Two Palm Springs City Council candidates say endorsement process by Stonewall Democrats is unfair

Members of the Desert Stonewall Democrats voted to endorse a second person for Palm Springs City Council at a meeting on Tuesday night.

Christy Holstege won the endorsement, but Lisa Middleton had already been selected for an early endorsement months ago.

That’s when only council member Chris Mills’ seat was going to be vacant. Now with mayor pro tem Ginny Foat also not running for reelection, that opened another spot.

According to the Ruth Debora, chair of the Desert Stonewall Democrats, one of the requirements in order to qualify for the early endorsement is the candidate needs to be a member of the LGBTQ community.

Something that candidate Judy Deertrack think is unfair and is against what the Stonewall Democrats stand for.

“Qualifications based on sexual practices or inherited genetics, my understanding that is something that all of us are against. We tried to eliminate that in the first place,” Deertrack said.

Deertrack said she decided not to try for the second endorsement since she felt the early endorsement wasn’t on the level.

Candidate Robert Stone lost out on the second endorsement at Tuesday’s meeting, and he’s not a fan of the early endorsement process either.

“I think that disadvantages every candidate in the race who is not offered the opportunity to present themselves when early endorsements are being made,” Stone said.

“I think LGBTQ organizations certainly have a reason for wanting to support LGBTQ candidates and have them prosper. One of the things that we all know is your voice and your face needs to be at the table and we have a stronger community when every voice is represented,” Middleton said.

In order to qualify for the second endorsement, a candidate needed to answer a questionnaire and be interviewed by the club. A candidate did not need to be a member of the LGBTQ community or be a member of the organization. They do need to be a registered Democrat.

JOE GALLI IS ON FACEBOOK AND ON TWITTER @JOEGALLINEWS