Dear Fellow Members of the new Stonewall 2.0,
I wanted to take a moment and thank you all for helping to make Stonewall Democrats of Southern Nevada a rising star in the Nevada political theater. Together over the last few months, since I have been fortunate enough to have been at first Vice Chair and then Chairman, we have added new members at an amazing rate and managed to almost (if not) double our club's bank account.
More importantly than numbers, we have become a family. One of the things about being a Gay man is that I am quite well aware that we in the LGBT community often can't take for granted that our natural families will welcome us as who we are. Often times, we must go out into the world and find people who share our interests, our highs and our lows. People we can count on in times of need who don't judge us because of who we are. Rather than find that sad, I feel that all of us in Stonewall have chosen to be with people that we want to be around. We actually got to choose our “family”. I have to say that I am more than happy that in addition to my own loving natural family, I have managed to find a second family that I truly am happy being a part of.
Stonewall is a home for any and all progressive Democrats regardless of gender, race, faith or sexual orientation or identification. I have made a very strong effort to ensure that the Stonewall board is the most diverse political board in Nevada and I feel I am well on my way to achieving the goals that I have set as a personal challenge in that regard. I am proud of us for all pulling together for the good of our party and our club and proving that diversity can be achieved with a concerted effort.
I hope you will all continue to think of Stonewall as not only your home, but, also as an incubator for fresh ideas and ways of getting the progressive message out as we head into what promises to be a make or break election. We must take back America from those who hate what our country stands for. We must continue to help our candidates, such as Senator Harry Reid, for without great men and women like him, we are (insert Dina Titus Quote here).
Our next meeting will be a laboratory of new ideas and exercises to, hopefully, help improve our preferred candidates performance in front of the media. I am sure we will make some more waves like our Stonewall Straw Poll did this past month. Our profile is on an upward trajectory and therefore so is the political profile and power of the LGBT and Progressive groups working towards victory in 2010. We will be a force from now on, there is no holding us back.
I hope you are all having a good time and I welcome any questions you may have or suggestions to improve Stonewall 2.0. I also would like you all to take time at our next meeting to meet and speak to all of our greatly expanded board after they take a bow for all of the hard work they are doing behind the scenes.
Thank you so much for having me as your Chairman,
Derek Washington
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