have lost another equal rights effort, but we are very far from defeated.”

Tony Giampetruzzi was the media coordinator for the Yes on 6 campaign in 2000, and received a media award from the MLGPA in 2000. He can be reached at tgiamp@aol.com.