(many) Democrats 'false' friends to gays

[Mari333]

Sept 29
By DENNIS RHODES


The political climate will never be more (seemingly) auspicious for gay activists, yet little-to-nothing is happening beyond the usual promises and noise. What an absurd Catch-22 gay activists are caught in. They warn of dire consequences for gay rights if Republicans are elected yet when Democrats are elected they're so paralyzed with fear of losing their seats that gay rights suffer anyway! Isn't justice delayed justice denied? An inconvenient truth underlying all of this is that last November as millions of California Democrats were voting for Obama, many — especially African Americans — were simultaneously voting to ban gay marriage.

It is my passionate belief that true conservatives stay out of their neighbors' bedrooms. Further, Americans by and large have no stomach for persecuting homosexuals. Many may indeed have a personal distaste for homosexuality or religious compunctions about it, but we are more than not a live-and-let-live culture. And more than ever, bread-and-butter issues must trump bedroom politics. If President Obama achieves his grand vision, this country, in my view, will be unrecognizable from its historic past and unmoored from its grand traditions of self-reliance and personal responsibility.

Don't you get it, you handful of Republican zealots out there? You don't have to rail against gay marriage. You don't have to fight the so-called "gay agenda." No one could possibly do a better job of checkmating gays than their Democratic false "friends." Concentrate on bread and butter issues. Gay bashing is for losers.










http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090929/OPINION/909290328/-1/NEWSMAP

[Mari333]

1. unrec=homophobe.

[Dorian Gray]

Why does unrec=homophobe?

Maybe an unrec by fellow posters would mean that they don't like the content of the piece denouncing liberals/democrats and the work that they have done for gay rights. I could see many fellow dems finding this article extremely offensive because this has been the #1 cause for many on DU.

[Mari333]

6. well, the article doesnt say ALL dems.

after all, the man writing the article is a dem.
I guess people who read the article will see that grey area.
I just posted the title as it is.
for those who didnt read the article, I edited it for them.

[cali]

40. Where is this rightwing author identified as a dem?

[cali]

8. because you say so? You just earned yourself an unrec from me for your

disgusting bullying, dear.

[Hannah Bell]

11. yeah, i'm just so sure that was the reason for the unrec. "disgusting bullying".

[cali]

18. it certainly is.

I spent over 10 years working on getting marriage equality in Vermont. what the fuck have you done hannah? Full equality for my GLBT brothers and sisters is something I've been passionate about for decades. It's certainly not anything I've ever seen YOU write about it here.

[Mari333]

19. perhaps he is speaking of politicians and not

individuals such as yourself.

[cali]

23. Perhaps he should take a look at the Vermont dems who overwhelmingly

stood up for marriage equality just a few months ago. Perhaps he can name all these tolerant loving conservatives.

[Hannah Bell]

25. i didn't notice her comment being addressed to *you* personally, cali.

however, i have little doubt you would have unrecced even if she hadn't made it.

cause that's how you roll.

[Mari333]

14. love you too

[pnwmom]

2. Obama is having enormous difficulty getting health reform through Congress,

reform that will benefit all of us, including the GLBT community. But you think now is the right time for him to also try to push through gay rights? Let's get this thing done; if we succeed, Obama will have the "political capital" that will help him succeed in the rest of his agenda.

[armyowalgreens]

3. It's a sad world that we live in when you need "political capital" to push gay rights.

I personally think that excuse is a load of bullshit.

[Mari333]

12. yes, the gays must wait.

and wait. and wait. and wait. and wait. ad nauseum. we have more important issues than civil rights of citizens right now.
I wonder if this was the same mindset when people were marching in Selma for black civil rights?
"sorry, Martin Luther King, you need to wait for the President to finish Vietnam before we can do anything about segregation"

[armyowalgreens]

17. People talk of advancing gay rights like it is some sort of labyrinthine process...

If we can draw up health care legislation in less than a few months, we can draw up a bill that throws out DADT and DOMA.

I don't think that the LGBTQ community is asking for an overnight fix. But at least do SOMETHING; ANYTHING.

[Hannah Bell]

26. you know, *everything* is so difficult. healthcare is labyrinthine too.

but the patriot act & banker bailouts, those are a snap.

if it's good for the ruling class, it's always easy. crumbs to the peasants? labyrinthine.

[pnwmom]

34. Okay, so what happens when the Rethugs filibuster it?

If Obama succeeds inhealth care, he's going to convince a bunch of blue dogs that he has the power to make their life very difficult. And that is going to make it much easier to pass the rest of his agenda.

[armyowalgreens]

39. Does reconciliation apply to this?

Can we attach it to a budget bill?


There has to be a way to get around the filibuster.

[pnwmom]

42. Only if it can be connected to reconciling the budget. Good luck on that.

From Wikipedia:

A reconciliation instruction (Budget Reconciliation) is a provision in a budget resolution directing one or more committees to submit legislation changing existing law in order to bring spending, revenues, or the debt-limit into conformity with the budget resolution. The instructions specify the committees to which they apply, indicate the appropriate dollar changes to be achieved, and usually provide a deadline by which the legislation is to be reported or submitted.<1>
A reconciliation bill is one containing changes in law recommended pursuant to reconciliation instructions in a budget resolution. If the instructions pertain to only one committee in a chamber, that committee reports the reconciliation bill. If the instructions pertain to more than one committee, the House Budget Committee reports an omnibus reconciliation bill, but it may not make substantive changes in the recommendations of the other committees.<2>

[pnwmom]

32. Well, it IS a sad world we live in, and it has always been.

But we're closer to achieving gay rights now than ever before.

[Mari333]

4. ..

[saltpoint]

5. Rhodes' piece is simplistic and whiney.

I'll join the unrecs on this turkey.

[Mari333]

7. I figured there would be unrec's

not surprised at all.

[cali]

9. yes, yes. Anyone who disagrees with every word from your holy mouth

is a homophobe. fuck that.

[Mari333]

13. bless you my child

[saltpoint]

10. Mine for sure in the case of Rhodes' witless piece.

[cali]

15. let's read some more of this tool puke's crap that YOU conveniently didn't post

As a center-right gay writer and thinker, I have long been an apostate among my fellows for maintaining that the Democratic Party cares about gays and lesbians only as a bloc of votes, not as individual human beings. Recent history has vindicated my position.

Attorney General Eric Holder recently filed a brief reinforcing the federal government's support for the Clinton-era Defense of Marriage Act and Defense Secretary Robert Gates has made it more than clear that the Clinton-era's "don't ask, don't tell" policy will not be abandoned any time soon.

Remarkably, there is discussion within the Pentagon about exempting from the policy those service members who have been "outed" by people other than themselves, often after a love affair gone bad. This cynical policy literally toys with people's lives and emotions.

The continuance of the Defense of Marriage Act and "don't ask, don't tell" are facts. They speak for themselves, President Obama's gay apologists notwithstanding.

For years, gay Democratic activists have engaged in a cynical rope-a-dope within the gay community, positioning Republicans as bloodthirsty enemies of gay people and Democrats as good Samaritans. Yet here we are nine months into Democratic control of the White House and Congress. There is no remote sign that a sincere effort will be made for repeal of DOMA and "don't ask, don't tell."

Like most pukes he's adept at twisting the truth.

[Mari333]

16. wow you are in a bad mood

relax.

[cali]

22. OK. You're right. I am in a lousy mood this morning

but c'mon, you've posted a piece by a right wing puke trashing the dem party on GLBT rights. The repuke party is leagues worse, and all his crap about true conservatives rings hollow. Yes, there are plenty of dems who are bad news when it comes to GlBT rights but I can name dozens of them on both the national and state levels who stand up for the GLBT community. I can't think of a single "true conservative" repub who does. It's the conservatives who are spewing the hate toward GLBT persons, not the dems.

[Hannah Bell]

27. he's an openly gay winger.

[cali]

30. so?

bfd. he's a repuke apologist for conservatives.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

43. So he's the homosexual equivilant of Alan Keyes or Mike Steele?

Or is he just Tammy Bruce?

[Smarmie Doofus]

20. I can't get past this premise:

>>>>Further, Americans by and large have no stomach for persecuting homosexuals. >>>>>>

Hah.

Someone forgot to tell the public school teenagers I work with.

Seriously... Rhodes may or may not have a point. I'll read it through later.

Another workday beckons.

Or *looms*.

[armyowalgreens]

21. I actually agree. This article is not very good...

Rhodes makes some really odd and baseless assumptions. He seems to think that Americans are, by in large, all in for equality and progressivism.

That's partially true and mostly bullshit. Especially concerning civil rights issues.

[pnwmom]

35. Neither can I. It wasn't that long ago that

just being gay was cause for arrest in many states. There have been great strides, but there are still many Americans who are extremely uncomfortable with homosexuality.

[cali]

37. It's not pc around here to say that there have been great strides made toward

equality for the GLBT community, but thems the facts. Yes, we have a ways to go, and yes the dem party as a whole and dems in Congress as well as President Obama haven't shown the leadership they should, but shutting out the facts- that great advances toward equality have been made over the last 40 years, is absurd.

[pnwmom]

41. Unless you're a reader of history, you probably have to be over 50

to remember how bad it was -- when the model of homosexuality as a mental illness was a step forward -- compared to those who thought it was a despicable criminal activity.

[Bluenorthwest]

45. There are still many heterosexual community members

that hold prejudice, who are bigots. That is the actuality.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

44. It's the same logic Rethugs use on blacks

"Democrats secretly hate you, the rest of us have no problem with you....."

[crazyjoe]

24. gee, ya think the Dem's find gays, minorities as "useful idiots" ?

I do
They say they are on your side when they need your vote, but after the election..............

[cali]

28. really? so the entire dem delegation to the VT statehouse

find gays as "useful idiots". You mean that's why they freakin' passed marriage equality and overrode the guv's veto. How interesting.

[Hannah Bell]

31. he's not talking about vermont. & vermont doesn't lead the party.

[cali]

33. he's making sweeping statements about dem politicians

As far as I know dem politicians in Vermont are part of the national dem party and Vt is a state in the U.S.

[Hannah Bell]

36. vermont is 600,000 people. just slightly more than metro portland, ore.

and even less representative of the party's policies as a whole.

[cali]

38. so? what about MA? and CT? ME? NH?

All of those states' legislatures have voted for marriage equality. And in all of those states it was dems who sponsored said legislation- following the lead, of course, of tons of hard work by activists.

[Toasterlad]

46. There Is More To the World Than Vermont, Dear

How about taking a look at the sorry state of affairs in the rest of the country in between breaks of patting yourself on the back for the awesome fucking job you personally did to bring marriage to Vermont?

[cali]

48. and as I mentioned, honey, MA, ME, CT, NH

as well as Vermont, pumpkin. And I mentioned my efforts in response to another post which contained a nasty insinuation.

Oh, and yeah, NE is far ahead of the rest of the country in myriad ways. Glad to live somewhere fairly sane.

[Toasterlad]

49. Bully For You and NE.

The rest of the country does not share your geological good fortune. And for all your snobby self-congratulatory nonsense, same-sex married couples in New England STILL don't have one more fucking federal right than any other gay in the country.

Maybe you and these very industrious, very committed Democrats in New England should get your asses up off your laurels and start working to improve things for everyone else.

[cali]

50. geological good fortune? gad, I love ignorance on the level that

you exhibit. geology has nothing to do with it.

maybe you should do something about your rage problem, honey.

[Hannah Bell]

29. the pubs have their version too. bush was going to roll back roe v. wade, remember?

they got bupkis.

[Toasterlad]

47. Dems Sure Do Hate Being Called Out on Their Hypocrisy, Especially By a Right-Winger.

Excellent post.