MeckPAC motivates the LGBT community and its allies to vote and participate in local elections in several ways, including MeckPAC's premier service of providing a comprehensive voter guide relating to LGBT issues for all local elections. A voter guide is always made available before each local primary and general election on this website (see the link to the most current voter guide on the right-hand side of this screen), and via other components of MeckPAC's extensive distribution network which include: emailing it to a list of other 4,500 LGBT individuals and allies; direct-mail to a database of over 1000 households of LGBT individuals and allies; publication in local media that targets the LGBT community; and via pick up at venues throughout Mecklenburg County that are frequented by the LGBT community (sign up for MeckPAC's email distribution list and/or mailing database by clicking on the link "Sign Up and Stay Informed" found on the upper-left-hand side of this screen).
Other ways that MeckPAC motivates the LGBT community and its allies to vote and participate in local elections include sponsoring local candidate forums open to the public specifically addressing LGBT issues and by hosting what have become very popular get-to-know-the-candidates parties before each local election at which members of the LGBT community and its allies are able to meet and converse one-on-one with local candidates in a fun social setting.
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MeckPAC also raises money to give directly to the campaigns of local allied candidates who support LGBT equality. Individual donors' contributions to MeckPAC allow the organization to speak as one strong voice for the local LGBT community through substantial financial contributions to allied candidates' campaigns. In 2007, MeckPAC gave $9,000 raised through it's annual summer fund drive to its 10 endorsed candidates in the November 2007 elections for Charlotte Mayor, Charlotte City Council, and Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education.
MeckPAC educates local elected officials and candidates for local office on issues important to the LGBT community in two ways. The first way involves serving as a direct contact and knowledgeable resource that they can turn to regarding local policy-making decisions that affect LGBT equality. By researching, compiling, and sharing pertinent information with local elected officials and candidates, MeckPAC provides them with a valuable tool to formulate policy in an informed and thoughtful way. Examples of specific information that MeckPAC has provided them in the past includes: the inclusion of "sexual orientation" in employment non-discrimination policies for employees of the City of Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, and the local school system; domestic partnership benefits for City of Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, and public school employees; and the protection from bullying/harassment of public school students who are perceived to be lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender.
The second way MeckPAC educates local elected officials and candidates is by establishing positive relationships between them and the LGBT community. This helps shatter negative stereotypes that many elected officials and candidates have about the LGBT community by allowing them to get to know and understand LGBT people as real human beings. Such relationship-building breeds mutual trust and understanding that overcomes the ignorance and fear that have often poisoned local policy-making in regard to LGBT issues. |
