Congressman Lloyd Doggett, accompanied by County Commissioner Tommy Adkisson, and State Representative Joaquin Castro were at the meeting of the Stonewall Democrats of San Antonio on
August 15. (Photos courtesy WalkerReport.net.)

Doggett and Castro stump for votes at Stonewall Dems meeting
By Dan Graney, QSanAntonio.com, August 18, 2011

Congressman Lloyd Doggett (D-Austin) and State Representative Joaquin Castro (D-San Antonio) appeared before members of Stonewall Democrats of San Antonio on August 15 to pitch their campaigns for the newly created Congressional District 35, which will run from San Antonio’s Southside to the south side of Austin.

District 35 is one of four new congressional districts awarded to Texas as the result of the 2010 census and is designated as an “Hispanic opportunity” district.

Doggett, accompanied by County Commissioner Tommy Adkisson, spoke first and touted his outspoken criticism of Governor Rick Perry as well as his liberal voting record in Congress the past 16 years. He acknowledged voting for the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996 and said that attitudes have dramatically changed on same-sex marriage since then and would vote to repeal DOMA today.

Doggett also cited his high congressional scorecard rating with the Human Rights Campaign on LGBT issues. He labeled a recent PlazaDeArmasTX.com article questioning his lack of support for openly gay U.S. attorney candidate Robert Pitman as a “smear campaign” and explained that he and other Texas Democrats in Congress were supporting Hispanic candidates for this post and that he congratulated Pitman after President Obama announced his appointment.

After Doggett left the meeting, Castro spoke and acknowledged that while he “abstained” from voting on Texas DOMA in 2003 and the anti-gay Texas constitutional marriage amendment in 2005, he voted against efforts to ban gay adoptions in Texas and confronted Republican State Representative Wayne Christian who attempted to amend the education funding bill by banning support for campus diversity centers that reach out to “pansexuals” among other groups.

Castro ended his remarks by saying that he looks forward to the day when there will be full equality for all citizens, regardless of whom they love in life.

Both Doggett and Castro were well received by those in attendance and said they look forward to seeking SDSA’s endorsement in January of 2012.

Diego Bernal, City Councilman for District 1, was the featured speaker for the evening. He focused most of his remarks on the recent announcement by City Manager Sheryl Sculley to include domestic partner benefits for both opposite and same-sex partners of city employees in the upcoming city budget.

Bernal urged SDSA members to contact their city council members to express support for this initiative and to attend their respective district meetings on the budget. SDSA Co-Chair Elena Guajardo reinforced Bernal’s remarks by passing out thank-you note cards addressed to Sculley and asking members to sign the cards.