My first political memory, at 10 years old, is Ronald Reagan's election in 1980. I remember my parents being depressed about the Democrats losing control of the federal government. Although I knew that the 1980 election was a disaster for the country, I really didn't know why. So, I asked my father "Why are we Democrats?" and my father responded with words that I'll never forget: "Because we believe in treating people fairly and with dignity."
Then and now, this is why I am a Democrat and why LGBT people should be Democrats. While the party is certainly imperfect, it is by far and away the most effective vehicle to advance a progressive agenda that prioritizes individual dignity, responsible government, and economic fairness. And, it is the only vehicle for the LGBT community to achieve equality. It is critical that the LGBT community, and other progressive-minded people participate in the party to ensure that it stays true to its roots.
Since the 1930s, essentially all progressive legislative reforms in this country have come from the Democratic Party. Back in the 1930s, the Democrats gave us Social Security, a minimum wage, regulation of the financial industry, occupational and food safety laws, labor union protections, and many other progressive measures that changed the way Americans live. Since then, the Democrats have given us healthcare for seniors (Medicare), health care for poor people (Medicaid), the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act, the Earned Income Tax Credit, liberal Supreme Court justices, and many other progressive advances.
Of course, Washington has been a bleak place for left-of-center politics over the past dozen years, so the Democratic Party has achieved significant goals on the state level. For example, in California, a progressive Democratic majority in the legislature has passed significant labor/worker protections, affordable prescription drug legislation, mandatory health insurance for employees (which the voters then repealed after a misleading campaign by right-wing interests), an increase in the minimum wage, limits on greenhouse gases, and universal health care (which our Republican governor likely will veto). Democratic state legislatures across the country are considering and passing legislation to expand access to health care, including expanded health coverage for children and laws requiring large corporations like Wal-Mart to provide adequate health insurance.
The Democratic Party also has managed to kill legislation that would have severely undermined our ideals, including Republican efforts to privatize Social Security, to ban abortion, to ban marriage equality, to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and to repeal the estate tax, which is probably the most progressive tax on the books.
The Democratic Party, moreover, has delivered every single legislative victory for the LGBT community. On the federal level, the Democrats killed the Federal Marriage Amendment and came close to passing the Employment Non-Discrimination Act and hate crimes legislation. In California, the Democrats have passed a marriage equality bill, created a strong domestic partnership registry, passed transgender job and health-care protections, enacted protections for LGBT students, etc., etc. These bills have passed almost exclusively with Democratic votes.
I do not mean to suggest that the Democratic Party is perfect. At the federal level, the party has been far too timid on our issues. It was a disgrace when so many Democrats voted in favor of the Defense of Marriage Act and a disgrace that a Democratic president signed the bill into law. Many of us were unhappy when a number of Democrats voted for the bankruptcy "reform" bill last year, the most anti-consumer piece of legislation in recent memory. And, we have all been disappointed with Democrats' response to the war in Iraq and the support of many Democrats for awful legislation like the Patriot Act. The Democratic Party, nationally, must be bolder and more aggressive in pursuing a progressive agenda.
Yet, despite the Democrats' missteps, it is hard to dispute that for the past 75 years, the Democratic Party, at the state and federal levels, has provided just about every progressive legislative victory that we have obtained. I am confident that the party will provide more of these victories in the future.
Our community must participate and have a seat at the table. We need to be there to ensure that the party is true to its roots and that it is set straight when it strays from those roots. That is why I am a Democrat, and that is why you should be one as well.
Scott Wiener is chair of the San Francisco Democratic Party.