A little laugh for the coffeehouse crowd…
Mr. Homo-Toms is back for more after my gentle spanking of him for his last essay a few weeks ago (“Kaufman at Huff Post: misguided race-based rant on LGBT rights — and ‘Homo-Toms’“). David Kaufman is the multi-racial proprietor of Transracial.net, and for some reason, he’s 1) fixated and confused about why LGBTs might draw any parallels to the black civil rights movement and 2) angry that the LGBT online community isn’t walking in lockstep and happy with the rollout of the Democratic/Obama agenda.
Kaufman takes a crack at several bloggers, movement commentators, including your blogmistress, for our alleged cheering and crowing about Scott “Cosmo” Brown’s win in Massachusetts. From the Huff Post piece, “LGBT Leaders and Spokespeople Undermining the Cause.”
The schadenfreude surrounding Scott Brown’s Massachusetts Senate win is the final confirmation of the current LGBT leadership’s betrayal of 50 years of progressive politics. It began within minutes of Coakley’s concession speech: A volley of “I told you sos” by her haughty Carolina highness, Pam Spaulding. Mock-shock and caustic concern from the dirt-dishers over at Queerty. Dispassionate dispatches from those “just-the-facters” Towleroad, Joe.My.God and the AMERICAblog. And finally — a muddled, misanthropic, self-serving and — obvi! — Obama-bashing brief from David Mixner.
That Brown won should have come of little surprise to these LGBT “leaders” or their devoted fan base. After all, Spaulding, Queerty, Mixner and Co. practically cheer-led the former Cosmo-hunk to this critical triumph. Having officially turned on their president, these netrooters have conceded the greater good for their own shortsighted image-inflating. Well aware of the monumental consequences of a Republican win, Gay-stream media nevertheless continued their Dem-dissing and Obama-bashing with little concern for its election-day implications.
I like that I have earned yet another keen endorsement – “her haughty Carolina highness.” That’s NORTH Carolina highness if you’re nasty…
Anyway I’d love to see where Kaufman could find any pro-Brown posts on here, but why bother when you can generate incoherent pablum like that. What’s even more outlandish is that our criticism of the slow-go, no-go, run-from-timetables strategy of this administration and Congress when it comes to LGBT civil rights, is seen by Kaufman as endangering the entire progressive agenda.
Health care is at risk following the loss of the Democratic Senate majority. Additional Democratic senate seats are vulnerable to attack by an emboldened Republican party. Progressive White House initiatives may now be scaled back as Obama is forced to downsize his populist platforms. And — most crucially — the very LGBT issues these leaders triumph have never been more threatened by political rollbacks and the potential for voter-led regressive propositions. Our very economic, civil and physical liberties are imperiled — and all Spaulding can dish up is an “I told you so”. All Mixner can muster is yet another MLK-mooching missive on HuffPost.
What are we homos, 3%-7% of the population? And how many of us are bloggers of note? What in blazes is Kaufman smoking, because we all needed that to get through the eight years of Bush.
I do love that I’ve been endowed with so much power that I can topple prospects for a Dem-controlled Congress. Might Obama, Rahm and Nancy and Harry have a little to do with the state of things right now, David? The essay is again, so misguided that it’s not hard to imagine that Kaufman is either: 1) on the payroll of the Obama admin (btw, that would be a raw deal) or 2) has extreme hostility issues that he needs to deal with unrelated to the topic at hand.
The one part of the essay that is actually worth addressing because of its offensiveness is Kaufman’s obsession with declaring that the LGBT community, which includes black gays, has no business even discussing the relevance, for instance, of Loving v. Virginia and how it will play a role when marriage equality goes before SCOTUS.
Unrepentantly racist and race-bating on the White side; complicit, silent and homo Tom-like on the Black. Steeped in anger whilst mired by impotence. And shamelessly borrowing from earlier civil rights movements with zero respect or understanding of what they were truly about.In fact, it’s time to stop with the niceties and simply tell it like it is: Enough with the Loving v. Virginia references and its “Blacks got their rights too” reductivism. End the Mixner-styled “Gay Apartheid” hysterics and endless take-downs of the Black church. It’s boring, it’s tired, it’s obnoxious and it’s offensive.
Wake up, David – the homo-Tom jive is getting stale. Loving v. Virginia is relevant, and the homophobia of the black church is a political impediment that is worthy of discussion. Look no further than the loud, proud ignorance of carpetbagging NOM-tool Bishop Harry Jackson in his quest to stop marriage equality in DC as the black face of white fundamentalist groups like the Family Research Council.
There are mini-me Bishop Jacksons all around the country willing to shill bigotry from the pulpit with the backing of well-funded white evangelical organizations. And way too many of these pastors in the pulpit are not protecting the sanctity of their own marriages.
And as someone who is also a multiple minority, I nearly fell out of my chair laughing at this bold ego stroke:
I am American, mixed-race, Jewish and Gay. I am, you could say, an ultimate minority.
And this means what? That opposing White House strategy — after promises Candidate Obama made, not something that was extracted out of him — and calling out for accountability, is tantamount to revoking your black and progressive cards? Wow, if you want blind followers, file over to the other side of the aisle. Yawn.
You need better aim than that, David. Try again, with a little less mood-enhancement.




The schadenfreude surrounding Scott Brown’s Massachusetts Senate win is the final confirmation of the current LGBT leadership’s betrayal of 50 years of progressive politics. It began within minutes of Coakley’s concession speech: A volley of “
35 Comments


Answer me this, someonehow can a movement be progressive if it works actively to tell parts of that movement to sit in the back of the bus and wait until they get to them?
That isn’t progressive. That is the “mememe mineminemine” movement that is otherwise known as “neo-conservative.”
Thanks I needed a good laugh for the dayAnd there’s no one I’d rather see as Queen of North Carolina, my beloved and beautiful home state. How I miss it!
Oh, great! can we call you a QUEEN? Pam?Sent to Rachel M. Hope she gets you on. You two would ROCK together.
What a gooberPam, I read this on Huffington Post today and was shocked that Kaufman would say such inflammatory and ridiculous things. Instead of attacking the messenger, Kaufman should instead direct his vitriol at Obama and the spineless Democrats who have espoused the fierce urgency of “later”. Pam, keep doing what you are doing. As a gay man who happens to be black, I get especially angry when people refuse to see the parallels between the black civil rights struggles of the past and the LGBT struggles of today.
WAIT!Did I miss something?
I thought they said we weren’t of any consequence?
When did we get any power to overthrow the government and why are the teabaggers not supporting us then?
Oh myI return to HuffPo and what do I see: tanyar is still flooding all LBGT threads with hate.
Yet, he mentions Towleroad. And if you read some of the comments and don’t follow until the sane people wake up it looks as if a clear majority of commenters would be racist. Well, it’s gotten better again (tougher moderation? “John in Boston” hasn’t appeared anymore). Just as tanyar is a little evil homophobe, these people are not just annoying.
And here we have zazu, aka Barack Obama is a socialist and other similar people previously.
An important thing has been written by kos about the power of the movement: The power is not really in the hands of the blogs or MSNBC, but in the base. The people aren’t voting because they were told on a blog, but because they like what they are seeing.
Neither progressives nor LBGT community have the power to destroy (by speaking out) or save (by shutting up) his sand castle.
Btw…… rights are earned now according to Kaufman, no natural justice anymore. Well, probably only for corporations …
Tanyar5How does she get away with her consistent anti-gay posts on Huffington Post? Many of my comments don’t past muster and never see the light of day, yet hers are there with great regularity? WTF? How does Tanyar5 get away with it? Curious in Texas……
ALL HAIL THE NEW QUEEN!Long may she live!
Isn’t that (provocation) the HuffPo business model?By encouraging to stay at the site and fight meaningless virtual wars it generates ad revenue.
Best. Headline. EVER.It’s posts like these that make me love PHB =D
And this too,How can Kaufmann conclude that LGBT loyalty is owed to a party, or movement, that apparently sees them as expendable? You want loyalty, earn it – prove that you don’t – this isn’t a criminal trial where you can demand it be presumed.
Kaufman is the LZ Granderson of HuffPo
Another idiot. I am sure HRC will give him a GLAAD Media Award soon.
I was so pissed off at his POS post that I posted one ripping him a new one and p[osting the link at HuffPo.
Kaufman is seriously a douchebag. Nothing more. Mothing less.
http://www.back2stonewall.com/…
Keep it up Pam and HB Staff!
Divine!
Damn right.
And shouldn’t we let Mildred Loving be the judge of whether a comparison to Loving v. Virginia is OK?
Yep, she was OK with that.
http://www.freedomtomarry.org/…
Upon reading this rant by KaufmanI threw a racial epithet at Kaufman on one of the blogs. Seriously.
I was so angry about the scapegoating and the vile misreportage of the Massachusetts election that he didn’t even bother to go fact check polls and election returns and what not.
“Rights are now earned” Same with respect and loyaltyI will not give my respect and be loyal to a party that refuses to earn my respect and loyalty.
Pam, should you be styled “Your Majesty” or will “Your Highness” be sufficient? n/t
Oh, and if you want a public face of race-baiting homophobiaLet us not forget Bishop Jackson’s west-coast counterpart, Ken Hutcherson, who has openly aligned himself with Scott Livey and various recognized hate groups such as Watchmen on the Walls.
Because huff post traffics in homophobiaespecially when it comes from black posters (or trolls that say they are)
Towleroad and Queerty traffics in racism too, at times. Hell, Queerty even traffics in homophobia.
Bigotry sells.
As to that particular poster, tanyars5 and I fanned each other at huff post ages ago during the Oscar Grant situation. But I caught her calling one gay black male poster a “house n” and I defanned her. I wish she would do the same to me. (I do know that she’s an occasional reader of the Blend.)
I do agree with Kaufman about this, though
and so does Dan Savage
http://slog.thestranger.com/sl…
Funny that the only intellectual/original thinking lesbian that Kaufman can come up witrh is Gertrude Stein (uh, Audre Lorde anyone? Mary Daly?).
In any event, I think an essay or two or five could be written about this. I don’t think it’s attributable to any one thing either.
Kaufman’s entire essay makes points here and there, actually, but as a writer, he has a total inability to focus on one thing. And he provides no evidence for his scapegoating gay-baiting claims about the Brown election in Massachusetts.
I maintain that Kaufman is a part of the problem that he cites in the snippet that I posted above.
Given Mary Daly’s views on men and transwomenIt is good that she is not included.
Or her views on race for that matterI remember that Audre Lorde wrote an open letter to Mary Daly where she let Daly have it.
Funny thing, Dan Savage on gay “integration”sounds remarkably like Zora Neale Hurston statements on black “integration” following the 1954 Brown decision
Kaufmann has a point…Its really about a sector of the community that has been acting like spoiled children since Obama’s election.
Apparently, to them, LGBT issues are more important than healthcare, the economy, the war etc. In their mind the fact that Obama did not address their issues in his first year was an instant betrayal. They’ve been throwing a tantrum ever sense. The biggest difference between the LGBT movement and the civil rights movement is that the Civil Rights folks recognized that change takes time. There was real patience from people who clearly had enough faith to know that better times were comming even if they did not know exactly when.
The only place where Kaufmann really has it wrong is that Pam wanted Brown to win. I do not think that was true at all.
Yay! Glad you liked the crown and scepter I gave ya, Pam.
But I’m afraid they may turn back into a pumpkin and mouse at midnight- unless you receive true love’s kiss under the sea on a magic carpet ride, second star to the right, serenaded by 7 dwarves from an enchanted castle.
Kate, ya got your work cut out for you!
Hey, where did that thundering herd of Disney lawyers come from? Leggo my keyboard- HALP!
Yeah, you’re rightWe haven’t said a word here about healthcare, the economy, the wars, etc.
Wait, what?
Depends…on which civil rights folks you’re talking about, actually, SciFi Geek. Are you talking about the South or the North?…
I’ve been reading an excellent history on the civil rights movement in the North and uh….the black folks in the North didn’t have much patience once the movemet got off and running…
Since we black folk get the shortest month of the year (lol), I’m planning on doing a book report or 3 about various subjects that often don’t get talked about when discussions of “the black civil rights movement” comes up.
Don’t argue with Kaufman, PamYou may be “Her Highness,” but he is still “The Queen!”
I wasn’t aware that the President and Congress could only deal with one thing at a timeIt’s no bloody wonder they have kept Bush’s people and ideologies in place: they simply have not had the time to do anything.
On Matters of ProtocolSince Her Royal Highness, Queen David neglected to give a title along with the salutation, humility requires the assumption that she intended to bestow a lower title, such as Duchess. (Since Duke is, IIRC, already taken in your jurisdiction.)
In that case, “Your Highness” or “Your Grace” would both be acceptable forms of address for Duchess Pam of Spaulding.
Mildred Loving of Loving vs. Virginia Speaks out about Marriage Equality
Mildred Loving
(on the 40th Anniversary of Loving vs Virginia)
…Nuff Said?!
And David you can kiss my entire gay black…No no no Breathe…breathe….
LOL- yeah, I feel yathis fool made me slip into some Negro dialect mighty fast…I am so using this whole phrase
I’m sorry, kudo451I have not heard the phrase in a loooong time.
my phrase is:
Of course, I can’t even say that I used Negro dialect on this fool.
I went straight up east Side of Detroit ghetto.
Oh, about the black churchIs Kaufman saying that the black church should never be criticized by LGBT people? He’s full of shit on that account.
I see just as many attacks on the blogs on the Mormon. Catholic, and evangelical churches for their involvement in denying gay civil rights. Some “black churches” have joined with these churches in fighting GLBT equality. No, the “black church” has not put up the money for the cause that the aforementioned churches have BUT they have rallied their congregants. And I know very well that the “black church” is probably the primary site for political organizing in the black community.
So, no, “the black church” should by no means get a free pass. Under any Democratic Administration and Dem Congress, the “black church” is going to have more political power. But having that political power also means that you take the slings and arrows of politics, especially when outright bigotry is endorsed.
Personally, I think that there needs to be more secular organizations in the black community to decrease the overtly political nature of the black church.
Now, the response should be proportional; in fact, “the black church” is not putting in the money that other predominately “white churches” are and they are not running the bigoted advertising campaigns.
And of course, “the black church” is not monolithic either. There are black churches that do support full GLBT equality, including marriage.
But those black denominations, churches and ministers that do organize against GLBT equality should be criticized. Kaufman thinks they should be given a free pass.