Pictured #1 Nancy Pelosi, #2 Rep. Barney Frank, #3 from left: Pelosi, Frank, U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky, Baldwin and Bauer. #4 Schakowky and #5 Rep. Tammy Baldwin. Photos by Tracy Baim
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Five members of the U.S. House of Representatives attended a historic GLBT fundraiser for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee [DCCC] last week at Ann Sather's in Chicago.
House minority leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., along with openly lesbian Rep. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wisc., and openly gay Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., flew in from out of town for the event, which raised $50,000 for the DCCC.
About 100 people packed into the room to also hear from U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky and Rep. Rahm Emanuel, both Democratic reps from Chicago.
The special GLBT reception was chaired by Michael Bauer and Roger Simon, Phil Burgess, Chuck Renslow and Nan Schaffer. Ald. Tom Tunney also welcomed the elected officials to the event.
All of the speakers said that any special issues that might appeal to the crowd will go nowhere without a Democratic-controlled House and Senate after the 2004 elections. Donating to the DCCC is critical, Pelosi said, because while groups like Sierra Club and HRC are important on their own issues, their agenda will go nowhere in the current conservative Republican-controlled Congress.
Frank said the event was a great confidence builder going into the 2004 Congressional campaign. The fact that Chicago's GLBT community could come together to do this, he said, should spark similar events in other cities, including in his own home state. The next day Frank was all over the TV news shows discussing the court victory for marriage in Massachusetts.
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