LID Responds to Dismissal of County Committee Lawsuit

Last year, the Kings County Democratic Party took a step in the right direction: it proposed a resolution by which county committee seats would become gender neutral, allowing transgender, gender non-conforming and gender non-binary (TGNCNB) persons to serve on County Committee, an organization which comprises the general membership of the Brooklyn Democratic Party.  LID had long advocated for this issue. 

Unfortunately, a concurrent proposal was introduced, tied to the issue we advocated for, which would transfer the power to appoint additional county committee members from the county committee itself to the executive committee, the body comprised of our District Leaders. 

The County Committee was one of the first places where LGBQ people were able to begin making inroads, one of the first steps toward gaining a representational foothold in local politics.  We could not support removing any of its powers, nor did we wish to see an issue so important to our community tied to an issue we could not support.  Proposals promoting TGNCNB equality deserve to stand on their own. 

A lawsuit ensued challenging the party’s decision.  That lawsuit was dismissed last week.  While we are happy and excited that TGNCNB people will now be able to serve equally as county committee members, we are saddened to see this organ, a body which gives many rank and file Democrats a say over party decisions, be taken away from the people. 

Unfortunately, news reports have characterized it as “interesting” that LID opposed the combined proposals.  This characterizes us as being opposed to our own proposals – which could not be further from the truth. 

We cannot stress enough that TGNCNB issues deserve their own voice, and do not need to be tied to other proposals.  We should not have to support proposals that go against our progressive and reform values.  Characterizing LID, and the LGBTQ community, as so single-issue that we should ignore concurrent proposals that we cannot support – to suggest that we should be happy with what we get – undermines our right to advocate and join in policies that impact persons other than ourselves. 

We are very excited to see many TGNCNB people petition for seats on the county committee during petitioning season next February.  We also hope to see the county committee given back its power to choose its own members.