In two separate interviews with LGBT media on Tuesday, Jerame Davis, executive director of National Stonewall Democrats, announced that the national organization was suspending some of its activity and entering a rebuilding phase.
Davis made the announcement in an interview first published by the Dallas Voice. He later spoke with the Washington Blade.
The decision to curtail the operations of the group’s national office operations was made after National Stonewall Democrats failed to bridge a $30,000 budget gap in December. A year-end fundraising campaign netted only $10,000.
The national group will temporarily shut down its national office and Davis will depart as the organization’s paid executive director. A new board of directors will soon be elected and operations for state and local chapters will remain unaffected as the organization takes a year to refocus its mission and operations.
The announcement comes just months after the National Stonewall Democrats came to Charlotte and participated in several events here as the city hosted the 2012 Democratic National Convention. North Carolina is one of few states with a statewide LGBT caucus for its state Democratic Party. The National Stonewall Democrats website lists a chapter in Charleston, S.C., though the local website has no updates since 2009. No other chapter currently exists in the Carolinas, though a Wilmington chapter once operated.