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Dobson e-mail painful

Letter on gays stirs unsettling memories for Perlmutter staffer

Chris Barge, Rocky Mountain News

Published November 1, 2006 at midnight

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WHEAT RIDGE - Jose Rodriguez stared at the computer screen in Democrat Ed Perlmutter's campaign office last Friday and read the letter circulating on the Internet from Focus on the Family founder James Dobson.

"Sen. Perlmutter has become a favorite of gay-rights organizations around the country," Dobson wrote. "They have given him significant financial support and have even hired homosexual youth to work on his behalf."

Rodriguez, a gay 22-year-old college graduate from North Carolina, began to realize this was a letter trying to portray him as a stain on the Perlmutter campaign.

"The nation's largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender advocacy organization, the Human Rights Campaign, has made Perlmutter's campaign one of 23 targets for assistance from its Youth College," the letter from one of the country's most powerful Christians continued.

Call Perlmutter, the letter said. "Don't let the abortion industry and advocates of homosexual marriage have their way in Colorado. Make your voice heard!"

Each election cycle, the Youth College selects up to 30 aspiring young politicos for training in Washington, D.C., after which they are funneled into staff positions in targeted campaigns across the country. The Youth College provides a $2,200 stipend, and the campaign finds housing for the worker. In Perlmutter's case, the Youth College also made a $2,800 cash donation to the campaign.

Rodriguez said Dobson rolled the dice in assuming all Youth College workers were gay Democrats. Five of his counterparts are straight, and at least one is working for a Republican campaign, Rodriguez said.

Until he read that letter, Rodriguez had considered himself honored to be chosen for the campaign fellowship. After, old painful memories of growing up gay in the South and being a target of violence rushed in.

Then the phone rang.

It was a voter calling to ask about Perlmutter's position on marriage.

Rodriguez approached his campaign's manager, told her about the letter and the phone call, and said the campaign should get ready for more of the same.

"I was just outraged," campaign manager Danielle Radovich Piper said Tuesday. "I told Jose we won't stand for that, and he should not feel in any way bad or defensive for us."

Dobson's letter went on to praise Rick O'Donnell, Perlmutter's Republican rival, who "unequivocally supports the federal marriage-protection amendment that would keep liberal courts and radical gay activists from hijacking the institution of marriage."

Focus on the Family did not return calls seeking comment.

O'Donnell's campaign said letters like Dobson's are within the rights of free speech and outside of O'Donnell's control.

O'Donnell is anti-abortion and "believes marriage is between one man and one woman," said spokesman Jonathan Tee, who would neither confirm nor refute Dobson's assertion that O'Donnell is for a federal amendment on marriage.

Perlmutter endorses domestic partnership benefits for same-sex couples.

The ordeal renewed Rodriguez's interest in fighting for the rights of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people: "When I came here, my mindset was completely political. You know, work on the campaign, do a great job. And then when I saw this e-mail, it brought me back to the reason I was here in the first place. It's just been such a struggle for me."

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