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This petition is to follow up on the deeply offensive anti-LGBTI conduct by the Democratic State Committee at their 2006 conference.  If you sign this petition and enter your information, your sentiments will go directly to Democratic State Committee chair Joe Cryan, Democratic State Committee Vice Chair Dana Reed, and Democratic State Committee executive director Diane Legreide, the chief anti-LGBTI offender.

To review, Ms. Legreide made anti-LGBTI, highly transphobic remarks at the conference, having a public meltdown when she saw our LGBTI community had hired a Cher impersonator to perform at the end of our Caucus meeting. 

Before the Caucus meeting, Ms. Legreide pointed to "Cher" and said the following:
 
"We cannot have THAT walking in the hallway."
 
"You cannot have THAT inside your Caucus."
 
"The State Committee will not have someone like THAT attending dinner -- THAT cannot come inside the ballroom."
 
"What if the press sees THAT -- what if they report on THAT in tomorrow's papers?"
 
Diane delivered these statements as a diatribe in the hallway, ironically, drawing attention to an intolerance that was far more embarrassing than anything around her.  She was also completely unself-conscious about referring to a transgender person repeatedly as THAT -- as not even a person -- right next to Barbra Casbar, a member of the transgender community who is a leader in the three organizations that produced the Caucus:  Garden State Equality, New Jersey Stonewall Democrats and the Gender Rights Advocacy Association of New Jersey.

"Diane," we said, it's our caucus and transgender people are part of our community." 

Diane's response?   "It's not your event, it's our event.  If THAT's going to be inside the room, we're going to boycott your Caucus."
  
The State Committee continues to be an uptight, insensitive and LGBTI-uncomfortable mess that does not reflect the Democratic electorate in New Jersey, likely the country's most progressive Democratic electorate in likely the country's most progressive state.  At the two previous year's conventions, party officials repeatedly singled out every constituency in their speeches except for the LGBTI community. 

And they wonder why the LGBTI community hasn't been attending the annual Democratic convention in higher numbers, in contrast to Garden State Equality's town meetings that have drawn 10,000 people, straight and LGBTI alike, since 2003.   That's an average of 400 people per town meeting.
 
The message Diane Legreide sent is this:  New Jersey Democrats will accept you in the LGBTI community so long as you look and act a certain way.

Friends, we cannot let this stand.  Please sign this petition and enter all requested information.  Thanks so much.