Howie Klein (Down with Tyranny) on Conservative Closet Queens and Eric Massa

[BurtWorm]

It's easy to judge the guy, but Klein, a friend, says Massa is "in a great deal of pain and overwhelmed by a sense of desperation in regard to his crumbling life." Klein wrote this essay on Saturday, on the hypocrisy of so many right-wing closet cases wielding harmful power over their gay brothers and sisters:

http://downwithtyranny.blogspot.com/2010/03/past-time-to-end-demonizing-of-gay.html

Past Time To End The Demonizing Of Gay People In Politics, Religion And Society


I wish it was this simple: gay Democratic politicians are always comfortable in their skins, avoid living in the closet and are mentally healthy, while gay Republican politicians are always fearful and self-loathing, enduring a life-worse-than-death inside hideous closets and are deranged and sick individuals. There may be some truth to that but that's far from the truth.

As you know, DWT doesn't hesitate to "out" gay politicians who live in the closet and exist in a life of hypocrisy. When I see closeted legislators voting against equality for the LGBT community, I'm eager to let their constituents know what they're up to behind the scenes, the way we did with Mark Foley (R-FL) and Larry Craig (R-ID) long before they were caught, respectively, molesting young boys and haunting public toilets. Other Republicans living the same hypocritical lives who are waiting for their moments in the spotlight of national disgrace are congressmembers with homophobic voting records like Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Patrick McHenry (R-NC), Trent Franks (R-AZ), David Dreier (R-CA), Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Aaron Schock (R-IL), as just a few examples. I also know a very conservative Democrat, a Blue Dog, who's a closet case. Why isn't his name on this page? Simple-- as much as I loathe how he votes on almost every issue-- crossing the aisle to vote with the GOP enough to make people ask why he's even a Democrat-- on one issue he's diverges from his conservative allies-- issues involving equality and human rights for the LGBT community.

You've probably read that an esteemed old friend of this blog's, Eric Massa, is resigning from Congress, probably on Monday, with charges swirling around his head that he sexually harassed a male staffer. Hate-Talk radio host and GOP propagandist, Bob Lonsberry, has started a flood of slime flowing. There is no gay issue here, none whatsoever. I never asked Eric if he was gay or not and it was never an issue for me, even after the "story" started seeping out a few weeks ago. Why is that? First of all, Eric Massa has a 100% voting record on issues impacting the LGBT community. Since being elected, there have been 4 votes on "gay issues" (each regarding hate crimes) and Eric took a progressive stand each time. Aaron Schock, who was elected to the House on the same day as Eric, and who keeps going on TV and whining how he can't find the "right woman" while gays all over Peoria and DC collapse in gales of laughter, has a mirror image voting record-- a zero, has voted against equality each time. And the closeted Blue Dog? He voted right on 3 of the bills and on a procedural vote in between he voted with the Republicans. (Another couple like that and we'll be running a photograph of him with a cute caption.)

But Massa's service goes beyond the perfect voting record. He's been an outspoken leader for LGBT equality-- even while representing a strongly Republican district with a minimal interest in gay equality. Since he has a distinguished record as a military leader, he's been an advocate of abolishing the kind of painful and wrong-headed policy known as Don't Ask, Don't Tell, something that institutionalizes the horrors of closetry for thousands of honorable gay men and women serving the country in the military. Last time I saw Eric was just a few weeks ago and he insisted on personally showing me a video he was very proud of, one that was broadcast on CNN while I was traveling abroad. We stood and watched it together. Please take a look.

http://downwithtyranny.blogspot.com/2010/02/with-so-few-gays-in-congress-is-it.html

And now take a look at a very different kind of video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSosHsjCet8

Conservative shitheads, probably predominantly the kinds of chickenhawks and bigots who populate the conservative bowel movement, are having a field day with Massa's misfortune. They're not talking about Roy Ashburn, a rabidly anti-gay fanatic Republican state Senator in California who was pulled over for drunk driving the other night when he left Faces, a gay bar in Sacramento, with a lad he had picked up there. Like Massa, Ashburn has a record beyond just a very consistent pattern of voting. He's organized anti-equality rallies. As Calitics reported on Thursday, the closeted homophobic sociopath's lust for males "was one of the worst kept secrets around Sacramento. He would periodically appear in a gay bar, trying to be as discreet as a state senator can be in Sacramento. He's not exactly a rock star or anything, but in a city built around state government, he's pretty recognizable."

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[BurtWorm]

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