Blue Mass Group

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Delegates: Need your help on June 6th to add a safe schools plank to the platform

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In light of the recent tragic suicide of a boy in Springfield who was taunted at school with anti-gay slurs, I’d like to see the draft Democratic party platform amended to include a statement in support of safe schools.

The language I had in mind would be added to the Education section following the preceding planks a-p as a new plank, serendipitously lettered q, under the header “Massachusetts Democrats support:”

q) A safe, supportive and inclusive learning environment for all students, including gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered youth.

Those of us who attended the 4th Middlesex platform meeting heard eloquent testimony from a PFLAG board member on the difficulties glbt youth can face.  It was disappointing to see the platform committee overlook this in their draft document.  

To make the proposed addition to the platform, 250 signatures of delegates in attendance at the Convention will need to be gathered on the morning on June 6th.  If you will be attending the Convention and could assist with signature collection, please email Lynpb “at” rcn.com with your contact information so that we can make arrangements to connect with you that morning and provide you with a clipboard and signature sheets.

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      • Only delegates who are present at the convention count as valid signers.  We’d also love help with signature gathering that morning if you’re up for it.

        • Maybe those of us who feel more or different language is needed will have the best success if we help one another gather signatures.

          • I will be in Springfield as well and a delegate How can I help where do you want to meet Let me know.

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            p>It is a shame that the activist that kept our party strong through 16 years of republican governors and 8 years of George Bush have to be shoved aside in order to water down our platform with generalities that IMHO tries to make it palatable for Democrats in Name only and Unenrolled who never lift a finger or write a check. The Progressive Liberal soul of our party is under attack at a time when we should be standing tall for the ideals we have fought for decades. Maybe we need to scrap the rewrite and stick with what we had instead of a watered down version.

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            p>But lets get the amendments on the floor!

            <

            p>As Usual just my Opinion

            • Ben Day of Mass-CARE is helping to return single-payer healthcare to its place in the platform and he is in touch with others who are working on other planks.   Ben can be reached at director@masscare.org if you are willing to help with this effort at the Convention

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              p>Ben also drafted an “open letter” to Convention delegates–see http://masscare.org/open-lette…  for the letter.  The second paragraph moves beyond specifics to raise a larger concern:

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              p>

              The current Platform references support for existing and proposed policies that are deeply embedded in social movements. The proposed new Platform obliterates acknowledgement of the Party’s roots in these grassroots efforts, and instead enumerates a bland list of values and goals that would significantly erode its ability to connect with broader community movements, and even to distinguish the Democratic Platform from other parties who share most of these broad end-goals, but interpret them differently.

              That puts it rather sharply, but in language that captures the concerns I’ve been hearing from others.

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              p>–Leo

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