Administrativia

It's been quite a tumultuous couple of weeks -- what with a Federal Judge striking down Proposition 8 in a damning legal opinion and then refusing to stay the order on appeal (at least after 8/19)... and while we don't quite know where and when it will all end, if marriage is opened up for same-sex couples, the consequences seemed pretty clear to everyone: None of which, of course, did anything to stop this summer's madcap NOM mystery tour -- or hate-fest 2010... the final "they shoot horses" leg of which limped into Washington, D.C. this past weekend.  By all accounts, the final stop lived up to the stellar failure of the rest of the bus ride.  Pro-equality folks outnumbered the "Slaggies" --  with words of hope, love and acceptance rising above the din of bigotry and hate. To quote our young hero, Will Phillips, "My generation will be the change you fear most in the world.” NOM Tour Tracker NY Times Recap of Proposition 8

Translation: Democrats -- if you don't repeal DADT and pass ENDA now, the gays and their money are goners. Got that Mr. Fierce Advocate?

There have been quite a few folks clanging the alarm bells about last week's landmark Supreme Court decision in "Citizens United v. FEC". I agree with the 'landmark' designation -- as it is certainly unusual for the Court to overturn more than a century of precedent and until-then-considered closed case law.  For that reason, the decision deserves scrutiny -- especially given the seemingly overt political nature of the decision. Tea leaves aside, I reject some of the more dire predictions and chicken-little responses from various talking heads and bloggers. I happen to believe that there are ways of governing corporate behavior that can be used to prevent the potential abuse people are afraid of -- regulation that will withstand additional judicial scrutiny: Require full electronic exposure of corporate shareholders with more than $1 worth of shares -- this is information that is already available to the corporation (it has to be for annual shareholder m...

As noted on Pam's House Blend , while the House version of Health Care Reform (HCR) eliminates the perverse tax penalty for GLBT-families who's employers provide them the same benefits as their heterosexual counterparts, the just-passed Senate version does not. No doubt, the Obama folks will ignore any efforts to rectify this -- after all, teh gay is icky and controversial...

Seeing what happened in Maine , over and over and over again... From fierce advocacy to tepid timidity, it's painfully clear that this President and the Democratic Party apparatus are simply not going to follow through on promises of GLBT equality. I think it's time to stop giving to the DNC, DHCC, DSCC and that includes GOTV efforts -- and focus our money and time only on those candidates that not just ask for our support but prove that they are worthy.

What to make of the birthers , tenthers , teabaggers and Palinites ... I take some issue with Carter, Dowd and other pundits . What I see is not so much the rabid KKK hooded racism of the pre -Civil Rights Movement era, but the cranky "Archie Bunker" bigotry variety. Let me explain... Their behavior rooted in a stubborn refusal to change -- their world is the way it is and always will be, no matter what evidence is shown them. They don't like change. They don't want change. And they're mad as hell that despite their raging at the ocean, the tide is still coming in. The angriest cling to illusions of privilege that they never enjoyed or had a remote chance of getting -- and their only recourse is to blame people and groups that have moved on and up for their lot. They prefer to be willfully ignorant of the real world around them and adamantly refuse to acknowledge reality even when it smacks them in the face. Most will continue to make political mischief on an in...

Or just how much of an idiot is Glenn Beck? (Rhetorical question.)

I got an email pitch from the DSCC today, sent by James Carville. I guess they didn't understand that the gAyTM is closed. Here's my response: To whom it may concern a the DSCC: This ATM branch is closed until further notice. Why? The Senate has yet to pass the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Act, repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" or pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act... Or any of the other legislative priorities of GLBT Americans. As a formerly regular contributor to Democratic causes and candidates, I will continue to donate on an individual basis -- but will no longer donate to formal Democratic party funds. Your continued failure to act on GLBT-equality issues -- and with the speed and force befitting the majority that donors like myself made possible -- is the reason. The Democratic Party has the majority. On the above issues, you have a majority of the public in favor of the issues above -- in many cases in overw...

Give this man more air time...

BRIAN WILLIAMS: Do gay and lesbian couples who wish to marry in this country have a friend in the White House? PRESIDENT OBAMA: I think gays and lesbians, uh , have a friend in the White House ( pause ) because I've consistently committed myself to civil unions, making sure that they have the ability to visit each other in hospitals, uh , that they are able to access benefits, uh , that they are, uh , have a whole host of legal rights that they currently, uh , do not have. Uh , I don't think that, uh , it makes sense for, uh , the federal government to get in the business of determining what marriage is, uh, that isn't, uh , traditionally the federal government's role. Patience is running thin . “Obama is out of step with his party, which is overwhelmingly in favor of marriage at this stage,” said David Mixner, a veteran gay rights activist who is among the organizers of a march on Washington for same-sex marriage scheduled for this fall. “He’s out of step with the ne...

Republican Base Heavily White, Conservative, Religious Democrats are more likely to be moderate or liberal, Hispanic, or black or other races

It's past time for saying that this policy is something from the 1990's. With this, the latest, Don't Ask Don't Tell firing, Obama owns it. It appears that he's comfortable with owning it and isn't planning on any "fierce advocacy" for getting DADT repealed.

When I donated to the Obama campaign last year -- glad to do it, would do it again -- I was, of course, added to the email database for the campaign. It was interesting enough to get the daily missives from the trail and like many, made you feel a part of the larger movement. After the campaign, the organization was morphed into "Organizing for America" -- sort of the keep the grass-roots efforts going to help pass the Obama agenda. Being a political junkie of sorts, it was mildly entertaining to watch them to try and gin up the base in support of this legislation or that. Mostly, though, I ignored the emails. Until today. Since our President has seen fit to be silent as the tide turns on civil marriage, offered tepid support to passage of the Matthew Shepard Act --and just fired his first service member under DADT (an Arab linguist no less!), I'm no longer interested in even being on the mailing list. As I noted in an earlier post, " Obama's Radical Pragmatism ...

From Joe.My.God : The Uniting American Families Act will be reintroduced to the House next Friday by Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY). The act would allow the same-sex partners of legal U.S. residents to enjoy the same immigration rights as heterosexual couples. The unfair current law has stranded thousands of gay couples overseas or forced them to separate to their native countries. Please use this contact form created by Immigration Equality to contact your member of Congress and urge them to cosponsor the act with Rep. Nadler. This is an important piece of legislation -- particularly if your career takes you outside the United States. When the U.S. removes restrictions on families like this, it puts pressure on other countries to do the same.

MEMORANDUM To: Anyone who sent his or her resume to my transition team From: The President of the United States Please pay your taxes. We kinda need them, what with the financial crisis and the massive stimulus spending and whatnot. Thanks. ____________ PS: In case you're confused -- personal gifts are things like sweaters and bottles of wine, or -- if you're really lucky -- maybe a Wii or Sox-Yanks tickets or something. If you're honestly deluded enough to believe that daily use of a damn Town Car and a damn chauffeur is a "gift," you're probably too divorced from everyday reality to work for the people of the United States. kthxbai, POTUS

From Time's Swampland Blog , Michael Scherer lays out how Obama's positions re: GLBT rights will be frustrating to those who don't believe that separately equal works. "Radically pragmatic" is how he labels this incremental approach -- and to some there is a certain appeal to embracing a more evolutionary path. The problem with this approach is the assumption that fundamental rights and equal treatment can somehow be handled in some sort of cafeteria model -- out of this one? choose another. Sacrifice this one, to get that one... and eventually the arc of history will catch up. Certainly a less costly approach to those who eschew living up to the Constitutional guarantees of equal rights -- those who already enjoy full citizenship can take their time in getting to that emotional comfort spot that tells them it's okay to "let the gays be equal now"... as if they (and not the Creator as invoked by Jefferson) are the source of those inalienable righ...