A gay man’s lawsuit against the Democratic National Committee has revealed allegations of bitter, behind-the-scenes disputes that appear to pit black DNC officials against gays.

In a fiery e-mail exchange obtained this week by the Blade, a senior official with the gay partisan group National Stonewall Democrats denounces a top DNC staffer, Leah Daughtry, for allegedly inciting anti-gay prejudice.

“Imagine what [DNC Chair Howard] Dean could do if people like Leah were confronted for their bigotry and fired,” writes the Stonewall Democrats official. The author’s name is redacted on the e-mails obtained by the Blade. The e-mails were sent in 2006.

Referring to Daughtry, the official says, “I think Samuel L. Jackson said it best when he said ‘I’m sick of these mother fuckin’ snakes on this mother fuckin’ plane.’ It may be time to drive the snakes from the DNC.”

The Stonewall Democrats group works closely with the DNC.

Dean responded to the comments in a written statement sent Wednesday to the Blade.

“Anyone who truly knows Leah and her values appreciates her deep commitment to fighting for fairness and equality for everyone regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation or gender identity, and any insinuation otherwise is irresponsible and despicable,” he said.

“The DNC has consistently refrained from commenting on ongoing litigation out of respect for the legal process and to protect the interests of everyone involved. It is disappointing that the plaintiffs are using dishonest smear tactics in order to try their case outside the courtroom.”

John Marble, a Stonewall Democrats spokesperson, declined to comment on the messages.

Daughtry, who is black, is a longtime party operative, Dean’s chief of staff and overseeing the party’s upcoming national convention in Denver. She was unavailable for an interview this week, but a gay coworker defended her performance at the DNC.

“I do not consider her in any way, shape or form homophobic,” said Philip McNamara, the DNC’s director of party affairs. “She is a good, caring person.”

Daughtry was deposed last week in a lawsuit filed by former DNC gay outreach director Donald Hitchcock, who was fired shortly after his domestic partner, Paul Yandura, criticized Dean in a 2006 letter to gay Democrats.

The lawsuit alleges Hitchcock was discriminated against and treated differently at the DNC because he is gay. It also alleges the DNC “threatened, interfered with and retaliated against” Hitchcock because he advocated for gay issues.

Joe Sandler, the DNC’s general counsel, has said the charges “have no merit” and that the organization is “committed to defending its position vigorously in court.”

Damien LaVera, a DNC spokesperson, said in a statement that the organization is inclusive and diverse.

“Over the last three years the Democratic National Committee has made diversity in hiring a top priority,” he said. “The DNC now has a record number of LGBT staff, a diverse convention team and just this month a record number of openly LGBT individuals were appointed to the standing committees of the convention.”

But e-mails obtained by the Blade show the Stonewall Democrats official questioning the commitment of some party staffers to inclusion and diversity.

The messages to Brian Bond, Hitchcock’s successor at the DNC, were triggered by the news that a lesbian had been elected to the Alabama state legislature.

Patricia Todd won her seat in the Alabama House of Representatives in July 2006, following a protracted fight in which her victory was temporarily overturned.

Todd defeated her Democratic opponent, Gaynell Hendricks, by 59 votes in a primary runoff, but Hendricks’ supporters challenged the outcome, arguing that Todd should have been disqualified because she missed the deadline for filing a campaign finance report, a charge Todd denied. A party subcommittee overturned results of the election, but Democratic Party Executive Committee officials later voted 95-87 to reverse the decision and let Todd’s victory stand.

Party insiders said Alabama Democratic Conference Chair Joe Reed, who is black, orchestrated the challenge.

According to media reports at the time, Reed wanted an African American to represent the mostly black district. The Birmingham News reported that the vote by the full Democratic Party committee split largely along racial lines.

The initial e-mail written by the Stonewall Democrats official on Aug. 26, 2006, says, “Just a quick update … Patricia Todd has won in Alabama. The Alabama Democratic Party threw out the challenge by her opponent about 20 minutes ago.”

Bond replied to the Stonewall Democrats official’s e-mail in a message sent about 30 minutes later.

“Told you it would work out. Although I was getting nervous. This is the exact reason why we need greater glbt rep on state committees and more people of color representing the glbt community.”

The Stonewall Democrats official replied to Bond, taking issue with his phrasing.

“It didn’t exactly ‘work out.’ We — and especially the [Gay & Lesbian] Victory Fund — spent MUCH time working on this. That being said, the party only narrowly upheld Patricia’s victory with Dr. Reed walking up and down the aisle standing directly in front of each person and staring them in the face as they did.

“The party needs to shun the divisive politics of people like Dr. Reed, and yes Leah Daughtry, whose only loyalty are to themselves and not the Democratic Party or the American Family. They are a cancerous sore who have ailed our operations for too long.”

Reed did not respond to an interview request this week.

‘Stirring up’ opposition?

Documents in Hitchcock’s lawsuit reveal another incident in which blacks and gays apparently clashed.

Yandura’s open letter to gay Democrats in 2006 came shortly after reports surfaced that some members of the DNC Black Caucus opposed a proposal by gay DNC member Garry Shay of California to add gays to the party’s affirmative action guidelines for selecting delegates to the 2008 Democratic National Convention.

According to documents obtained by the Blade, Daughtry allegedly led a vigorous effort to thwart the plan.

In transcripts of Bond’s deposition, Hitchcock’s attorney asks, “Do you recall ever calling up Mr. Yandura in July of 2006 to talk to him about a senior staff meeting in which, in your words, Leah Daughtry was stirring up black constituents and caucus members against gays?”

Bond replies, “No.”

Hitchcock’s lawyer later asks, “Do you recall a conversation in which you told [Yandura] that [Daughtry] was stirring up black constituencies to oppose language for mandatory guidelines in the delegate selection?”

Bond responds, “No, I did not.”

Hitchcock’s lawyer then asks, “Did you ask him to reach out to … the executive director of the NAACP, to tell him that Leah Daughtry was using him and his organization against the gay community?”

Bond replies, “I don’t recall that.”

The attorney for Hitchcock then presents Bond with a series of e-mails on the topic. In one message bearing the subject “NAACP,” Yandura tells Minyon Moore, a longtime Democratic operative, he needs help.

“Unfortunately, I have heard again from several sources that it is Leah inside the DNC which has decided to make this a black vs. gay issue and not the gay caucus or black caucus leadership. This [is] a big problem and I have reached out to the NAACP leadership and need your help.”

Yandura is Hitchcock’s longtime partner. Moore, a former chief operating officer of the DNC and political affairs director for President Bill Clinton, serves as a senior adviser to Sen. Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.

In another e-mail, Yandura tells Bond, “I have spoken with Minyon and sent her an e-mail yesterday telling her that I know that Leah is using the NAACP as a crutch and I am willing to go to the media and let her deny it if she does not back down. You can be guaranteed that Minyon has already alerted Leah.”

And in another e-mail, Yandura tells Marble: “Just so you know: I have ratcheted up the NAACP thing. I spoke to Minyon Moore yesterday who is very close to Leah Daughtry. I told Minyon that I was ashamed that Leah was making this a black vs. gay issue and using the NAACP as a weapon. I threatened to expose the entire thing to the national media if she did not stop.”

McNamara, who said he had “a front row seat” to the consideration of Shay’s proposal and the voluntary goals it ultimately set for states, told the Blade this week that Daughtry merely observed that process and did not seek to influence it.

“In my duty, I would bring Leah and the executive director up to speed with how the rule was coming along and kind of what the drafting process was, where the language was, but that was kind of it,” he said. “She kind of sat on the sidelines. That was it.”

McNamara said Daughtry took no position on Shay’s proposal or the changes it triggered.

“She did not take a stance one way or the other, should there be a goal for LGBT Americans or not,” he said. “However, I do know that she is always on the side of inclusion.”

‘A great boss’

Howard Dean named Daughtry to lead the Democratic Party’s outreach to religious voters. Daughtry, who also serves as a Pentecostal pastor, has said in past media interviews that she was raised in a strict religious home and that speaking in tongues is a “gift given by the Holy Spirit.”

McNamara noted that in the six years he’s known Daughtry, he has “never heard her say, ‘We need to do this because this is what my church is saying or this is what my religion is saying.’”

But in the e-mail exchange obtained this week, the Stonewall Democrats official appears to accuse Daughtry of using homophobia to advance her career.

The official writes, “we cannot let these people promote blantent [sic] anti-gay views. HOMOPHOBIA is NOT Democratic politics. If you wonder why the vast public perception that Dean is a fuck-up among Congressional Democrats, the LGBT community, the media and most of America, it is because of these people who give him bad advice, sheild [sic] him from reality and act as an albatross around his neck.”

In the same e-mail to Bond, the Stonewall Democrats official says, “I don’t think you would still have a job if you promoted racism inside the DNC to advance your career.”

McNamara said he considers Daughtry “a good friend, a great boss, someone I can confide in” and not homophobic. He also noted Daughtry served on the board of AIDS Action from 1994 to 1996.

“You know, I have a very serious boyfriend and if we ever got to a stage of having a commitment ceremony or a wedding, I would invite Leah as a guest,” he said, “and I don’t think me or my boyfriend would be in the business of inviting homophobic people to such an event.”

Other challenges raised

Also in his deposition, Bond is asked whether Democratic Party strategist Donna Brazile opposes mandatory counts for gay and lesbian delegates to the 2008 convention.

Bond says Brazile opposed such requirements for gay delegates, but supported voluntary goals.

“She did not have a problem with numerical goals on this,” he says in the transcript. “She did have problems with it being included in sanction language, legal language, whatever, of affirmative action, as best I understand.”

Bond’s testimony appears to contradict 2006 reports in the Blade and elsewhere about Brazile’s position.

The New York Daily News reported that Brazile, a member of the DNC Black Caucus, was among the Democrats who were concerned that Shay’s proposal could result in fewer black delegates attending the convention.

Shay’s proposal called for a DNC rule change that would require all state parties to set goals for selecting a minimum number of gay delegates, much in the same way that delegate quotas exist for African Americans, Latinos, Asian-Pacific Islanders, Native Americans and women.

At the time, Brazile called the report “ridiculous” and “totally inaccurate.” She said that she and Shay had a friendly discussion over the proposal and that she would help him fine-tune it to ensure it received support from all segments of the party.

“I have no problem with the merits of Garry’s proposal,” Brazile told the Blade in April 2006.

Brazile, who frequently appears on CNN to discuss political issues and chaired Al Gore’s 2000 presidential campaign, has refused to answer questions about her sexual orientation. She has a history of gay rights activism, including holding a board seat for the gay Millennium March on Washington for LGBT Rights in 2000.

More depositions set

Hitchcock’s deposition is scheduled for early February, and Dean is scheduled for deposition later that month.

Claire Lucas, a longtime Democratic volunteer and a prominent lesbian supporter of Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, was to sit for deposition this month but has worked to quash that subpoena. It was unclear this week when her deposition might occur.

Hitchcock’s lawyer, Lynne Bernabei, previously indicated that Lucas could become a defendant in the case. Lucas has declined to discuss the case.

“Ms. Lucas is a witness, not a defendant, in this matter,” her attorney, Barry Reingold, said in a statement. “Ms. Lucas has told and will continue to tell the truth to the court. All of the issues in Hitchcock v. DNC will be litigated in this court and decided by this fair and impartial tribunal.”

Bernabei this week declined to discuss details of the case and would not say whether there was any discussion of a settlement.

“It wasn’t money that was holding this up,” she said. She declined to elaborate.

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