Meifert says Republican vice presidential candidate is ‘a pawn chosen to be manipulated’

Dawn Meifert

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, Sen. John McCain’s controversial choice to be his running mate on the Republican ticket this year, will be in Dallas on Oct. 3 for a fundraiser, and Dallas activist Dawn Meifert is organizing a protest outside the hotel where Palin will appear.

A day after the vice presidential candidate debate with Sen. Joe Biden, Democratic nominee Barack Obama’s running mate, Palin is scheduled to speak at a $1,000-a-plate lunchtime fundraiser at the Fairmont Hotel in downtown Dallas. Dallas County Republican Party Chair Jonathan Neerman told The Dallas Morning News he hopes Palin will also agree to appear at a public event while she is in town.

Palin is known as a staunch conservative and pro-life advocate. And her record on LGBT rights puts her at odds with the LGBT equality movement.

Although she vetoed a bill that would have kept the state from offering domestic partner benefits to its gay and lesbian employees, she did so only because the Alaska Supreme Court had already ruled the bill measure unconstitutional. She later supported an effort to amend the state’s constitution to prohibit those benefits.

Palin has also said she opposes same-sex marriage and passage of hate crimes legislation. And her former church, Wasilla Bible Church, recently sponsored an “ex-gay” program designed to help people “overcome homosexuality,” although Palin has not said publicly where she stands on such programs.

Meifert said this week that the protest she is organizing would focus on Palin’s anti-gay and anti-choice stances.

“I am just on fire over this election,” Meifert said, explaining why she had decided to organize the protest. “It just appalls me that people would be willing to have four more years of the same [policies of the Bush administration].

“But the thing that galls me the most is that Sarah Palin is a female pawn, chosen to be manipulated by men to continue to oppress women and to take away their right to choose. She is just so not representative of the women that live in this house or the women that we know,” said Meifert, who lives with her partner, chef and bakery owner Phil Aceto.

Sarah Palin

Meifert said that based on response she has gotten so far, she is hoping for 200 to 300 people to participate in the protest that will take place somewhere near the Fairmont Hotel, located on Akard Street. She said she is currently working with Dallas Police to determine what if any special permits would be needed and where the protest could be held.

“There is a sidewalk across the street from the hotel, and I think a small park just down the street. We are working on that right now,” she said.

Meifert said she is asking those who plan to attend and who will be making signs to carry to “stick to [LGBT equality] and a woman’s right to choose.”

“The truth is, very few women are actually for Sarah Palin,” Meifert said. “And we want a large female turnout for this protest. But we are also getting a big response from a lot of men who say they want to be there, too. Our 82-year-old neighbor will be there and is bringing five friends from church.”

Meifert said anyone interested in more information or in helping organize the protest can contact her by e-mail at meifert11@yahoo.com.





This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition September 19, 2008.