Some thoughts on the stuff about @JoyAnnReid. I don’t know all the details nor ins and outs of what people are claiming but I do know she is anything but homophobic or bigoted. Long thread warning...
I first met Joy in 2008, shortly after I started as the spokesman for the Florida Democratic Party. As someone who used to read her blog religiously, this whole thing is nuts.
Florida reporters will likely recall, I used to circulate her writings often because I found them to be smart, provocative, and well written. While I didn’t always agree with her, she was one of the smartest voices writing about Florida at the time.
But what many people don’t know is that Joy and I used to have long discussions about Florida, about politics, the state of the Democratic Party, and on the issues being debated at the time.
I distinctly remember one such call, shortly after the 2008 election in which President Obama obviously won Florida and the White House, but Florida also passed a Constitutional Amendment banning gay marriage (known as Amendment 2 at the time.)
Joy called me to ask about why the party didn’t get involved. At the time the FDP had a longstanding tradition of not taking sides in constitutional amendment campaigns. (A policy that was done away with at some point since then I believe.)
Anyone who watches her show, knows she is a master of asking hard questions. She said to me, “How can the FDP be celebrating Barack Obama’s historic election, when you stood on the sidelines on the he civil rights issue of the day.”
She went on to explain how it was wrong for the party to not stand up for LGBT equality. She argued that it was the right thing to do and had he party putting its muscle behind the No on 2 efforts could of helped older African American voters accept LGBT equality sooner.
I recall explaining why I didn’t think the party getting involved would have helped. The No on 2 efforts were fractured to begin with. How we had such limited resources to begin with.
And how the story would have been about how Democrats were divided on the issue because in 2008 we had many elected Democrats who just were not there yet. (Thankfully, 10 years later, that is no longer the case.) So, the FDP getting involved could have done more harm than good.
But Joy wouldn’t have it. She understood all the reasons not to do it – but she couldn’t get past the Democratic Party not doing its part on the civil rights issue of the day.
Looking back, I remember the conversation so vividly because I was trying to explain politics and tactics while Joy was focused on the North Star of right and wrong.
I remember defending the party’s stance to so many people – both in the LGBT community and beyond - but the conversation that stuck with me all these years later and made me question the party’s stance was the one I had with Joy.
And in looking back, that conversation made me fight harder for LGBT rights. It helped inspire me to use my platform at the party to speak out on issues of equality more. It helped me remember to focus on following the North Star of right and wrong.
So when I read people claiming you are homophobic or bigoted – it honestly makes me angry – because the @JoyAnnReid I know is far from that. The Joy Ann Reid I know helped me find my voice to fight for equality because it is the right thing to do.
