Members of Congress returned to Capitol Hill this week with health care reform on their minds. While that debate has overshadowed efforts to pass a number of gay-related bills, a group that formed four months ago to develop a blueprint for the community continues to push its broad agenda for full civil rights for LGBT individuals.

"Delay and excuses are no longer acceptable," the document states.

Called the Dallas Principles for the city in which it was created in mid-May, the document was developed by 24 mostly LGBT people from around the country. Some, like blogger Pam Spaulding, are well known. Others, like San Francisco's John Bare and Allison Duncan, might not be household names. The document came about largely through the efforts of Juan Ahonen-Jover, Ph.D., and his partner, Dr. Ken Ahonen-Jover. The Miami couple also founded http://www.eQualitygiving.org, where Juan proposed the Omnibus Equality Bill. The couple spearheaded the Dallas meeting and decided who would be invited.

In an interview with the Bay Area Reporter last month, Bare said he wasn't sure what would happen when the group met in Dallas, but he wanted to help.

"I went to Dallas to see what I can do today to bring equality faster," Bare said.

The Dallas Principles consist of eight guiding principles that "underlie our call to action," the document states. The principles state, "We will not leave any part of our community behind," "separate is never equal," and "religious beliefs are not a basis upon which to affirm or deny civil rights."

Additionally, the document states, "individual involvement and grassroots action are paramount to success and must be encouraged," and "success is measured by the civil rights we all achieve, not by words, access, or money raised."

Finally, the Dallas Principles states, "those who seek our support are expected to commit to these principles."

Shortly after the Dallas Principles were announced, some in the community were critical of the secret meeting that took place in a hotel conference room that resulted in the document. Bare said he understands that concern.

"I understand the need for openness and basically agree with it," he said, adding that the size of the group needed to be limited.

Bare is an investor who now does volunteer work with nonprofits. He once worked as a research molecular biologist and geneticist but has evolved into a donor and activist. He recently served as a co-chair of the board for the Horizons Foundation.

Duncan, listed as an author of the principles, is founder and principal of Amplifier Strategies, based in Oakland. She did not respond to an e-mail seeking comment.

In an e-mail response to questions, Juan Ahonen-Jover explained how the participants were selected.

"The list started with people who we knew could make a significant contribution to this conversation (we may have known them in person, others online, others per reputation, etc.) These people were sharing the same concern of 'How do we better accelerate reaching legal equality for the LGBT community given the better political climate after the elections?'" Ahonen-Jover wrote.

The 24 participants come mainly from the East Coast, which was also a criticism right after the principles were released. However, Ahonen-Jover said that the group needed to be "about that size to ensure that we could have a meaningful conversation."

"Actually, some of the geographic diversity changed at the very last minute since there were several other people from the West Coast that were invited but had to cancel literally the day before due to personal or family illness or similar circumstances," he wrote.

'Historical opportunity'

Ahonen-Jover, 52, and Bare, 46, agreed that the first year of President Barack Obama's administration provides an opportunity for movement on LGBT-related legislation such as repealing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," reforming immigration policies to include binational couples, and access to health care without discrimination.

"It was clear to me that we had a historical opportunity to enact LGBT equality legislation," Ahonen-Jover wrote. "We had a new president who claimed to be a fierce advocate, a House of Representatives with a Democratic majority, a speaker of the House representing Harvey Milk's district, and a Senate on its way to having a super majority... But we felt that with all these 'stars aligned,' there wasn't enough push from the LGBT community."

"We wanted to take advantage of the friendly government while we still could."

Since January, the administration has gone back and forth on gay rights issues. There have been conflicting reports over whether there is a plan to repeal DADT. And while other bills like the Employment Non-Discrimination Act have been introduced in the House and Senate, it's unclear when voting will take place, in part because of the health care debate that has come to dominate Congress and the administration. [See story, page 1.]

Bare was asked if the Dallas Principles wasn't just duplicating work being done by the Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest LGBT lobbying group.

"HRC is about passing specific legislation," Bare said. "We're neither an organization nor committed to legislation or litigation. We're trying to provide a framework for the community and I think it's especially helpful to people new to the movement."

Bare said the intent of the Dallas Principles is to "lift us all up, get us all engaged and subscribe to the notion [that] we're all human beings and deserve full dignity."

"We felt we needed to have a force," Bare added.

HRC spokesman Brad Luna told the B.A.R. that the "beauty of our movement is that we have a dedicated community that is constantly searching for new and innovative ways to effect change in Washington and at home."

"The Dallas Principles is one such example of ways that our community is continuing to advocate for LGBT equality," Luna said. "Whether the Dallas Principles, the gathering in Washington, or the federal lawsuit challenging Proposition 8, all of these are ideas that have one common intent in mind that we also share: to advance equality in the fastest way possible."

In terms of the current discussion in California about repealing Proposition 8 in 2010 or 2012, Bare said he thinks the LGBT community needs to have a broader perspective. Prop 8 amended the state constitution to ban same-sex marriage.

"People focused on 2010 or 2012 are missing an opportunity in Maine, and are missing an opportunity to meet legislators to pass ENDA," he said, citing the November ballot measure in Maine that seeks to overturn same-sex marriage legislation that was passed earlier this year and the effort in Congress to pass the inclusive workplace anti-discrimination act.

"The Dallas Principles calls for full civil rights. We still walk down the street in fear. We still get yelled at in the Mission, and Castro, and downtown." Bare said.

Bare said that one of the most important things LGBT people can do is come out, echoing what LGBT leaders have been saying as far back as the 1970s, when it was the rallying cry of the late Harvey Milk.

"We still need to come out and it can't just be marching in the street," Bare said. "We need to come out with our wallet. Health care definitely is a civil rights issue. I don't believe we can truly call ourselves a community unless we take care of each other and sometimes that means reaching into our wallet."

In terms of the health issue, one of the loudest complaints about the Dallas Principles was the omission of HIV/AIDS in the document, and the decision to call the document the Dallas Principles when there has been a document called the Denver Principles that was created in 1983 as a way to empower people living with HIV/AIDS. Both Bare and Ahonen-Jover were asked about that.

Bare explained that the group ended up with a "very strong statement about health care, including HIV and women." That statement reads: "Health Care. Every person should have access to affordable, high quality, and culturally competent health care without discrimination."

Bare also said that should the Dallas Principles gain traction, there could be a reclaiming of the Denver Principles for HIV care.

"There is an effort by the Denver Principles to do that," he added.

Ahonen-Jover said that the principles themselves "were not intended to be that specific."

"They needed to be more encompassing," he wrote. "Health care is an important component of the principles and is addressed as such. We knew that specific mentioning of HIV/AIDS would leave us open to criticism about not specifically mentioning other issues like the increased incidence of breast cancer among lesbians, the serious access [issue] to health care that transgender people have, etc."

Next steps

Bare and Ahonen-Jover said that the group behind the Dallas Principles has some things planned to make sure the principles are embraced by as many people as possible. Bare did stress that the group has no plans of becoming an organization or soliciting funds. Expenses to the meeting were paid by the individuals out of pocket, he said.

"Our job is to make the principles known," Bare said. "To keep people engaged."

The most active method for that right now is the group's Facebook page, which had 4,596 fans as of Tuesday.

"We're not an organization," Bare added. "We're trying to inspire individual action."

For more information, visit www.thedallasprinciples.org.