Unimpressed with your collaborationismWhen the Commander in Chief is telling Democrats in Congress to scuttle repeal of DADT, bringing back the zap is perfectly appropriate.
Keeping sipping your Obama Kool Aid and condescending to people who, unlike you, aren’t sitting at their keyboards whining about everybody else.

And why is this diary on the main pageThere is nothing newsworthy in this diary. It should have been posted as a whining criticism to the diary about the zap.

Zapping Family Research Council…Really?Why on earth would we waste our time zapping the Family Research Council? They don’t hold the key to repeal. They are completely unpersuadable. And we don’t have to persuade the far right in order to get our legislation enacted.
Stop trying to protect the President by trying to divert activism into some pointless, feel-good attack on the far right. Get Equal knows exactly where the fire power needs to be aimed. You haven’t a clue.

Time ManagementIf half the time that’s spent bitching on this and other blogs were instead given to calling and visiting representatives and senators, we might actually make some progress.

ExactlyProtesting outside of a conservative organization makes absolutely no sense.  Frankly, what GetEqual did was GREAT for publicity – now let’s keep the momentum alive by calling our congressmen TODAY and telling them to actively support repeal.  I’ve already called mine.

Don’t just blog there, do something.Enough of sitting on your ass and complaining that we’re not advocating properly.  As Obama would say (and I know how much you love him), grab a mop, don’t just tell me I’m holding mine wrong.
And why would you write a blog post for the sole purpose of undermining our efforts?  Is someone jealous that GetEqual is getting all of the coverage because anyone with basic motor skills can BLOG?
I called my congressmen: when will YOU?

Welcome to Los Angeles, President ObamaPresident Obama quickly learned how political events in my homestate – especially involving the LGBT community, are very different from the well-behaved events sponsored by the champagne queers at the Human Rights Campaign to which he’s grown accustomed in Washington DC.
The clip of President Obama being heckled has gone viral and I saw it on the crawl this morning on MSNBC. Maybe Keith and Rachel will cover it tonight. I hope so.
I am in the camp who thinks Obama is telling the truth when he says he wants the ban repealed. But, I also wonder why his Democratic colleagues in the Congress (allegedly friends of the LGBT community) refuse to write a repeal bill for the president to sign?

ProgressI have spent years faxing, calling, emailing, personally visiting my Senators, writing the White House and contacting various Democratic  organizations and don’t feel we have gotten very far at all.  I’ve basically given up, though I sign petitions that come my way and post on Facebook.

Huh?I don’t see how this would remotely change the political dynamic:

Where are the protests at the headquarters of the Family Research Council or Concerned Women for America? Where are the slogans aimed at them such as “Stop lying about our lives,” or “Jesus never lied”?

It’s the President and Congress who need to be pushed to make change happen.  Hassling those other groups seems an utter waste of time.

Begging alone isn’t enoughThe problem is that begging for rights isn’t enough. They lobbying has to be backed up with pressure. Pressure in the form of withholding votes, withholding money, or zapping them at public appearances. If all they hear is begging, they do nothing. They need to feel a little fear.

Amen!

He’s told them not too!The White House is telling congressional Democrats NOT to move a repeal bill.

Rep. Alcee Hastingswrote exactly the bill you’re asking for last year.  The Obama White House pressured him to withdraw it.  The Obama administration has fought against repeal every chance they’ve had, in court, in congress and anywhere else the issue has come up.

I am in the camp who thinks Obama is telling the truth when he says he wants the ban repealed

Uh, based on what, exactly?  He says he wants it, but his actions run directly counter to his words.  If he wore red shirts all the time, would you be willing to believe he actually prefers green?  If he ate steak dinners every night, would you be willing to believe he’s a vegetarian?

One of the really wonderful thingsACT UP accomplished was changing the image of gay people from wimpy, passive victims to angry warriors.  Unfortunately, that image didn’t stick, but we need to go back to it.  We need more of it, the more the better.  Obama and the other opponents of gay equality would like nothing better than to see us wasting our energy protesting at FRC instead of making them squirm.
What part of “I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take it any more!” don’t you understand?

Very well statedGreat post, Alvin.

Join him thenYou can both waste your time picketing the Family Research Council while the rest of us try to get DADT repealed.

I guess it’s a good thing this isn’t about impressing you, then.This diary exhibits a combination of arrogance and being just plain wrong with everything you state that renders your opinion about it utterly irrelevant.
I read a lot of LGBT news every day.  I see your name here and nowhere else.  I think this diary is an example of why.
Not demand equality from our elected representatives?  Not participate in democracy?  Waste time telling the people who hate us for a living that we don’t like them, either?
I’m afraid that whoever moved this diary to the front page of this blog did you no favors whatsoever.

Great; you’re unimpressedWhy don’t you propose an alternate action that you think would be more useful towards reaching that goal?
You have a platform upon which to write.
Please use it.

it may have been an “embarrassment” to Obama, but…Obama gave 2 victories to the NRA in the last 6 months, courting the right-wing who will never vote for him, and then he feigns  surprise that the queer community – which voted for him – is upset that not one promise to them has been kept?

Sorry Alvin….I think everything you are proposing should be done, but I was happy to hear Obama being confronted at the Boxer event…he’s been throwing bones to the LGBT community, while ignoring all the promises he made to them during the primaries and even early in this term….
He NEEDS TO BE CONFRONTED any chance the LGBT communities get until he and Congress overturn DADA and DOMA!
He’s entirely too smooth in his denials and promises and needs to be made uncomfortable…

Be careful with assumptionsAs far as I know, all we baristas at Pam’s House Blend (and Alvin is a barista) are quite engaged beyond the blogosphere.  I don’t agree with Alvin’s assessment on this one, but I know better than jump to the conclusion that he’s nothing more than a blog potato.  We’re all more than we seem on these pages.  Much, much more.

So what else is new?Alvin is unimpressed with anything except himself. Hey Alvin! When was the last time you protested at a church or religious gathering? You think its such a good idea…get a group together and lead the charge. Please post the pics, we’d all love to see you in front of the FRC headquarters with sign in hand. Too busy, or is that a Cheetos stain on your PJs?

Embarrassed?I’d be thrilled if Obama was embarrassed, he should be embarrassed. He has a lot to be embarrassed about. But he was probably more irritated that someone dared interrupt his fundraising event for Boxer and the DNC. It’s so hard with that full plate and all.

two reasons1, Alvin is a barista and has every right to post to the front page, and
2, He’s not alone among LGBTs in his opinion.  I don’t share his opinion on this one, so I’m actually glad he put it out there to give us all the opportunity to refute it reasonably.  Otherwise we’re just an echo chamber.  Let’s see if we can argue the opinion without making personal attacks.

Ah, another “sleeper agent” for the ObamaRahm Borg reveals himself….
One might chalk this up as simply a manifestation of Alvin’s obsession with the religiofascist founders and perpetuators of the Antigay Industry which he’s done a lot of good work exposing.
But then, then one remembers that as far back as his run for U.S. Senate in 2004 Barack Obama himself was saying

“I’m a Christian, and so although I try not to have my religious beliefs dominate or determine my political views on this issue, I do believe that tradition and my religious beliefs say that marriage is something sanctified between a man and a woman.”

One remembers that before its former patriarch almost destroyed his campaign for the nomination for President, Brother Obama attended Chicago’s Trinity United Church of Christ which refuses to follow the position of the denomination and support marriage equality and marry same gender couples. It’s okay to discriminate against gays but don’t fuck with his ambition.
One remembers that Brother Obama regularly campaigned with IL state senator and Rev. James Meeks, a rabid homophobe who voted against Illinois LGBT rights bill and considered running for governor on an antigay platform.
One remembers his using the equally rabidly antigay Rev. Donnie McClurkin, “the poster boy for the African-American ‘ex-gay’ industry,” to pimp antigay religio voters for him.
One remembers that Brother Obama was the only Dem candidate for President who went out of his way to defend his opposition to marriage equality in religious terms, famously declaring to Rev. Rick Gay = Pedophilia Warren, of Uganda kill gays bill fame, that he couldn’t support even civil marriage equality because “God is in the mix,” and that an audio tape of his saying that was used in millions of robocalls to pass Prop H8TE in CA.

And one remembers that he then elevated gay baiting Warren before the world to the veritable position of First Pastor at his inauguration while sidelining out gay Episcopal bishop Gene Robinson to the UNbroadcast invocation at his pre-inaugural Lincoln Memorial concert.
Then one remembers that after Brother Obama became President Obama he sat down with members of the press representing the homohating Catholic Church and told them:

As a Christian, I’m constantly wrestling with my faith and my solicitude and regard and concern for gays and lesbians.

AS IF it’s a priori truth that God and gays are enemies of each other. George Bush could not have said it any worse.
So, Alvin, forgive us if we find it hard to swallow the contradiction between your denunciation of the antigay religious and your transparent defense of their most powerful disciple with a pathetic grasping-at-straws attack on GetEqual.
Jesus wept.

“As far as you know.”It’s just as dangerous – more so, I would argue – to assume that someone is working hard for the movement as it is to assume they’re doing nothing for it.  In one case, they get less credit than they deserve; in the other, they get too much.
That’s why I have so much respect for the folks at GetEqual – they’re not just talking to themselves, they’re taking the fight to where it needs to be taken (which is the Obama administration, NOT the church).
I look forward to meeting the GetEqual team at the DADT protest at Lafayette Square on Sunday, May 2.

I agree thatObama needs to be confronted and needs to be made uncomfortable. Too many times in the campaign and during this Administration, he’s given aid and comfort to the homophobes…knowingly or unknowingly.

Of course, you wouldn’t have wanted ROSA to take that BUS SEAT either…Don't want to ruffle the feathers of power or THE MAN right? Forget it.Here is comment I have left… well everywhere I can today.

To all who do not want to support our GAGGED and MUZZELD servicepeople, and their loved ones and families… e.g. those servicepeople who are putting their lives on the line daily FOR YOU!
We say … forget that!
WE ARE HERE AND GETTING LOUDER, we straights and gays who appreciate all our servicepeople and veterans. They deserve better than to be fighting for a bunch like you…twoviraqc.
PS. There will be a big … hopefully very big demonstration in WASH DC on May 2, I hope you all rethink and are more supportive then.

#1 is the reason……and it’s called a self-indulgent abuse of privilege.
As for #2, nothing prevented him from expressing his opinion–LIKE EVERYONE ELSE–on the diary that actually reported on this event. You’re insinuation of censorship in #2 is as baseless as it is pathetic and diversionary.
Let’s have each and every barista fill the main page with individual diary entries that do nothing but offer glorified reader comments on every other substantive diary. Indeed, Lurleen, you could just post a whole new diary on the main page with your opinion reacting to my little comment here. I guess that would be fine as long as (1) your a barista and (2) you have an opinion.
The question remains, Lurleen, what in his diary entry was so newsworthy that it merited highlighting on the main page? Nevermind, I’ll answer the question based on your own retort: Nothing made his post newsworthy.

She should have picket at Klan headquartersand spent her time begging them to like African Americans, according to Alvin’s theory of activism.

To answer your questionsThere have been some who have not appreciated my sentiments and have asked what have I done other than blog. It is a fair question. Allow me to convey an answer.
For over five years, I have been a Board member of the SC Pride Movement. I helped to found Palmetto Umoja, the first South Carolina organization that dealt solely with the issue of lgbts of color. I also help to found SC Black Pride and have been an important facet in conducting our prides (we are in our fifth year – June 24-27 – everyone is invited!) In addition, last year, I was the first lgbt of color to address black gay issues in the State newspaper, South Carolina’s largest newspaper.
Lastly, I have been involved in countless lobbying efforts at the SC State House against anti-gay bills (I’ve written blog posts on these efforts), as well as on more than one occasion attended meetings with the SC Black Legislative Caucus.
I don’t say these things to brag. I am just answering the question. I do understand the anger posed at me but I think I pose very viable questions. We all want the same thing (fairness and equality) but we have different concepts as to achieve these things. I may not disagree with some other person’s concepts but I do respect them. All I ask is respect for mine.

Where I do agree with Alvinis the the ant-gay industry IS an industry and that they SHOULD be targeted with direct action protests. And we do need to do a much better job of responded to their bigoted posts.
The DA protests against them should serve to highlight their bigotry and not to change any hearts and minds within their organizations.

AmenHighlight their bigotry and put them on the defensive. Too many times, we have to justify our existence. I say make them justify their li9es.

HERE from GET EQUAL… you can support them or not by signing….http://tinyurl.com/y2h5hspe.g. a letter to the Whitehouse that you support repeal of DADT. 

No where else?You mean you don’t read the Huffington Post? (Sorry – had to take a fun dig there)

Don’t email! Send an actual paper letter!The White House gets something like 40 thousand emails a day. Do you think someone actually reads them? No, they’re all scanned by a bit of software that picks out keywords and tallies them up. Occasionally, an email might actually be read by a real person. Usually it’s an email threatening the life of the President or his family.
Papermail gets read. Everytime you hear of someone singled out by the President in a speech or like the young man who lost his mother and was invited to the health insurance reform signing ceremony, it was almost always a paper letter that got the attention.
The office of every Representative and Senator has a formula. Each paper letter represents the feelings and opinions of X number of constituents. And, depending on the state and Congresscritter/Senator, that one single paper letter can equal the feelings and opinions of tens of thousands of constituents/voters. The formula also ignores preprinted postcards from FotF, NRA, etc. Because there was no real effort involved by the sender. The same applies to email for the most part. Same thing with e-petitions. Sure, the numbers are tallied, but they get much less “weight”, as it were.
Faxes are good, as are phone calls and personal visits to local offices.
Remember! Don’t hit “SEND”! Hit “PRINT” Instead!

Don’t make assumptions, because you’re dead wrong.I’ve never begged, I’ve demanded, and I’ve threatened to withhold my donations unless they followed through on promises.
And when nothing happened, I wrote to the White House, the Senate and House Committee and my Senators, and made a personal visit to one of my Senators, declaring I would not give them a DIME until I saw action on the whole range of rights we deserve.  I’ve also told each and every Democratic party caller asking for money why I was withholding it.

I have mixed feelings.Skillfully applied, with an eye toward positive publicity for us, direct action could be very beneficial.
Just releasing steam will not necessarily produce anything beneficial.
Everyone who would be involved in direct action should see the movie, “The War Room” and then reverse engineer it for our cause.  (“Return of the War Room” is its sequel, also worth seeing.)
President Obama does need a reminder that “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”  and that the check he wrote us is not clearing the bank.
I’m not being flip when I say this.  We are not out of the woods in America by any means when it comes to inequality and inequity.  If he countenances anti gay feeling by not taking us seriously, he is risking enabling the same people to express their racist, xenophobic, and ultimately tyrannical behaviors more and more blatantly, then dangerously.
And I am sure he has noticed that they already are doing so.  Tyranny is a weed, which beginning in one garden, grows to take over all other gardens.  It cannot be contained to the LGBT movement, that is immoral.  It cannot be held at bay in the garden of religions, that is equally evil.   It must be pulled out of all plantings.
President Obama needs to be encouraged, with a show of our bravery, that he must be brave for us too.  It is the right thing to do.

And……if we have to sit at the heterosexist lunch counter to do it, then I will have the coffee and a danish, please.

Excellent point!!As if Christian faith stood in direct opposition to granting gay rights.
AND EVEN IF IT DID, FUCK IT!
He is a politician in a secular government, he is not a religious figure in a religious regime.
When will people get this and hold everyone to task for blurring these universes?
Sorry for shouting, but it infuriates me that politicians like Obama can make these arguments as if they are logical when they clearly are not.

Very well stated, thank you. n/t

I stand corrected.Obviously, there are many distinguished people who are published in HuffPo.  And there are also many — including the starlets, some clueless rich folk and other lesser lights — who are not.  They publish so much content, the number of contributors on that site has to be in the triple digits. But, yes, to be fair, I have seen your name here and there.

I enjoy your regular contributions here and your blog, Alvin, but I disagree on this issue.I think it’s a good idea to protest Barbara Boxer, who voted against equal rights for gay people, and the president who keeps promising to come through and then lets his Justice Department fight against our rights in court. It’s not a matter of being polite or being “fair.” Sure, on the fairness meter, Boxer and Obama are much closer to being our allies than the right-wing organizations. However, the right-wing organizations aren’t elected. They didn’t promise me that they would fight for my rights and then wimp out. Barbara Boxer absolutely wimped out, and Obama’s support so far has been all talk and no action except the bigoted Justice Department briefs against us.
Sometimes it takes being rude and making noise to make a change. We have to make it more painful for them to ignore us than to do the right thing.
I respect your point of view. In general I agree that being rude is counter-productive. In this case, I think it might have been helpful.

I wasn’t criticizing youI’m distinguishing between just continuing to lobby, as HRC wants, versus threatening to withhold money, withhold votes, and engaging in direct action. My ire was aimed at them, not you. Good for you!

I’m sick of writing letttersI lost count of how many I’ve written, and they come back with the boilerplate “I support equal rights.”  Maybe somebody reads them, but my guess i they just skim and tally Pro and Con and that’s it.

“I may not disagree with some other person’s concepts but I do respect them. All I ask is respect for mine.”To quote a certain self-described respectful man: “I’m not impressed.”
I agree we should all be free to respectfully disagree.  The words you chose for your diary entry are anything but respectful.  Pretending they are now won’t change that.
Thank you for all your work on behalf of the community.  You should be proud of your achievements and I’m sure you wouldn’t want anyone denigrating, insulting or belittling them.  We gain nothing by tearing down the people who are doing the work to make us equal.  

I’m with you.Heckling is for people who are unwilling to make a real sacrifice like Autumn and others did today.
We need to call the President’s attention to inequality wherever and whenever we can, but rudeness for the sake of emotional release is not in my experience a productive way to get people’s hearts and minds where you want them.
But what do I know? Maybe the thousands of trained students who started the sit-in movement were wrong to make the sacrifice of “politely begging for their rights”. Perhaps they would have been just as effective by screaming at Woolworth’s customers not to eat there.
My opinion, though, is that successful CRMs require the oppressed group to dramatize their oppression. Yelling at the President dramatized a lack of home training–is Joe WIlson (R-SC) really who we want to emulate?

IF YOU DO…YOU DIDN’T…

“… I think I pose very viable questions. … I may not [agree] with some other person’s concepts but I do respect them.”

Square that against:

“I question the credibility behind it. Oh sure, everyone is full of revolutionary fire and anger and those who were involved in the legendary stances of Act-Up and Queer Nation are channeling memories, but is this anger genuine and sustaining and will it bleed over to other fights regarding lgbt equality? … I see the sense in direct action tactics, unless those tactics are the ends [sic] and not a means to an end.”

The first answer is easy and your failure to know or remember it is inexcusable: GetEqual has not just demonstrated re DADT but members were arrested in offices of Nancy Pelosi demanding a vote on ENDA the same day Dan Choi & Jim Pietrangelo were arrested at the White House.
As for the efficacy of various possible actions, that’s a fair, neutral topic, which, BTW, I’ve had personally with Dan Choi as we’ve discussed options that the Movement has. [NB: I was not involved in any planning of last night's event nor, to any measurable degree, his and Jim's White House arrest...though I would have been proud to be.]
But I don’t give a flying fuck about your credentials or how much you’ve done [and one could objectively criticize the efficacy of each one of them], you crossed the line when you probed the motivations of those last night. Where do you get off questioning their integrity. Why would their anger not be “genuine”?
And, one has to ask, why you crossed that line.
And why you added:

“…where will this lead? …Ignorant rants calling Obama a homophobe by folks who let their vitriol take over their common sense?”

There’s the smoking gun that suggests your real motivation. You went from making it about different beliefs on protest tactics to making it about Obama the person, to your assumption of his integrity vs. your questioning of the integrity of those who criticized or would criticize him “the wrong way”…or at all as if we only have an either/or choice: either protest factions of the Antigay Industry or protest the President who promised mountains and has only delivered molehills.
And why would such people be “ignorant,” and, therefore, by implied assertion, you’re not about, again, not tactics but the man? What proof do you have that he’s not a homophobe? Fact: no more than anyone has submitted that he is.
Yet, consider that virtually all the other individuals and groups you would have us protest instead have, at one time or another, denied that they are bigots. Consider that Merriam-Webster includes in its definition of homophobe someone who discriminates against homosexuals.
The Family Research Council would deny us marriage equality and so would Barack Obama.
Which brings me to the second thing no self-respecting LGBT person who cares about their full equality should give a flying fuck about:
It doesn’t matter if he loves us or hates us. It wouldn’t matter if he was gay himself. It is what he does or doesn’t do to advance our equality or impede it.
And the preponderence of evidence, once one filters out all the meaningless smile fucking words, is that he has done more, both by action and inaction, to impede our equality than advance it.
I could catalog that evidence again, by timeline and quotation of all types of people from Movement pioneers to members of Congress to think tanks, in case you have been too distracted to notice previously or remember. But I think once again paraphrasing Shakespeare will serve to translate, both accurately and fairly, your motivation for spending so much time denouncing something you assert impressed you so little:
Not that you love LGBT rights less but that you love Obama more.

I don’t care about your pedigree or respecting your opinion because of itRespect is earned through sucess. What have you accomplished in terms of policy outcomes?

Agree.

If you are going to use that metric of “newsworthy”…A great many posts on the front page should be taken down.
Pam writes about pit bulls: newsworthy?
Autumn puts up an open thread: newsworthy?
Lurleen comments about local politics in Washington state: newsworthy?
You seem to forget that this is not your blogspace, and you are not the one who decides whether or not something merits inclusion on the front page. See, it is right there in the title: PAM’S House Blend. She, not you or I, decides who posts where; we are allowed to post at her sufferance, and her’s alone. I am not a barrista, but I dare say that your responses to this post are edging close to the limits of her patience.
Alvin wrote with thoughtfulness and eloquence. I disagree with his thesis, and that is fine: we can disagree without being disagreeable. I have never known PHB to be an echo chamber, and personally, I like to read views at odds with mine: it helps me to define my own beliefs and to sharpen my skills at debate. You might find it profitable to take a similar attitude.

i disagreeI don’t think I was rude. If someone claims to act for me I retain the right to question their methods

my point provenit is a genuine question directed at the entire community. Will the heckling lead to positive outcomes or bursts of immature lashing out like your dumb assumptions of what I value

correctionI only listed those things because I was accused of being a lazy blogger. I don’t need your respect any more than u need mine.

I agree. Alvin makes valuable contributions but on the question of giving Obama a pass on his bigotry Alvin is dead wrong. Obama doesn’t deserve getting the benefit of the doubt. He’s been in office too long and it’s clear that he’s our enemy.
Only the occasional turncoat Clintonista still gives Clinton a pass for DOMA and DADT. Only the occasional Log Cabin deserter gives Bush and Rove a pass for their campaign to use state DOMAs as a wedge issue. People are not noticeably soft on McCain, Pelosi, Palin and certainly not uncritical of Quislings like Barney Frank.
So why give Obama a pass?  
He won the election appealing to homohating christians.
Obama is in the process of betraying most of the promises he made to us and others.
He angered  trade unionists by busting the UAW.
GLBT folks and getting angrier as Obama gets worse and worse. In fact we need another massive anti-Obama rally like the March on Washington. Obama and the Democrats are in bed with theocrats.  
Environmentalists are pissed because his record is abysmal and just got worse. The US is the world’s chief consumer-polluter and he just authorized more offshore drilling.
Immigrant and imported workers held their own mass march of over 200,000 in DC on March 21, 2010 because of Obama’s racist and medically dangerous policy of denying health care to millions of hardworking, taxpaying imported an d immigrant workers.
Women are angry because Obama’s health care shame denies them the right to federal funding for abortions.
Health care advocates are disgusted that Obama is a total lap dog of the insurance industry, Big Pharma and HMOs.
The Obama Administration and his Democrat Congressional accomplices made draconian cuts in social services while giving trillions in bailouts to the obscenely greedy looter class who immediately used much of the money for ‘bonuses’.
The wars against Palestine and Pakistan and the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan continue without letup and causalities are mounting. His administration is overseeing then the death and maiming of new waves of GIs and civilians from Palestine to Pakistan.  
Racists and teabaggers are going to hate Obama for their own sick reasons. Frothing at the mouth, they’ll reserve their obscene, pathological anger for him and ignore others who commit the same crimes.
But the rest of us – unionists, the GLBT communities, antiwar groups, anti-racists, women, immigrant and imported workers, civil libertarians, environmentalists – are going to oppose him because he’s a Democrat, a lap dog of the rich, the man who sold out health care and etc.
 

On Alvin’s takeWell, I think Alvin is a pretty decent sort. And I can understand where a gay black man would desperately want to see something good in our first black president for gay people.
But, that said, minimizing others’ efforts to state publicly their concerns on DADT and the other issues w/ Obama when your only creds are a blog and the rather limp-wristed SC Pride movement (which was truly something to behold in Jim Blanton’s day, long before the dreaded Harriet Hancock worship center took over), well, gee, I’m not impressed either. Time was when Pride in SC could marshal thousands to the state house. Now maybe 120 people shuffle to a park to be bombarded by “rousing” speeches that are almost unintelligible thanks to the bad facilities, and then they can view the 97 booths selling cheap rainbow items and jewelry to help support ……. the pride movement!
Seems fairly masturbatory at best.

that was just plain wrongto make ugly racial assumptions about and then disrespect sc pride. disagree with me all you like but that comment was ignorant on both counts.

I have news for you: they don’t read letters, either.Letters addressed to the White House a routed to a warehouse in suburban Virginia, where a team of freelance writers punch out boilerplate responses on their computers. I know this for a fact; friends of mine have worked there.  A very small–microscopic–percentage of letters from the public really are forwarded to the WH, but not complaints or demands for action on touchy subjects.  The letters the WH actually sees are the ones they might be able to use for PR/spin, period.

again, this piece is not about ObamaIt is about what forms of action are productive or counterproductive and what will some forms of direct action will lead to.  

warning from the managementRacist broad-brushing will not be tolerated at the Blend.

It’d not an “either/or” situationI’m fascinated that, once again, so many choose to paint this as an either/or situation.  Either you protest Obama or you protest homobigots.  Why not do both?  I was a member of ACT-UP and Queer Nation.  I also supported the NGLTF and the HRC in their early days.  Most activists are capable of holding more than one thought at a time and seeing that attacking a problem from many angles makes much more sense than focusing all the energy on a single strategy.
And still the community splits between those who see polite, acceptable assimilationist strategies as the most beneficial, ignoring the very real progress brought about by radical action.  And the radical, non-comforming actors disdain the very real progress brought about by the long haul incrementalism of the assimilationists.
We are better together than apart and both strategies are necessary and useful in their own time and place.  
Obama appeared before a public crowd in order to ask for money to re-elect a sitting senator.  Is it beyond the pale for those in attendance to respond to his request with a challenge to produce a result in return for that support?  
And I have learned a great deal from my trans and feminist friends about people speaking from a privileged place and using the charge of “rudeness” and “incivility” to shut down a discussion that makes them uncomfortable.   I have had this tactic used against me and I admit to employing it myself.  The end result is that it produces fractions within that aid and abet those who oppose us from without the community.
I applaud GetEqual and I support all who work to achieve true equality by whatever means inspires them.  Vive la difference!

Thank you, thank you

I’ve been calling for protests and civil disobedience aimed at the Churchesfor two years now. They will stop opposing us when we make it too costly or inconvienient for them to continue.
It is their preaching that kills out brothers and sisters
It is their spoken and written hatred that laid Larry King in a premature grave.
HOLD THEM ACCOUNTABLE FOR EVERY DROP OF BLOOD THAT THEY DRAW FROM US!

You Believe Alcee Hastings?The claim of a Congressional gay rights warrior who tried to repeal ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t,’ only to be sidelined by a duplicate and suspect Obama administration looks good on paper, I have more than a little trouble believing anything Alcee Hastings says.
Eighteen years ago, Democratic Rep. John Conyers came to believe that Alcee Hastings — at the time a Federal judge in Florida, was guilty of impeachable offenses. Hastings stood accused of conspiring to take bribes, and, although it is little remembered today, Conyers served as the chairman of the House Judiciary subcommittee that investigated Hastings and unanimously recommended his Impeachment.
The House voted 413-to-3 to impeach Hastings.
If Hastings had just a modicum of character, just a bit more than a dribble, I might believe what he says as a member of the United States Congress.

Then just make your arguments without asking for respect based on status

Not putting his name on the article does not mean it isn’t about himThis is falling into Daily Kos level of analytical analysis. A protest that involves the president that you are critiquing is not about the president.  

you again miss the pointapparently you didn’t read my update. please do so now

obamabots, move over please.No group has ever won their civil rights to be equal by politely asking and being smacked down by the authority. Our community shouldn’t be silent or agreeing with abusers or obamabots who consider our needs – yes needs.. they are not wants… they are NECESSARY to being equal- to being shoved onto a back burner while Obama and stooge-like/avoidist lackees hardly do a thing. And yes, he’s hardly done anything.. doesn’t look like a full plate of stuff do to, or that we were rude for demanding that we have full equality as tax paying citizens.  

also, it takes more than one branch of the government to govern. Blindly stating that the president needs to force congress to do the work doesn’t do a thing. Maybe he should prove he’s for us by writing the damned bill himself, or at least having his staffers do it.

Whatever you think of him,Hastings really has been a staunch advocate for LGBT equality (unlike a certain president).  And he has no conceivable motive for lying about this.  The story was fairly widely reported at this time, including on Rachel Maddow’s show, on AmericaBlog and here on the Blend.  And every single outlet found his story credible.  What information do you have that he wasn’t telling the truth?
And even if you want to assume he was lying, that doesn’t really account for the numerous other allies in congress who have told us that Obama’s resisting repeal every way he can.  Or do you think Barney Frank and all the others are lying too?  You think SLDN, which monitors this issue more closely than any other organization in our community, has 100% incorrect analysis?  Do you think Obama’s spokesbots are just being, er, coy when they can’t explain exactly what he claims to be doing about repeal?  If he’s really doing something, why won’t they tell us what, and give us the timetable for repeal?
You may want to keep your faith in this lying, two-faced, double-dealing hypocrite.  Most of the rest of us have moved well beyond that.  It must be awfully convenient to be able to convince yourself that every single piece of information that conflicts with your naive trust in Obama must be a lie.  Hope it works out for you.

Polls show general public would accept repeal, Obama promised, so why not zap?We need visibility. Talk to your average vet, from WWII to now, and the most common comment is “If the guy can do his job well, and watches our collective backs, who cares?”. There’s a certain amount of pragmatism at the ground level in wartime – any soldier that helps you and your company to stay alive is a good soldier to have around.
I believe multiple types of political action are needed in any social movement.
To the average American, a desire to serve in the military, especially during war / police action time, is perceived as being patriotic and of good character. What better issue to tackle, now that recruiting goals and recruit quality are down? Youbetcha that Joe Middle-Class is happy to have someone else serve, rather than himself.  

Me, too (iow, what kevinchi said) …For example …
On the same day as DC Youth Pride, the BYU Management Society will be hosting a gala dinner, at which they’ll be thanking Orson Scott Card for his public service (i.e., his work on NOM’s board).
I’m sure they’ll have a grand ole time patting themselves on the back and there won’t be a single sign on display outside Arlington’s Crystal Gateway Marriott protesting the choice of OSC for this honor.
Just as there’s never been a single DA at NOM’s DC office.
In 140 characters or less:

Pres. of Nat’l Association of Broadcasters to present Distinguished Public Service Award to Orson Scott Card http://bit.ly/d4O2b5 #NAB #OSC

In slightly more than 140 characters:
The recipient:

Regardless of law, marriage has only one definition, and any government that attempts to change it is my mortal enemy. I will act to destroy that government and bring it down … Laws against homosexual behavior should remain on the books … to be used when necessary to send a clear message that those who flagrantly violate society’s regulation of sexual behavior cannot be permitted to remain as acceptable, equal citizens.

NAB President (and Chairman of the BYUMS Advisory Board):

“We are proud to be honoring Orson Scott Card during this year’s Gala Dinner,” said Sen. Gordon Smith … “His words and his example have reached millions of people, and his spirit of mentorship and service have much to offer our community.”

Blech.  But here’s the double blech:  Not a single person in the DC area has the time to show up and ask this crew to justify their choice of Orson Scott Card.

Eloquent as always, Lev He is the Constitutional Head of State of a Secular Republic whose Constiution makes no mention of a deity.
And given the diversity of views amongst sects of Christianity, just which one’s beliefs does the President plan to impose upon the nation?
Certinly not those sects who believe to this day that black people are stained by Cain’s sin and carry his mark.
But the ones who believe that gays are not equal? That seems to be fine with him.

Forex TradingI think they are over reacting on this matter . I assume that it is serious matter but people does not know much about it .so my suggestion in that fist go accumulate information than they can ask questions .
http://www.articlesbase.com/fi…

Got itThanks.

By these standardsthis blog shouldn’t even exist. After all, what does it do but give people a chance to vent?
The short bios of the people involved in this protest make this glorified whining look even more puerile that it originally did. Too bad there are so many people out there willing to devour their own but that’s an unpleasant reality of human nature.
Call unimpressed by this one.  

Can’t disagree with any of thisbut be sure it would result in blog posts, here and elsewhere, taking the activists to task for…. what?  They’d think of something.
The myth that if you just keeping your head down, playing nice and keepin’ on hopin’ will change things dies hard. And apparently challenging it ruffles more than a few stray hairs.

explanationWell, I’ll disregard the “disrespect SC PRIDE.” Sorry, but I don’t owe any organization my respect unless it has earned it, and only I can decide that. No one gets to decide for me. That is the sort of attitude that seems prevalent though.
I also don’t understand the “broad-brushing” comment, but I’m more than willing to be educated. There’s not much point in “warning” someone or “correcting” him or her if you won’t make your point clearly and lucidly. I have many black friends and ex’s, etc., and believe me, many of them would love to have seen a lot better things from Obama than what we have. I didn’t say ALL of them. Is it wrong to entertain the idea that a black gay man might have had hopes and aspirations for what might change when a left-leaning (or so we thought) black man was elected?
But if there is something here that has given offense to Pam, I would welcome an explanation. You can’t expect people to learn from their mistakes or their consciousness to be raised (and that phrase ought to give you a clue I ain’t young, lol) simply by making a rather short statement like above. Of course, if all you are after is “correcting” people, that’s another matter. It is your blog, after all, not mine.