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Dear Delaware Stonewall PAC Members,

As your newly elected President, I am writing to introduce myself, provide an update about the Executive Board’s activities, and encourage you to renew your support of our organization.

First, an introduction. My partner of sixteen years, Christopher, and I moved to Delaware in 2018/2019 to seek a change-of-pace from Washington, D.C. We’re both originally from Arkansas, so we craved the First State’s sense of community (without the rabid bigotry). As a civil rights attorney for the Delaware affiliate of a national public interest organization, I have learned that even the “Delaware Way” sometimes comes up short, but we Delawareans share an optimism for our future and invest in each other’s potential to thrive. While new to Delaware, I am no stranger to politics and LGBTQ+ activism; I have been involved in progressive politics for over two decades, have successfully managed and worked on local, state, and national campaigns, and have served on two LGBTQ+ political organizations’ boards. I have a deep commitment to serving our community and am eager to share my skills with this organization. Thank you for entrusting me with this duty.

The past several months I have worked with our Executive Board to plan for the exciting year ahead. As you know, 2020 was the first time in Delaware’s history that openly LGBTQ+ candidates were elected to the General Assembly. We are proud of Rep. Morrison and Sens. Pinkney and McBride, and their allies, for forming the first LGBTQ+ Caucus and pushing for reforms that make our state more welcoming and inclusive. Stonewall continues to monitor legislation that directly impacts our community and is hopeful for advancements on protections for students and the elderly, criminalization of LGBTQ+ biased-based hate crimes, and, most importantly, becoming the first state to constitutionally enshrine equal rights based on sexual orientation.

We are also eager to recruit and support more LGBTQ+ people and allies to run for office in the coming 2022 midterm elections. With your support, we will have the ability to contribute to strong advocates from every corner of the state and help ensure that they have the resources they need to run their pro-equality campaigns. To help in that endeavor, planning for our annual summer funder is well underway. The event is scheduled for August 13, 2022. Please save the date!

We need your support–through membership, your social network, and your contributions. Renew your membership, invite your LGBTQ+ neighbors to join, and buy a ticket to our annual can’t-miss event. Better yet: join the host committee!

I am always an email, phone call, or text away. Please don’t hesitate to reach out. I’m excited to see what we can do together.

Sincerely,

Dwayne Bensing

Dwayne J. Bensing
Delaware Stonewall PAC, President

2021 Board Members

At its annual membership meeting Delaware Stonewall PAC, a Political Action Committee dedicating to supporting equality for the LGBTQ community, elected several new members to its Board. Erik Raser-Schramm, former  Chair of the Delaware Democratic Party, was elected as Political Vice-President.  Also added to the Board were Dwayne Bensing, ACLU legal staff member, and Anthony Purcell, a clinical social worker.

These three join, Peter Schott, reelected Chair, Scott Strickler, Treasurer and At-Large members Tara Sheldon and Martin Rendon.

In addition to the elections, members discussed legislative issues which the organization will pursue including preventing insurance companies from discriminating against persons who use PrEP, and eliminating a “gay panic” defense.  The PAC will also make efforts to make forced conversion therapy by parents into a crime of child abuse, and will work to pass legislation to protect transgender children in schools, and work towards allowing non-binary drivers licenses.

Schott said, “Following our election success last year including the election of 3 members of the LGBT community we are more confident that we can move forward with legislation which further protects the rights of our community.”

Assistance wanted for Delaware Stonewall PAC Endorsed Candidates

ANNUAL STONEWALL PAC MEETING—JANUARY 30, 2021, NOON

This year’s meeting will be virtual, so you must inform us if you will be attending so we can send you the zoom address.
The agenda will include:
  • review of ’20 election results
  • proposed agenda for ’21-’22 legislative agenda
  • election of Board
    • Chairman, Peter Schott
    • Political Vice-Chair, Erik Raser-Schramm
    • Secretary, Anthony Purcell
    • Treasurer, Scott Strickler
    • At-Large Board Members
      • Tara Sheldon
      • Marty Rendon
      • Dwayne Bensing
Special Guest:
Newly-elected State Rep. Eric Morrison, one of the open LGBT members elected in 2020 with the help of Stonewall members
If you are not a paid-up member please do so to help us this year. Visit our membership to join.

DE Stonewall PAC, YES image

We are very excited about the election results especially since we went from zero LGBTQ members of the State Legislature to three with the election of Sarah McBride, Marie Pinkney, and Eric Morrison. That with the addition of several other new forward-thinking individuals should help us with our expected legislative agenda for 2021. It turns out that 86% of our endorsed candidates won.

We believe that a lot of our success this past year comes from your work and support, and we certainly want to thank you. Hopefully, our annual meeting will take place around January 30th, but of course with everyone’s safety in mind, this is subject to change. At that meeting, we will be electing officers and recommending our legislative agenda which we will pursue during the next legislative session. You must be a member to vote, so sign up at www.delawarestonewall.org/join-us to contribute.

We are looking for people who are willing to spend a few hours a month of commitment on our Board. The Board should reflect the diversity which exemplifies our State, so if you are interested, please contact Peter Schott, Delaware Stonewall PAC President at dc2de@aol.com, or 302 827-2811.

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