"Non-Partisan" LA LGBT Center Stumps against Trump
Though claiming to be a non-partisan, not-for-profit group, the LA LGBT Center's voting initiative flyer contains calls to vote against President Trump.
As the 2018 midterm election draws ever-closer, races are beginning to heat up. In a recent poll, Texas Democrat Beto O’Rourke comes out two points above incumbent Senator Ted Cruz. Over in Missouri, Republican challenger Josh Hawley holds a narrow lead, with average polling less than a half point above incumbent Claire McCaskill. And in New Mexico, former governor Gary Johnson’s last-minute Libertarian bid is sure to be one for the books.
One place, on the other hand, that does not usually receive a lot of political attention is California. But this year, one group is going to great lengths in order to aid their agenda.
The Los Angeles LGBT Center is a California-based, not-for-profit corporation. As such, they take a great deal of pride in their status as a non-partisan group. In fact, one of their flyers, encouraging young Orange County voters to go to the polls this November, states this clearly along the bottom. However, the same flyer also sports, in bold-faced, capitalized print: “HELP STOP TRUMP!”
The card did not come alone. In a sociology class this past Monday at UC Irvine, about an hour south of LA, a representative from the LA LGBT Center gave a speech about the importance of getting the vote out. In it, she also mentioned both sides of this partisan, non-partisan duality.
71 Republic obtained a video Wednesday from an anonymous source, which showed the contents of the speech.
The LA LGBT Center’s Partisan Speech
The LA LGBT representative first spoke about the initial goals of the organization. “We are talking to voters, right here, in your backyard…specifically to voters who typically vote for president, but don’t vote in other elections”, she said informationally.
The spokeswoman then asserted that Orange County’s District 48 Congressional election is one of the closest in the country. This is true, as incumbent Republican Dana Rohrabacher and Democrat challenger Harley Rouda are locked in a dead heat. In a recent New York Times poll, the two men split the vote evenly at 45% each. One in ten voters voted “undecided”.
However, she then began to speak in a more partisan manner, referencing personal experiences and a distaste for President Trump. “I am personally really concerned about our country, and, the level of decency that we expect to treat each other with”, she remarked. “We have someone who is leading our country who is unprecedented, and we’ve never had someone like him in office before.”
Due to the harsh words on the flyer, the LA LGBT spokeswoman clearly was portraying the president in a negative manner. Though she later stated “we don’t believe in telling [voters] what to do”, the representative nonetheless passed out the flyers urging action to stop Trump.
The LA LGBT Center held another meeting the following evening, which the flyer mentions. It is unknown whether the non-partisan group maintained their partisan leanings at this and any other events.
