As many of you already know, AT&T gave money to the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce, a viciously heterosexist organization which has fought to block local LGBT rights laws in that state. Garden State Equality has withdrawn an award they gave to AT&T in response. (I would love to know why they gave an award to a homophobic corporation like AT&T in the first place, but that's another story.)

AT&T has a history of giving money to heterosexist politicians as well. Here are some of the bigots that have received money from AT&T.

Rep. Michele Bachmann

Sen. Robert Bennett

Rep. John Boehner

Rep. Roy Blunt

Rep. Eric Cantor

Rep. Darrell Issa

Sen. John "Keating Five" McCain

Sen. Rand Paul

Sen. Pat Toomey

It's sickening that GLAAD would even take AT&T's homophobic money, much less allow themselves to be bought and doing lobbying for AT&T against queer content and especially queer activist content on the Internet. The depths to which GLAAD has sunk are sickening.

 

In my last posting on AT&T's purchase of GLAAD's support of their homophobic merger with TMobile, I made an important point about who owns corporations and how that can be devastating for queers.

Remember when AT&T was broken up as a monopoly to try to increase competition years ago under antitrust laws? Well, AT&T has been buying up competitors ever since, trying to regain its monopoly status. These days, this is especially dangerous since telecommunications companies are Internet providers and so much queer and queer activist content has moved to the Internet. Allowing these kind of corporate takeovers poses a potentially existential threat to the LGBT civil rights movement.

AT&T will be able use any monopoly to censor queer activism and queer content. Given the fact that most corporate executives and major shareholders are viciously heterosexist, racist, and sexist Republicans, it would be highly surprising (actually shocking) if they didn't abuse their power, absent the prospect of losing customers to competitors.

Queers have fought so hard against the censorship of queer content. We still have a long way to go. However, it is more likely than not that AT&T will move things way backward if they succeed in their ultimate goal: establishing a total telecom monopoly.

I should also point out that rich Republicans, and the wealthy elites in general, have shown an increasingly totalitarian mindset and have been increasingly hostile to civil liberties and the US Constitution.

Of course, these critiques apply to all oppressed minorities, as well as liberals, progressives, and leftists. Corporate "news" outlets already are heavily censored by their owners. The Internet is critical for getting so much information that usually is suppressed in corporate outlets.

From a Free Press email promoting their Action Alert which addresses other aspects of the issue:

Back in the 80s, AT&T’s power was near absolute. That’s why government regulators stepped in to break it up and protect the American people against abuse.

Now, with AT&T’s planned $39 billion takeover of T-Mobile, we’re reaching the danger point again.

Tell the FCC: Step in Now to Stop AT&T’s Mega-Merger

Unless the FCC rejects this merger, Americans stand to lose control over the future of communications.

That's why so many have already flooded the FCC with comments since news of this outrageous merger became public. And that's why we need you to speak out again today.

We can’t let just two companies – AT&T and Verizon – control nearly 80 percent of the mobile marketplace. If the FCC rubber-stamps this deal, we’ll be giving these companies unchecked power — at our expense.

That means you’ll be paying more to have AT&T drop your calls; and access to popular applications like Skype, Slingbox and Google Earth will be limited even further … if AT&T lets you use them at all.

Keep in mind that AT&T eventually will try to buy Verizon.

Take Action Now!

 

Photo: trader_john

I was involved in the LA Chapter of GLAAD to a certain extent early on, when GLAAD still fought against heterosexism in the media. GLAAD has gone way downhill since. In recent years, they actually were run by a homophobic Republican.

I had hoped that GLAAD would get less heterosexist after that clown left, but it's just doesn't get better.

Remember when AT&T was broken up as a monopoly to try to increase competition years ago under antitrust laws? Well, AT&T has been buying up competitors ever since, trying to regain its monopoly status. These days, this is especially dangerous since telecommunications companies are Internet providers and so much queer and queer activist content has moved to the Internet. Allowing these kind of corporate takeovers poses a potentially existential threat to the LGBT civil rights movement.

AT&T will be able use any monopoly to censor queer activism and queer content. Given the fact that most corporate executives and major shareholders are viciously heterosexist, racist, and sexist Republicans, it would be highly surprising (actually shocking) if they didn't abuse their power, absent the prospect of losing customers to competitors.

In full knowledge of all of this, GLAAD issued a letter to the FCC supporting the merger. After the controversy became public, GLAAD issued a statement including bizarre rationalizations that insult the intelligence of anyone with an IQ over 60. Some people were asking why GLAAD did this. The answer is readily available in another press release on their site.

GLAAD Receives $25,000 Grant from AT&T

AT&T is a major donor that gives amounts of money to GLAAD that are small to the multinational corporation and large to the faux media activist organization. AT&T has been able to buy GLAAD's betrayal, and GLAAD hasn't exactly lost sleep over the heinous thing they have done because they stopped giving a shit about the queer community well over a decade ago.

Living in a corporate police state would be just fine for AT&T, but it is deadly dangerous to oppressed communities like queers. We need to fight back when groups that claim to speak for us throw us under the bus so they can overpay their executives.

Note: I want to thank the guys at Feast of Fun for alerting me to this issue by putting up this news story and discussing it on their podcast. Their podcast is quite entertaining, yet it also includes important news, information, and insights. The only people that will make GLAAD and the HRC even act like they care about the queer community are dedicated podcasters, bloggers, and grassroots activists.

 

The US Olympic Committee's (USOC's) choice of Peter Vidmar as its representative raised serious concerns, given his attendance at neo Nazi hate rallies organized by the Mormon hate church in favor of Proposition 8 in California. Vidmar's membership in a notorious racist, sexist, and heterosexist hate group like the Mormon Church also raised serious, legitimate concerns.

Vidmar pulled out after the controversy came up, but the whole thing reminds me of the vicious, heterosexist history of the USOC. Here's a good summary from Instinct Magazine (4/29/11):

Outsports reminds us that this is not the first time the USOC has made an anti-gay move, with contributor Jim Buzinski writing, "When Dr. Tom Waddell started an international multisport event for LGBT people in 1982, he wanted to call it the 'Gay Olympic Games.' But he was successfully sued by the USOC, which hounded him for $96,000 legal fees as he was dying of AIDS. The event was renamed the Gay Games. The USOC at the time had no problem with there being events called the 'Rat Olympics' or 'Dog Olympics.'"

This is one of the reasons why I will never give a dime to the USOC or buy any product that is an official sponsor of that organization.

The odd thing about this whole thing is that when I saw Vidmar doing gymnastics, the way he walked, his facial expressions, and the way he talked all caused my gaydar to go off the scale. It would be so bizarre if he really were straight.

 

Late last month, Towleroad noted the arrest of a militant, Christian fundamentalist who was obsessed with attacking the queer community, on charges of masturbating in front of children in a public park.

The description of the alleged pedophile's and known homophobe's activities is rather striking.

The Times-Picayune adds:

"Armed with bullhorns, Bibles and picket signs, Storms and a group of followers in 2003 protested against Southern Decadence, the gay three-day festival held over Labor Day weekend in the French Quarter. Storms' efforts prompted the New Orleans City Council to ban megaphones and other amplification devices."

Here's the article from 2003 about Storms' campaigns to end Southern Decadence, which included a Christian parade and 'purity' rally decrying the depravity:

Last year, Storms videotaped public sex acts on Bourbon Street and made the tape available to state legislators, hoping to bring an end to the celebration.
"There's no economic gain that justifies an orgy in the streets," Storms said. "That's all it is -- a three-day orgy in the streets."

In 2005 Storms sued gay rights group Action Wisconsin, claiming the group defamed him by saying that he advocated the murder of gays. He lost the lawsuit, a decision that was upheld by the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Storms was then ordered to repay the group $87,000 in court costs.

Setting aside the specifics of this case, it is instructive to look at the larger pattern. Child molestation is quite common among Republican Party leaders, especially those in the Christian Right.

And the venomously heterosexist Roman Catholic Church is infamous for the rampant child rape in its clergy.

Why do heterosexist groups draw so many pedophiles? Part of it starts with their own rhetoric. Heterosexist bigots love conflating homosexuality with pedophilia (and bestiality and necrophilia) in fact free efforts to justify prejudice against queers and to emotionally abuse the LGBT community.

The false association provides an opportunity for child rapists. Homophobic organizations tend to be places where their child raping members can camouflage themselves, hiding behind the same rhetoric that slanders and libels queers. The pedophiles instinctively hope that joining a group that is against LGBT people will make it seem like they are equally against child rapists and wouldn't think of doing the things that they actually do.

That certainly explains part of the draw that these hate groups have for child rapists. However, there is another aspect of this whole thing that can get lost.

Fanatically religious people and socially extreme right folks tend to be the least moral and ethical people in all of their personal dealings.

At work, its the fundies and the rightists who are most likely to lie to and about coworkers. Rabid Catholics are much more likely to try to weasel their way out of work than the general population. They are the most likely to mistreat their neighbors and romantic partners.

Being rabidly religious, or rightist, allows people to feel moral while living completely amoral lives. It's always that group over there that's bad, not them. It's the queers who are immoral, not the tax cheats. Women who have abortions are the ones to point the finger at, not people who cut people off in traffic just to save a few seconds, if that.

In this context of diversionary "morality," it is hardly mysterious that child molesters are drawn to the bastions of the bullshit. By being a hateful religious or political extremist, they can project their own heinous actions on other groups of people, whether they be Muslims (in the US, Christians in Muslim countries), queers, government workers, women who aren't doormats, atheists, or whomever else becomes the flavor of the month.

The rightist and rabidly Christian child rapists are taking what their political and religious compatriots do to its most extreme. A child molester who lies about "teh gays" not only feels camouflaged, but also is socialized in these institutions to feel like one of the good people.

 

People in this country are realizing that the pro democracy protests in Wisconsin and Ohio are an important part of resisting the totalitarian tactics of the wealthy oligarchs in this country. A lot of queers really get this. For instance, Pride at Work, an LGBT labor group sent out a message to its members in support of Wisconsin. From that email:

Rallies. Crowds spilling into the streets. Seas of people marching together in solidarity. Every day this week, nonstop.

This isn’t just happening in Egypt...but in Madison, Wisconsin.

Schools are closed. Workers, high school and college students, community members, faith groups and concerned citizens have dropped their daily lives to rally against Gov. Scott Walker’s draconian attacks on middle-class jobs and his proposal to strip Wisconsin teachers, nurses, social workers and other public employees of their collective bargaining rights.

Walker’s immediate attack is aimed directly at some 200,000 public workers—but the brave men and women taking to the streets come from every walk of life and recognize that all working people—public and private sector—are in jeopardy. And they know that if we don’t all speak out and stand together, we’ll all be targets.

The right to collective bargaining is vital for all workers, and particularly so for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender workers. For example, Wisconsin state laws do not include protections against discrimination based on gender identity and expression - so a union is likely the only form of protection for transgender workers.

Even for cis queers, having a union as backup can really help. If you are being discriminated by an employer, courts are an important venue for justice. However, it's your meager resources for lawyers vs. the employer's array of expensive corporate lawyers. Having union support really can help even things out. Of course, making workers of all sexual orientations and gender identities vulnerable is what a corrupt politician like Scott Walker is all about.

Pride at Work is asking people on Facebook to like the We Are One solidarity page.

The grassroots queer group, GetEQUAL, who played a major role in passing LGBT civil rights legislation in the last Congress, is supporting the protests on it's Facebook page. The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force also is supporting the peoples' movement.

This shows that there are queer organizations that understand Harvey Milk's vision of queer civil rights as part of a larger movement for civil rights and social justice. The HRC is ignoring the pro democracy protests, showing that all it cares about is big money donations from wealthy donors. Middle class and poor LGBT people don't even appear on the so called "Human Rights Campaign's" radar screen. However, they are happy to profit off of Harvey Milk's name by renting his former shop in the Castro to sell their tacky crap.

The Green Party also is supporting the pro democracy protests. From their 2/22/11 press release.

Green Party leaders declared today that the party solidly supports Wisconsin's public-sector employees protesting a bill introduced by Gov. Scott Walker to eliminate their benefits and collective bargaining rights.

"We in the Green Party are standing out front on this issue by standing with our labor and public service brothers and sisters here in Wisconsin," said AJ Segneri, co-chair of the Wisconsin Green Party (http://www.wisconsingreenparty.org).

On Feb. 17, the Wisconsin Greens issued a statement affirming that their party "salutes the state's public workers, and stands in solidarity with their fight to retain full collective bargaining rights with their employers" (http://www.wisconsingreenparty.org/?q=node/97).

I know you are shocked, just shocked that a queer Republican doesn't like queers.



Hat Tip: Back to Stonewall

GOShame is one pathetic group of people.

 

Check this bullshit out. (CNN International 2/12/11)

The plan focuses on three tiers of training:

-- Tier one for experts who may frequently deal with "don't ask, don't tell" repeal matters, like chaplains and military lawyers.

-- Tier two for senior leaders who will need to oversee education and training of the troops in their command.

-- Tier three for the rank-and-file, active-duty service members, reservists and civilians working for the Defense Department.

On March 1 Clifford Stanley, the undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, will provide a progress report on the preparation for repeal to the White House, the secretary of defense and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The memo says the "don't ask, don't tell" law will not be repealed until, among other milestones, the tier one and tier two training is complete and tier three training is underway.

That's correct. The first "progress report" will be due on March 1. Big fucking deal!

Lifting the ban isn't some highly complicated military maneuver. All that is needed is an order to end all the discharges and witchhunts. That's it.

I smell a rat.

Remember a couple of months ago when the military ban supposedly was lifted? There was legislation overturning "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," Bill Clinton's more draconian version of the military ban that passed early in that heterosexist administration.

The Obama Administration's record on the military ban hasn't been good either. They have given us a steady diet of foot dragging. When pressed by queer activists on the issue, Obama and his toadies kept saying they had "more important" things they had to get done. Those "more important" things always involved stealing from the middle class and the poor to give to the rich and the corporations they own.

Although President Obama claimed to be so worried about government spending, he insisted on spending government funds on appealing two rulings in separate court cases which overturned the ban as unconstitutional. His PR people flat out lied when they said he was obligated to appeal the cases.

In Congress, Obama and the Democrats responded to LGBT activists with delay, delay, delay. It was only after liberal and moderate voters were horrified at their deal to continue and expand on tax cuts for the rich (while raising taxes on the poor), that the Democrats threw their base and voted to "overturn" the current version of the military ban.

However, there was a catch. The ban would only be lifted when Defense Secretary Robert Gates, a homophobic holdover from the Bush regime, felt like it.

He hasn't felt like it.

I'm starting to wonder if Obama is deliberately delaying again in hopes he can make another "compromise" with the GOP that keeps the ban in place after all. After all the lies and betrayals we have seen from this administration, there is no way that anyone with an IQ over 60 will trust them on anything.

Photo: afagen

 

The venomously bigoted, corrupt, extreme right organization, the "Democratic Leadership Council" which was really an organization that followed the lead and ideology of the Republican extreme right, is gone, gone gone. That's right. They are following their ideological clones at the Crystal Cathedral into bankruptcy.

The group was once chaired by Bill Clinton because Bubba thought the Democratic Party wasn't sufficiently corrupt, racist, sexist, and homophobic to satisfy him. He pushed through their hateful, GOP style policies throughout his time as President. Those very DLC policies drove Democratic voter turnout way down and kept it down, handing Congress to the GOP in 1994 and keeping them in power throughout the rest of his presidency.

(Lieberbush was Chair from 1995-2001, providing an example of just how reprehensible that organization truly was.)

The DLC proved itself to be sleazy all the way up to the bitter end. If you check their website, their main focus of late was trying to ship more American jobs abroad during the Great Recession.

One of the comical sideshows to all of this is that the corporate media keep portraying an organization whose political views are far to the right of the overwhelming majority of Americans as "centrist." Maybe the DLC's agenda was towards the center of the ideology of the rich Republicans who own these media outlets, but it sure was loony right for the bulk of us.

Obviously, the wealthy interests behind the Democratic Liquidation Council still have enormous power over the Democratic Party. However, it is nice to see one less organization in this world promoting bigotry, discrimination, and blatant political corruption.

Illustration: ddogbreath

 

Hat Tip: Jesus Fetus Fajita Fishsticks



For the first few seconds of this, I thought it was an SNL parody. I do have one question. Does homophobia make people stupid or does stupidity make people homophobic?

 

San Francisco Husky Bear blogged about something that really gets on my nerves too.

Some people just work my last nerve with the "being gay doesn't define me" line.

You know what I'm talking about. "There's more to me than being gay." "Being gay is just a small part of me. It doesn't define me." Like being gay is a pretty shirt you can pull out of the closet when you're in the mood. And I chose the closet analogy on purpose.

I have news for you, sister. Being gay is everything about you. There is nothing that is with you more than your gayness. Not your religion. Not your family. Not your job. Nothing. Your gayness is with you 24/7 every day of your life until you breathe your last breath.

And by the way, that's exactly how the world defines you, whether you like it or not. Get over it.

Intellectually, I know why people do this. It has to do with the internalized heterosexism we are all brainwashed into since birth.

People in denial about the importance of an aspect of themselves that they, consciously or unconsciously, feel is bad are trying to feel better about themselves. However, beneath the surface, it is toxic and only makes people feel worse about themselves.

We are all told that we are heterosexual from birth. We also see negative messages about being LGBT everywhere, some less overt than others. Some queers try to pretend that we aren't different. The minimization of who we are is part of that.

Some people use the biological basis of homosexuality, bisexuality, and being transgender as a justification for something that is perfectly fine and doesn't need to be justified.

However, people who use it to say that they "can't help" being LGBT don't understand the implications of it. The initial study supporting the biological hypothesis showed differences in brain structure between gays and heterosexuals. It just doesn't make sense to assume that the impacts of differences in measurable brain structure would be exclusively related to who we lust for and who we love.

Fighting heterosexism isn't just about fighting overt prejudice on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. It is about countering the underlying notion that difference is bad and makes people inferior. Resisting conformity of all kinds must be a strategic priority of the LGBT movement if we are to ever win any kind of real liberation.

Photos: Jakub Szestowicki

Bryan Gosline

 

Photo: dereckesanches

Passing weak hate crimes legislation previously and now a bill which should overturn the military ban are significant victories for the queer community. The people who kept pushing, over the objections of partisan Democrats and Republicans in the LGBT community who would have preferred that the issues dry up and blow away, deserve a tremendous amount of credit. They have shown us that we can get results if we are persistent in fighting for them. Queer activists proved that you have to fight for yourselves. You can't rely on politicians to fight for you. (That is a lesson a lot of other progressive activists could learn from.) Now, it's time for us to keep our eyes on the prize:

ENDA, the Employment Non Discrimination Act

Employment issues have a broader reach in the queer community than any other set of concerns. If you live in a capitalist society, you need a job to avoid utter misery. Even retired queers have to be careful, since corporations have been raiding pensions for years; federal, state, and local government officials are starting to raid their employee pensions; and Obama and other Republicans have been working to raid and bankrupt Social Security. We must fight all of this, but we also must recognize that very real possibility that retirement will be a luxury for the rich in another 20 years.

In this economic context, queers don't have the luxury of putting employment discrimination on the back burner for other issues, as pressing as they are. We need to fight for anti discrimination legislation like our economic lives depend on it. They do.

Corporate media outlets and bought politicians are much more hostile to ENDA than the general public, which supports it overwhelmingly. Those corrupt interests are working on behalf of corporate interests that don't want any restrictions on corporate behavior. That's why Obama and the corporate media have worked so hard to deflect us away from fighting for ENDA.

The Christian Taliban has tried to keep the national focus on same sex marriage because it is the one issue where the country is closely divided. It also is a problematic issue for queer organizing because most queers have no interest in ever getting married. Most queers are single, as are a narrow majority of heterosexual adults. Even in states where same sex marriage is legal, the vast majority of queer couples don't get married.

We need to make OUR movement about OUR needs and OUR interests.

Even in years where it looks highly unlikely that any queer civil rights legislation will pass, we need to keep pushing. This is a difficult struggle, and it will require a relentless push on our part so we can win during years when we theoretically have the votes required. We can't afford to shut up about this.

That ENDA must be trans inclusive. Pure justice demands it, and so does pure practicality. Failure to include gender identity based discrimination puts a huge exception which corporate lawyers can use to win cases against lesbian, gay, and bisexual victims of employment discrimination. We also need to hold elected officials accountable about putting a lot of other loopholes into ENDA, like Barney Frank and Nancy Pelosi did in 2007. We need a bill with teeth that actually protects us.

Any national queer organization that is a lobbying or political organization needs to be held accountable for what it is doing to pass ENDA. Passing ENDA should be, by far, their first priority.

 

Yes, the legislation which will likely end up lifting the military ban has passed the Senate, the last hurdle before reaching President Obama's desk by a 65-31 vote. The more determinative cloture vote won by a slightly narrower margin.

This is great news, but before we get too excited, it's important to be aware of the fine print. Thanks to an email from Citizens from Legitimate Government, I found the bill's actual summary on the Senate website which follows:

Major Provisions

This legislation would repeal the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy prohibiting homosexuals from serving openly in the armed services by striking Section 654 of Title 10 of the USC. The repeal would take effect 60 days after the last of conditions a) and b) are fulfilled:

a) The Secretary of Defense receives the Comprehensive Review he requested on March 2, 2010 concerning implementing a repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

b) Congress receives written certification from the President, the Secretary of Defense, and the Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff stating that:

1) The President, the Secretary of Defense, and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff have considered the recommendations contained in the report and the report’s proposed plan of action.

2) The Department of Defense has prepared the necessary policies and regulations to implement the repeal.

3) Implementing all necessary modifications required to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” are consistent with the standards of military readiness, military effectiveness, unit cohesion, and recruiting and retention of the Armed Forces.

c) Until all of the conditions described above are met, “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” will remain in effect.

d) Should the repeal be enacted, this law will not provide marriage or spousal benefits offered under Section 7 of Title 1 to the USC to homosexuals serving in the Armed Forces.

e) Repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” does not create a private cause of action

At best, there will be some waiting while the military ban is in effect. ("Don't Ask, Don't Tell" always was a deceptive marketing name which tried to con people into thinking Bill Clinton's version of the military ban did not include witchhunts. In fact, that version of the ban was designed to increase the numbers of witchhunts.)

Now that we have gotten the disclaimers out of the way, it's useful to consider how we got here. To understand the path to repeal, it helps to know about the weird game of "Gay Chicken." The Urban Dictionary has a pretty good description of it, though I had only heard of it involving kissing myself.

A game played with straight people to see who has more balls, metaphorically. the game is played in several ways. The most simple, and weakest, is the kiss. One 'player' moves in for a sensual kiss until one of the 'players' backs off. I've seen this lead to tongues but someone will always pull away. Another way gay chicken is played is by groping the other 'players' genitals or breasts or anything you can get your hands on. The most common form of the game is gay pillow talk in which each interaction escalates until someone laughs or just can't respond. Lastly, 'players' can initiate dry humping sessions. Hardcore 'players' will use a combination of three tactics to win the game. Some have been known to even use all four tactics at once. This plan of attack is very tricky.

This pretty much describes the dynamic of Harry Reid, Barack Obama, and "moderate" Republicans in the Senate. They would put together a complex set of legislation and Senate rules for debate which included the military ban. Both sides would pretend that they would support it, but then the votes were never quite there. Each side would pretend that the other side had chickened out. They blamed each other while pretending that they supported ending the military ban.

I've heard that sometimes the "straight" guys will actually kiss when they play gay chicken because neither chickens out. (I suspect that those "straight guys" are mostly bisexual as are so many "straight guys.)

The game of chicken kept getting closer and closer. Each time, the excuses for failing to passing the legislation got feebler and more incomprehensible. Queer activists kept pushing to repeal the ban, which neither the Democrats or "moderate" Republicans really wanted to do. But, the politicians had thoroughly boxed themselves in with rhetoric that tried to make it sound like they opposed a widely unpopular policy while trying to make sure that policy stayed in effect.

Then, the tax cuts for the rich, tax increases for low income Americans deal passed. Liberals were understandably pissed with Obama and the rest of the Democrats. The party of the jackasses needed to show that they would push for something opposed by the majority of the politicians in the party of the rogue elephants. For liberals, lifting the military ban was the bone. "Moderate" Republicans also needed to do something to placate Northeastern moderates who don't like tax giveaways for the rich either.

For queers, it was a lot more than a bone.

Yesterday, the kiss cloture vote happened and the last major hurdle to legislation that almost certainly will result in an eventual lifting of the ban went through. The persistance of queer activists kept pushing the kiss cloture vote victory closer and closer.

It's about time.

 

The game playing and heterosexist bigotry that has stopped the military ban from being overturned legislatively is sickening. Yes, I am outraged by the efforts of Republicans to continue the ban. However, I am equally outraged by the efforts of a closet Republican who pretends to be a Democrat: President Obama.

HomophObama has fought to promote bigotry, discrimination, and violence against queers on numerous occasions. The first was when he involved a woman hating and queer bashing bigot, Rick Warren, in the inauguration. I boycotted that homophobic charade of an inauguration once I knew that someone who devotes his life to promoting hatred, violence, and rape against women while promoting bigotry, discrimination, violence and murder against queers was going to play a central, and unconstitutional, role.

However, HomophObama's bigotry wasn't just ceremonial. He set the tone of his hiring practices by discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in all cabinet level appointments. Later, he had the Injustice Department make legal citations in a DOMA case that compared homosexuality to sex with animals and the dead. This administration's heterosexist amimus has been comparable to that of Rick Santorum.

HomophObama's expansion of Bush's hate based initiatives would have lead to more heterosexist discrmination in government programs under the best of circumstances. But, that wasn't enough for HomophObama who insisted in appointing heterosexist fanatics to the committees that award the grants.

Seeing what was being done to us, 200,000 queers joined the National Equality March on short notice to demand better. HomophObama's initial response was to patronize us and insult our intelligence with a bullshit speech at the so called Human Rights Campaign's dinner. The pickets by legitimate queer activists outside the dinner and the outrage among so many queer blogs reflected the views of most queers far more than the self loathing and heterosexist excuses for Obama being offered by that quisling Joe Solmonese.

When they realized that empty words would not placate a critical voting, fundraising, and volunteer block for their party, Democratiic leaders including HomophObama made a concession by allowing weak hate crimes legislation to get a vote. It was too politically difficult for even some Goppers to vote against, so it passed and HomophObama reluctantly signed it, though he would much rather queer bash us himself if he thought he could get away with it.

The next big LGBT legislative item was the Employment Non Discrimination Act (ENDA). In terms of its substantive impact on the lives of queers, ENDA is more important than all of the other queer civil rights legislation combined. That's why HomophObama was determined to stop it.

His administration came up with a clever diversion to divert attention from the prize, ENDA. They came up with a bill that would lift the military ban only if Robert Gates, a homophobic Republican, approved it. This decision was scheduled after the elections, and was to be based on a survey of our armed forces.

The bill didn't pass, but Gates ran the survey anyway. What was the catch? Gates made sure that the survey was heavily biased in favor of continuing the military ban.

However, things didn't go according to plan. Roughly 70% of the service people returning the survey said getting rid of the ban would make no difference or be a positive thing for them. The upshot of even a survey with a strong homophobic bias was that most service people don't care either way.

Meanwhile, the military ban was losing badly in two completely separate court cases, despite all the taxpayer money being wasted on it. HomophObama chose to appeal the ruling overturning the ban, despite being under absolutely no obligation to do so. In civil cases (and all criminal cases that don't involve the death penalty), losing parties are under no obligation to appeal. They can accept the ruling. They also can try to settle with the winning parties in order to avoid a lengthy appeals process.

HomophObama insisted on appealing. Not only didn't he accept a ruling eliminating a ban he claimes that he opposes, he wasn't even willing to try to make a settlement to save face and address the phony baloney logistical objections that bigots have made to try to drag out the process indefinitely.

HomophObama's excuse was weak, to put it mildly. He said he wanted a legislative repeal instead. Yet, Obama did everything in his power to prevent such a thing in 2009 when Republicans weren't feeling so invincible. Now that the Senate had a cloture vote on repealing the military ban, Harry Reid and HomophObama made backroom deals to make sure not enough Democrats would show up to pass a cloture vote.

HomophObama isn't the only bigot deserving blame for this. Obama's fellow Republicans voted overwhelmingly for the military ban. That includes "moderate, pro gay" Goppers like Olympia Snowe and Scott Brown. Of course, people who have followed Scott Brown's execrable political career have known all along that Brown is a vicious and evil bigot, regardless of how heterosexists in the corporate media like Jon Stewart have marketed him otherwise.


Photo: Derek Bridges

Let's not forget that Cyndy's hooker, John "Keating Five" McCain parroted Christian homophobic values to justify his fight for discrimination despite the fact that prostitution is just as much against Christianity as homosexuality.

However different the specifics of HomophObama's hypocrisy on the military ban, it is just as reprehensible as that of John McCain. Both of them are nauseating Republicans who are unfit to hold a public office. Neither is fit to even be a sewer commissioner.

 

Lindsay Graham discussing the size of his penis?
Photo: World Economic Forum

Extreme right Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-Christian Taliban) has to be the most frequently outed of the heterosexist Republicans in DC. (Yes, I know that the corporate media frequently market him as a "moderate," but look at his actual record and you will see that he is on the far right fringe.)

Recent events are making me wonder if those who are outing the wingnut are onto something. Why would a "moderate" Senator make such a big deal of pushing a wildly unpopular position like supporting the military ban? (From On Top Magazine 11/30/10)

Graham, also a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, expressed a similar sentiment.

“Well, there are service chiefs who object to repeal, particularly the Marine Corps. And the question that was asked of our military is how would you implement 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' once it's repealed. They didn't ask the question, 'Should it be repealed?'”

“This is a political promise made by Senator Obama when he was running for president,” the South Carolina Republican said. “There is no groundswell of opposition to 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' coming from our military. This is all politics.”

Graham also predicted Republicans would unite to block repeal of the law.

If Graham were heterosexual and politically astute, he would avoid getting involved in an issue where the GOP's position is at odds with the overwhelming majority of the American people. Either Graham is an incredibly amateurish politician, or he is trying a bit too hard to cover up homosexuality.

In any case, Graham is a slimeball who is deserving of nothing but utter contempt.

 

Makes you think.



Heterosexist hate crimes have been incredibly common for decades. The video doesn't mention this, but trans queers are the most targeted among the most targeted.

 

In theory, WBAI here in NYC is a progressive radio station which works on the mission of the Pacifica network. Yet, the current narrow majority of the Local Station Board (LSB) is a bunch of bigoted teabaggers who are gradually implementing a far right political agenda on the station. They call themselves "independent" to try to confuse voters in LSB elections, but they are a rigid political slate, as fanatical as the GOP at its worse.

The new management that has been brought in by this teabagger majority on the LSB has sunk to an incredible low. They have brought back infamous HIV denialist Gary Null. (If you have the stomach to read the linked rants, you will find a disturbing amount of homophobic bigotry in them...to put it mildly.)

In the real world, as opposed to the lalaland of Gary Null's New Age cult, HIV's causality of AIDS was a settled scientific question long before HIV drugs started dramatically prolonging peoples' lives. If it wasn't for HIV drugs, gay men would still be dying at the same horrifying rates that those of us who live on (seronegative or seropositive) witnessed for far too long.

But, HIV denialism isn't just inaccurate, it is truly vicious. It attempts to erase the lives and deaths of queer men, people of color, and women who have died as a result of HIV. There simply is no excuse for it.

As you might expect ACT UP NY and other HIV/AIDS activists are fighting back against this. A recent online petition by the Community HIV/AIDS Mobilization Project explains their position quite well.

To whom it concerns:

We are writing as individuals and organizations who are deeply distressed by WBAI's recent restoration of supplement-entrepreneur Gary Null to the airwaves of WBAI Radio five days a week.

We are gravely concerned about this prospect and the consequences for people at risk of and living with HIV. Mr. Null and his frequent radio guests support the notions, among others, that HIV does not play a role in causing AIDS; that the disease is not transmitted sexually or via dirty needles; that HIV tests are meaningless; and that antiretroviral drugs are not only poisonous but can actually cause AIDS. Legitimate concerns and grievances about the pharmaceutical industry are eclipsed and diminished by this life-threatening stance.

The spread of false claims about HIV and AIDS is deadly, and particularly harms the poor communities of color most devastated by HIV/AIDS. Disinformation about HIV has caused the unnecessary suffering and death of an estimated 300,000 men, women and children in South Africa alone (see http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/nov/26/aids-south-africa ).

Both the existence of HIV and its role in the causation of AIDS has been amply demonstrated (see, e.g., www.aidstruth.org). Among the destructive effect of spreading these falsehoods is to reduce condom use, increase infection risk and dissuade people from the use of life-saving antiretroviral therapy (among other modalities).

We respect the station's longstanding free-speech tradition, and support open debate on critical public health issues. We also deeply appreciate the fiscal difficulties facing WBAI and the Pacifica network. However, the notion that WBAI's survival is dependent on relying on Mr. Null while spreading a message of death is antithetical to the mission of the station and of the Pacifica Network to which it belongs.

We call on WBAI management to immediately reverse its decision to add Mr. Null's program to its schedule.

ACT UP NY warned people about what might happen last year. I guess it goes to show you that you can't take any institution for granted, even one that is supposed to be progressive like WBAI.

I've taken my link to WBAI off my link list. I cannot, in good conscience, link to a station whose management and board majority are behaving in such an irresponsible and bigoted fashion. It's been replaced by Democracy Now! I'm leaving the WBAIX which involves broadcasting on an occasional basis from former WBAI producers who were purged from the station by the bigoted teabagger majority on the LSB. Getting Gary Null off the air was a long, long overdue decision by former Program Director Bernard White. There is no excuse for bringing Null back.

[Anybody who detects the similarities between the HIV denialist pseudoscience and Global Warming denialist pseudoscience gets extra points for being observant and aware.]

 

I've long agreed with the Gay Liberationists and Feminists of the 70s who opposed the institution of marriage. The critiques ranged from the anti sex nature of marriage, to the failure of marriage to nurture relationships, and to the patriarchal nature of the institution, depending on the critics. All of those claims seem valid to me.

People forget that marriage's original purpose had nothing to do with love, nurturing, or affection. Marriage was designed to codify and enforce the status of women and children as property of men. The status of children within marriage is still that of property, though that property is more jointly held between wives and husbands. Trying to turn a patriarchal, property based institution like marriage into an equal partnership between women and men has been weak and unstable at best.

That's why I find recent polling from the Pew Research Center, in association with Time Magazine, quite interesting. Here are the results on the institution of marriage.

Is Marriage Obsolete?

Yes: 39%
No: 58%
Don't Know/Refused: 3%

When the pollsters asked if people were optimistic about "the future of marriage and family," the number jumped from 58% to 67%. The most logical explanation is that there are people who are optimistic about the family who don't necessarily tie that optimism to the institution of marriage, at least in its current form.

When sodomy laws were overturned by the US Supreme Court, the Christian Right decided to make same sex marriage their highest priority LGBT issue. They did this for several reasons. First, it was the one queer issue where the overwhelming majority of the public supported them. Second, same sex marriage inflames fundamentalist Christian donors like no other issue, making it a cash cow.

However, there was another psychodrama going on. For decades, the militant fundamentalists have tried to scapegoat feminists, queers, liberals, atheists, and everyone else they don't like for the decline of marriage. This resonated with members of their flocks who were divorced or miserable in their marriages and wanted someone else to blame. Same sex marriage has become the most frequent "whipping boy" for every misery that people are too afraid to blame on the institution itself.

In another 100-200 years, marriage will be considered a bizarre relic of a backward time. It's too bad there isn't a way for people to jump start that process.

Photo: Franco Folini

 

Barack Bush's heterosexism is resulting in increasingly strong reactions in the queer community. From GetEqual's 11/15/10 Press Release:

Washington, DC – This afternoon, three generations of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender veterans and advocates went back to the White House fence to call for the U.S. Senate, Majority Leader Harry Reid, and President Obama to make good on their promises to secure the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” during the abbreviated, lame-duck session of Congress that started today.

During the direct action organized by GetEQUAL – a national lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) civil rights organization – and local activists, 13 veterans and advocates handcuffed themselves to the White House fence in an act of non-violent, civil disobedience protesting the un-American, discriminatory law yet to be repealed by Congress — regardless of the numerous promises by President Obama, Congressional leaders and national LGBT leaders that they would do so by the end of this year.

I'm glad that "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" is in fright quotes. The actual policy was defined to increase witchhunts against queers in the military and it did just that. Subjects of these witchhunts do not have to say they are LGBT in order to be discharged under the policy.

I find the list of people who were arrested to be quite interesting.

The 13 veterans and repeal advocates arrested today include:

* Five veterans (Lt. Dan Choi, Petty Officer Autumn Sandeen, Cpl. Evelyn Thomas, and Cadet Mara Boyd) who were arrested back in March during the GetEQUAL organized “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” act of civil disobedience at the White House fence demanding President Obama show leadership on repeal.
* Robin McGehee, co-founder and director of GetEQUAL, and Dan Fotou, action strategist for GetEQUAL.
* Former U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Miriam Ben-Shalom, who was discharged in 1976 for declaring and admitting she was a lesbian. She became the first-ever LGBT servicemember reinstated to her position in the U.S. Military, by a U.S. Federal District Court. On July 30th, 1993, Miriam and 26 other protesters were arrested at the White House fence for protesting then-President Bill Clinton’s broken promise to repeal the gay ban – instead signing the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” bill into law.
* Former U.S. Marine Corps Sergeant Justin Elzie who, in 1993, became the first Marine ever investigated and discharged under the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law. Elzie was also the first soldier to be discharged under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” to fight his discharge and win – resulting in his service as a Marine for four years as an openly gay man.
* Former U.S. Army Arabic Linguist Ian Finkenbinder, who was discharged from the Army in December 2004 after announcing to his superiors that he was gay. Finkenbinder is an Iraq war veteran and was about to return for a second tour of duty when he was discharged.
* U.S. Army Veteran and Repeal Advocate Rob Smith, who was deployed to both Iraq and Kuwait before being honorably discharged after deciding not to re-enlist in the U.S. Army due to the added pressure of living under the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law.
* Father Geoff Farrow, a Catholic priest who spoke out against the church’s official stance in support of California’s Proposition 8, removing the rights of same-sex couples to marry. Because of his courageous stance against Prop 8, Father Geoff Farrow was removed as pastor of St. Paul’s by his bishop and suspended as a priest.
* Scott Wooledge, a New York-based LGBT civil rights advocate and blogger who has written extensively on the movement to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” at Daily Kos and Pam’s House Blend.
* Michael Bedwell, long-time LGBT civil rights advocate, close friend of Leonard Matlovich, and administrator of the site www.leonardmatlovich.com.

So many of these people were military personnel. Farrow's presence also is intriguing. It was fascinating that he was removed as a priest for being accepting of people for having sex with adults.

I hope that the more conservative queer activist groups will face the reality that our movement cannot rely on or trust any politician. We need to fight for our rights no matter who is in power. Real progress will require a sustained, unrelenting effort.

 

The corporate media usually don't give much coverage to stories which suggest that politicians should move towards the left. That's why this item on one of ABC News' blogs was quite refreshing. (bolding mine)

Here’s how: Current estimate is that 90 million people voted. Exit poll says 45 percent were Obama voters in 2008. That’s 40.5 million voters.

In 2008, Obama won 69.5 million votes. So about 29 million Obama voters did not show up in 2010.

Exit poll also says 45 percent of people who voted yesterday were McCain voters in 2008, again 40.5 million. That, vs. his nearly 60 million in 2008, means about 19.5 million McCain voters did not show up.

So Obama had nearly 10 million more no-shows.

Does this surprise anyone? Let's look at some things Obama did which discouraged Democrats and Democratic leaning independents from showing up to vote.

1) Continuing to practice torture at Guantanamo and throughout the world.

2) Dragging out the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars.

3) Fighting for the military ban and for DOMA in court, even to the point of making appeals that the Administration was under no legal or ethical obligation to make.

4) Comparing homosexuality to bestiality and necrophilia in court briefs defending DOMA.

5) Making banksters a much higher priority than jobs.

6) Refusing to prosecute criminals merely because they were rich and well connected (e.g., Bush Regime war criminals, banksters, brokesters).

7) Siding with British Petroleum against the environment and the people in the Gulf Coast.

8) Pushing through the same brutal wealthcare plan that the GOP would have passed if they were in control of Congress and the White House.

9) Doing nothing to protect the right to choose on abortion.

10) Expanding Bush's unconstitutional office of hate based initiatives.

11) Discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in Cabinet level appointments.

12) Participating in the National Hate Breakfast and pandering to fundamentalist hate mongers like Rick Warren.

13) Sabre rattling with Iran and Venezuela.

14) Putting Global Warming on the backburner and making roads a higher priority than rail in the stimulus plan.

I could go on endlessly about the GOP policies that the President has continued or expanded on, but you get the point. Obama, Pelosi, Reid, and the rest of the DC "Democrats" did everything they could to send a message to Democratic voters and liberal independents that voting makes absolutely no difference.

Roughly 29,000,000 Obama voters got that message.