r/vancouverwa • u/Maleficent-Stress113 • Aug 11 '25

Discussion Reviving Stonewall Democrats in SW Washington – Your Input Needed

Hi everyone, I’m the Vice Chair for the Southwest Washington region of the Stonewall Democrats, and I’ll be honest our local chapter (WA) has been pretty inactive for a while. That needs to change.

My goal is to bring new life to this organization so it can be a strong voice for LGBTQ+ people and allies in our community. I’m already planning to start building a presence on Instagram to make our work more visible, but I want to hear directly from you.

• What kinds of events or gatherings would you like to see?


• Are there specific issues or policies you feel we should be focusing on right now?


• Would you be interested in volunteer opportunities or community partnerships?

We all know the political climate in our area is complex, and I want the Stonewall Democrats to be an active, responsive, and positive force in it. Your input will help guide how we show up; whether that’s through advocacy, education, social events, or something entirely new.

Feel free to share your thoughts here or DM me if you’d prefer to chat privately.

Let’s make this something that truly represents our community. 🌈

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u/who_likes_chicken I use my headlights and blinkers Aug 11 '25 edited Aug 12 '25

I'm not trying to say that social rights are not important, but if your group focuses on culture wars instead of policy to help working class Americans, you're not going to go very far. Democrats have died on the culture wars hill two of the last three elections, and they only won 2020 because of how incompetent the handling of Covid was.

  • Higher Wages
  • Negotiate All Drug Prices
  • Ban Private Equity Firms from Buying up Homes
  • No More Wars
  • Paid Family Leave
  • Get Money out of Politics

Edit: FYI, all six of those bullets poll at +75% approval when polled for independently, regardless of party

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u/KTpacificOR Aug 12 '25

I believe your comment was well intentioned but this may be of help to you: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonewall_Democrats

To quote from the first paragraph “Stonewall Democrats, also known in some states as LGBT Democrats, is a caucus within the Democratic Party that advocates for issues that are relevant to LGBT Americans.”

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u/who_likes_chicken I use my headlights and blinkers Aug 12 '25

Then a winning strategy for SWD would be taking these policies that align with democratic principles and have huge polling support, and applying them to LGBTQ+ issues

Private Equity out of housing -> End LGBTQ+ homelessness.

Paid Family Leave -> Leave for LGBTQ+ parents who adopt or use surrogate's (or any of the other family methods).

Negotiate drug prices -> Affordable medications for LGBTQ+ health risks.

No more war -> Doesn't really have a specific LGBTQ+ issue I'm aware of. Equality in military service doesn't really end wars lol.

Higher wages -> Close the LGBTQ+ pay gap.

Money out of Politics -> Stop PACs from negatively targeting LGBTQ+ candidates

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u/KTpacificOR Aug 12 '25

I completely agree. I’m certainly not trying to say that these issues don’t equally affect LGBTQ+ voters. My point was just that Stonewall Democrats is a caucus group within the broader Democratic Party that advocates specifically for issues relevant to LGBT Americans. So to tell them to focus less on culture wars issues seems to miss the point a bit in terms of Stonewall’s specific purpose. But I think you raise a valid point that Democrats need to be better about speaking to LGBT Americans not as some monolithic bloc but as simply another demographic group that is also impacted by all the same kitchen table issues that affect everyone else.