February 29, 2008

Face It, Queers: Obama’s Just Not That Into You

Click to enlarge

Lifted from Taylor Marsh — who asks:

What Will Gay and Lesbians Get for Their Obama Cash?

Taylor pulled it from SusanUnPC’s entry at No Quarter:

“As God Is My Witness”: Obama Snubs Newsom, Gays

Read them. And weep.

It’s not too late, gay Texans and Ohioan. You can turn the tide against this two-faced panderer who will gladly “reach out” for your money and votes — but won’t stand up for your rights.

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Meanwhile, Back in RealityLand, Bill Maxwell Slaps Obamamaniacs Upside the Head With the Iron-Hard Truth Stick

Don’t like it? Complain to the author, not me.

The Haloed One

. . .

There are those who suggest, only half-jokingly, that Obamamania has become something of a cult. Of course it is a cult, manifesting what writer James Wolcott refers to as “salvational fervor” and “pure euphoria.” Listen to what the Anointed One said in South Carolina at one of his rallies, which he alludes to as tent revivals: “At some point in the evening, a light is going to shine down and you will have an epiphany and you’ll say, ‘I have to vote for Barack!’ ” Something insidious is happening beneath this rapture. Because of the halo effect, too many people are afraid to sincerely criticize Obama for fear of being attacked and otherwise humiliated.

Many white Democrats who do not support Obama are keeping their heads down and their mouths shut. They do not want to be denounced as racists for preferring Hillary Rodham Clinton for reasons that have nothing to do with race.

. . .

Predictably, the people most negatively affected by Obamamania are blacks who have resisted the new, emerging black monolith by supporting Clinton. These poor souls are being excoriated by other blacks and sometimes labeled as self-loathing Uncle Toms.

. . .

Now the tables have turned. Obama is on top, with the overwhelming majority of blacks zealously supporting him. That support is the new litmus test for being “authentically” black.

One young man, clad in hip-hop duds, offered this insight to a black magazine: “Backing or not backing Barack shows how developed your racial consciousness is. You ain’t black if you don’t support Barack.” During the 1960s, blacks used the expression “blacker than thou” to refer to the chosen few who set the standard for blackness. Those who did not measure up were dissed for not thinking “black enough.” The other expression during the 1960s was “black three-hundred-and-sixty degrees,” meaning you were profoundly black in a psychological sense.

. . .

During a recent interview with National Public Radio’s Melissa Block, Missouri Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, said he and some other members are being pressured and threatened by their constituents to vote for Obama. He said that Georgia Rep. John Lewis, an early Clinton supporter who has worked tirelessly for black causes since assuming office in 1987, had become the victim of “robo-calls” and that some of the callers said “very, very derogatory things about him.”

. . .

Here is why I said Obama’s halo will tarnish if the Illinois senator is elected president: It will give him an indefinite honeymoon. We will be reluctant to challenge him, fearing that the albatross of racism and its attendant pathology, the blame and counterblame and old hatreds, will come crashing down on us.

I fear we are about to elect an untouchable president, just as George W. Bush was until his incompetence and mendacity snatched us back into reality.

And yet those of us who refuse to drink the Kool-Aid have been hammered mercilessly by Obama supporters who tell us “Obama transcends race,” while simultaneously telling us we are racists for refusing to fall in line no matter how much we disagree with Obama’s positions, and telling us “It’s time to elect America’s first black president,” and telling us “You can’t understand any of this unless you’re black.”

You can’t have it all three ways, Obama supporters.

Not if you want to retain any shred of credibility whatsoever.

Now go read the entire piece.

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February 28, 2008

McCain Gets Into Bed with the Religious Right

From People for The American Way (PFAW):

WASHINGTON, DC - February 28 - This week McCain campaigned with Rod Parsley, founder and president of “The Center for Moral Clarity” and leader of the right-wing “Patriot Pastors” (a church based campaign that was infamous for referring to political opponents as “secular jihadists,” the “forces of darkness,” and the “hordes of hell.”)

Just yesterday, he accepted the support of John Hagee, founder of “Christians United For Israel” and a vocal supporter of preemptive, religious war with Iran.

Rod Parsley, whom McCain has called a “spiritual guide” has in the past:

• called hate crimes legislation a “deceptive ploy of [the] liberal, homosexual agenda.”

• advocated criminal prosecution of adulterers.

• compared Planned Parenthood to the Nazis.

• declared “I came to incite a riot! Man your battle stations! Ready your weapons! Lock and load!” at a “War on Christians” conference.

• urged voters to “let the Reformation begin! Shout it like you’re going to carry the blood-stained banner of the cross of Christ the length and breadth of the Buckeye State!” at a political rally.

Not one to make a right-wing supporter feel left out, McCain said, “I am very proud to have Pastor John Hagee’s support.” Hagee has:

• predicted God will allow terrorists to strike the United States if the government is insufficiently supportive of Israel.

• preached that US invasion of Iran is foretold in the book of Esther.

• claimed that George Washington designed the Great Seal of the United States to include a hidden menorah in the eagle’s tail feathers.

• accused the Catholic of joining with Hitler in “a conspiracy to exterminate the Jews.”

• argued that “Hurricane Katrina was, in fact, the judgment of God against the city of New Orleans.”

“For a man the media loves to call a maverick, McCain sure spends a lot of time holding hands with the Religious Right,” said People For the American Way Political Director Mary Jean Collins. “McCain’s embracing Parsley and Hagee is a sign that either he’s changed his mind about what constitutes an ‘agent of intolerance‘ or he’s decided that a little extremism in pursuit of power is no vice.”

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Barack Obama Finally Remembers to Pander to “Teh Gays”

This is the ad Barack Obama is running in LGBT publications in Ohio and Texas, beginning Friday, February 29:

“While we have come a long way since the STONEWALL RIOTS in 1969, we still have a lot of work to do. Too often, the issue of LGBT rights is exploited by those seeking to divide us. But at its core, this issue is about who we are as Americans, it’s about whether this nation is going to live up to its founding promise of equality by treating all its citizens with DIGNITY AND RESPECT.”

I have so much to say about this — so very, very much — and none of it good.

I’m just too angry right now to write.

Right now, I just want you to see this hollow, meaningless, pandering piece of B.S. Obama is running in gay publications, starting Friday, February 29th, as an eleventh-hour bid to win over gay and lesbian voters in Ohio and Texas presumably too freaking stupid to see right through this gossamer-thin stagecraft.

Look at it. Look at the “tear” running down Obama’s cheek.

Boo-freaking-hoo!

Read the words. Resist the urge to hurl, if you can.

This is the biggest pile of steaming garbage from the Obama camp yet.

When my blood pressure goes down, I’ll tell you what I really think.

Stay tuned.

P.S. Stampp Corbin, you stay tuned as well; I’ve got plenty to say to you, too.

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Palm Beach County School District Expands Domestic Partner Benefits

From the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council:

Palm Beach County School District Expands Domestic Partner Benefits

Palm Beach County School District Recognizes Domestic Partners and Their Children as Family Members

West Palm Beach, Florida — The Palm Beach County School Board unanimously adopted a policy this afternoon redefining “family” to include employees’ domestic partners and their children.

“This pro-family policy recognizing employees’ domestic partners and their children is a significant step forward,” said Rand Hoch, President of the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council.

The Council has been the leading advocate for domestic partner benefits in Palm Beach County for almost twenty years.

While the School District of Palm Beach County has recognized domestic partners as family members for several years, today’s vote marks the first time the School Board has included the children of employees’ domestic partners.

In 2005, the school district first offered employees the option of purchasing health insurance for their domestic partners. Currently, 46 employees purchase domestic partner health insurance from the school district.

However, unlike all other public employers in Florida offering domestic partner insurance, the School District of Palm Beach County does not allow its employees to purchase health insurance for domestic partners’ children.

“The School Board’s newly expanded definition of families gives us hope that the school district will soon allow employees to purchase insurance for the children being raised in their homes,” said Hoch.

Public employers in Palm Beach County which allow employees to insure domestic partners and domestic partners’ children include Palm Beach County, the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, the Office of the Clerk and Comptroller, the Office of the Tax Collector, the Office of the Property Appraiser, the Office of the Supervisor of Elections, the Office of the Public Defender, the Port of Palm Beach, the Palm Beach County School District, the Solid Waste Authority, Palm Tran, as well as the cities of Delray Beach, Lake Worth, and West Palm Beach, and the Town of Jupiter.

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February 26, 2008

Ft. Lauderdale Cops Hesitate to Call Blatant Gay-Bash A Hate Crime

Per the Miami Herald:

The incident occurred Sunday morning outside The Floridian at 1410 E. Las Olas Blvd.

The couple and a friend sat down to breakfast about 3 a.m. at an outdoor table. They ordered sandwiches, tea and juices.

A man got out of his pickup truck, walked by them and promptly began yelling slurs at the trio — Melbourne Brunner, his partner Mitchell Mart and a friend visiting from out of town.

“He was yelling, ‘Faggot, were you looking at me, if you were, I’m going to come back there and break your neck. That’s what I do to faggots’ and then he twisted his hands together,” Mart recalled.

. . .

The men started to get into their car, which was parked two feet from the table, when the pickup driver said, “‘That’s what faggots do, they run,’” Mart said.

As Brunner tried to climb into the passenger seat, the man punched him several times, pushing the car door on him. Brunner fell to the ground, striking his head.

. . .

The man ripped off his shirt and threw it over [his license plate] as he yelled, “I’ll kill you before you get my tag number!”

. . .

Brunner suffered severe bruising, which has spread, Mart said Tuesday afternoon as they prepared for another doctor visit. Brunner did not suffer any broken bones. “His jaw is out of wack,” said Mart, a retired dentist.

“Everyone was just sort of in shock. We were traumatized,” he said.

. . .

Police are treating the incident as a battery and looking into the possibility that it may have been a hate crime.

. . .

Fort Lauderdale, known for being one of the most gay-friendly communities in the country, has had an increasing number of violent acts committed against members of the gay community in the last year.

That coupled with controversial comments from long-time Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jim Naugle. …

. . .

…[L]ately there have been the violent overshadows: just last week, Simmie Williams, a 17-year-old boy, was murdered at the corner of Sistrunk Boulevard and 10th Avenue. He was wearing women’s clothes. …

“Police are treating the incident as a battery and looking into the possibility that it may have been a hate crime”?!

Just how many times does the perp have to use the word “faggot” in the same breath as a direct threat before it’s officially a hate crime?

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Queers, Vampires, Desecrate Hallowed Halls of Nigerian National Assembly

Or: Yet Another Reason We Wish Nigeria Would Disappear Into A Gigantic Sinkhole

From the traditionally gay-baiting-and-hating Nigeria, in the gay-baiting-and-hating Daily Sun, a gay-baiter-and-hater called Leo Nwokoji equates gay and lesbian Nigerians — and “people of questionable marital paternal or maternal footing” — with vampires:

National Assembly and morality question

Senator Nuhu Aliyu had no qualms, made no mistakes, spared no one when he declared that fraudsters had infested the National Assembly. But for the intervention of the Senate President, he probably would have entertained the nation with a roll-call of who is who and infact who tops the chart among these desecrators of our hallowed chambers.

Contributing to the debate on a motion tagged Direction and Tempo of the War on Corruption, sponsored by Senator Sola Akinyede, Senator Nuhu Aliyu, after identifying with the content and spirit of the motion, declared that Ribadu made a world of difference in the fight. He proceeded by recapping the world preception of Nigeria as a nation of 419ers and added that they even abound in the the Senate.

. . .

Among the issues begging for attention is the propriety of tolerating every shade of moral leaning in the National Assembly. The lesbians, perjurers, fraudsters, gay, cultists and vampires, street fighters and people of questionable marital paternal or maternal footing.

Isn’t it about time we started aiming at a more decent legislature, in both ethical and moral sense? For instance, should we allow an avowed sexual pervert, a notorious 419er, a serial rapist, and blood drinking cultists to rub shoulders with saner, more decent senior citizens in the hallowed chambers of our legislature when their likes are languishing in Kirikiri and Gashua prisons? Should such base characters be allowed to enact laws that will drive national issues? Will this caliber of people not legislate us into crisis?

. . .

Heaven is revealed to us in the Bible as a stainless city of righteousness, implying that sin cannot enter there. If God almighty, whose name is holy, decides in his magnanimity as the sovereign one, to admit into heaven everyone who obeys him in all points except one, say lying, cheating, anger, adultery or fornication, pilfering or outright robbery etc., at the end of such exercise, wouldn’t the heaven, the avowed kingdom of righteousness and hollowed abode of the mighty God, become a mere replica of sinful, depraved, earthly kingdom? Wouldn’t even the integrity of the holy one be called to question? Now, let’s come back to the terrestrial arena in context. …

Nwokoji goes on like this for a few more paragraphs (using the word “hallowed” at least twice more — doesn’t this guy own a thesaurus?); hit the link if you want to get the full effect of the nutso-wackiness within.

By the way, The Sun crows about itself like so:

Our name says it all: THE SUN – Nigeria’s King of the Tabloids. The sun is a king of the cosmic world. That is why we call ourselves “Nigeria’s King of the Tabloids.” The essence and spirit of a tabloid newspaper go beyond the elementary distinction in size. Beyond that, a tabloid is a special newspaper that looks at news – whatever the subject of the news – largely from the human angle.

THE SUN therefore is a paper of human voices, capturing the unpredictable and unexpected rhythms of life and existence, the daily heartbeat of humanity in lucid and crisp prose. THE SUN is a mirror that reflects reality with fresh, bloodied brazenness. …

“Bloodied brazenness”? Definitely.

“Lucid and crisp prose”? About as “lucid and crisp” as the latest missive from any of Nigeria’s 419 scammers.

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Obamaniac Chokes Hillaryite, Hillaryite Stabs Back

Family Political Debate Turns Violent

COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. (CBS 3) — The Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office is investigating a politically motivated stabbing that left one in-law hospitalized and another in prison.

Authorities said brother-in-laws Jose Ortiz and Sean Shurelds were involved in a verbal altercation over Democratic presidential hopefuls Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton when the argument escalated into a stabbing inside their family home on Honeylocust Court in Collegeville.

Authorities said Ortiz, a registered Republican and Clinton supporter, allegedly stabbed Shurelds, an Obama supporter, in the stomach. Ortiz told police Shurelds began to choke him, so he grabbed a knife and stabbed him. …

And people wonder why I get hate mail and veiled death threats over this.

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February 25, 2008

Candlelight Vigil to be Held in Memory of Lawrence King

California teen fatally shotover sexual orientation and gender expression

WASHINGTON–A coalition of GLBT organizations led by GLSEN, including the Human Rights Campaign, will host a candlelight vigil on Monday, February 25th in memory of Lawrence King, the California teenager who was fatally shot February 12th by a classmate. The vigil’s purpose is to call for an end to violence and harassment directed at gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people in schools. Attendees are asked to gather at 6:00 p.m. in Dupont Circle in Washington, D.C. The program will begin promptly at 6:30 p.m.

For more information on this and other candlelight vigils across the country, go to http://www.rememberinglawrence.org.

WHAT: Candlelight vigil in memory of Lawrence King

WHO: Cosponsored by: GLSEN, Human Rights Campaign, SMYAL, Allied in Pride at George Washington University, GLSEN Northern Virginia, DC Trans Coalition, Alliance for Justice, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, Mayor’s Office of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Affairs, Gender PAC, GLSEN Baltimore, American University Queers And Allies, Advocates For Youth, DC’s Youth Pride Alliance, ACLU, ACLU-National Capitol Area, National Center for Transgender Equality, Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance, DC Coalition of Black Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Men and Women.

WHEN: Gather at 6:00 p.m. on Monday, February 25.

Program will begin promptly at 6:30 p.m.

WHERE: Dupont Circle, Washington, D.C.

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The Human Rights Campaign is America’s largest civil rights organization working to achieve gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender equality. By inspiring and engaging all Americans, HRC strives to end discrimination against GLBT citizens and realize a nation that achieves fundamental fairness and equality for all.

GLSEN, the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, is the leading national education organization focused on ensuring safe schools for ALL students. Established nationally in 1995, GLSEN envisions a world in which every child learns to respect and accept all people, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity/expression. For more information on GLSEN’s educational resources, public policy and public education work, student organizing programs, research or development initiatives, visit www.glsen.org.

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Philadelphia Region Hosts a Stampede of Gay-Friendly Events, May-July 2008

LGBT Sports, Theater, Film And Pride Events Planned For Gay And Lesbian Tourists

PHILADELPHIA, February 25, 2008 — Visitors from the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community are in for a treat this spring and summer as Philadelphia makes way for a series of new and annual LGBT events. In May, the city hosts two major sporting events — the Liberty Stampede Rodeo and the Liberty Bell Classic — for the first time. And throughout the spring and summer, annual favorites such as Equality Forum and the Philadelphia International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival give visitors plenty of reasons to visit. Making it a night or a weekend is easy with the Philadelphia Freedom Hotel Package at a gay-friendly hotel or one of the many other overnight offers available at gophila.com.

An incredible seven weeks are planned in gay-friendly Philly this spring and summer:

Two Sporting Events, May:

• More than 100 of the top cowboys and cowgirls from North America ride into the city for the Liberty Stampede Rodeo this spring. Making its first Philadelphia region appearance, the rodeo features classic events such as bull riding, steer racing and barrel racing. The Loews Philadelphia Hotel and surrounding “Gayborhood” bars and restaurants will host a series of nightly events, including dances in the Loews ballroom. The rodeo itself will take place at the famous Devon Horse Show Fairgrounds, just a short drive outside of Center City. May 9-11, 2008. www.libertygra.org

• The Liberty Bell Classic is the largest LGBT sporting event in Philadelphia this year, and competing are two of the area’s most popular gay and lesbian sports teams: the Philadelphia Falcons Soccer Team and the City of Brotherly Love Softball Team. Games and matches take place at various venues throughout Fairmount Park and in nearby West Deptford, New Jersey. Nighttime activities in the “Gayborhood” include a Saturday evening block party on Camac Street and closing parties at Sisters and Tavern on Camac. May 24-25, 2008. www.libertybellclassic.org

Five Pride Celebrations, April-June:

• Philadelphia Black Gay Pride features four days of educational panels, networking events and parties for men and women that promote unity among gay and lesbian African-Americans. Kicking off the long weekend of festivities is a retro-themed reception at the Crowne Plaza Hotel. April 24-27, 2008. www.phillyblackpride.org

Spring in Gay-friendly Philly

• The week-long Equality Forum celebrates international gay culture and politics with parties and educational events made possible by more than 75 regional, national and international organizations. Each year, the event profiles a different country and their struggles and triumphs with LGBT equal rights. This year’s international profile focuses on the Muslim world and includes special guests from the literary and film industries. Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico will also be honored. The festivities culminate with a street fair and live concert in Old City. April 28-May 4, 2008. www.equalityforum.com

• Blue Ball, Philadelphia’s international circuit party, now takes place during Equality Forum, and includes three nights of parties for men and women. Presented by the local non-profit Sapphire Fund, Blue Ball’s proceeds benefit local non-profit organizations within the LGBT community. Themed “Illuminate” for 2008, this year’s events showcase internationally famed DJs Manny Lehman, Billy Carroll, Kimberly S. and Joe Gauthreaux. May 2-4, 2008. www.blueballphilly.com

• New Hope, Pennsylvania, an artistic mecca in nearby Bucks County, celebrates gay pride with NHC Pride Weekend, a pride event that includes a softball tournament, parade, dances, tours and various family-friendly activities. May 16-18, 2008. www.newhopecelebrates.com

• An annual favorite, Philly Pride celebrates its 19th anniversary with Pride Day, a festival in Philadelphia’s “Gayborhood” that migrates down to Penn’s Landing along the Delaware River waterfront for a day filled with live music, DJs, food, drinks and more. June 8, 2008. (215) 875-9288, www.phillypride.org

Two Film and Theater Festivals, June-July:

• For the sixth year, the Philadelphia Gay and Lesbian Theatre Festival will showcase gay- and lesbian-themed performances in several of Philadelphia’s most cherished theaters, including the Arden Theatre, the Walnut Street Theatre and The Mum Puppettheatre. June 12-28, 2008. (215) 627-6483, www.philagaylesbiantheatrefest.org

• The Philadelphia Film Society is gearing up for the 14th annual Philadelphia International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival, the largest gay and lesbian film festival on the East Coast. Approximately 200 films range from award-winning documentaries, international features, slapstick comedy and horror. The festival also boasts some of the summer’s hottest parties, including opening and closing celebrations, award ceremonies and private VIP events. July 10-21, 2008. (267) 765-9700, www.phillyfests.com

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The Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation (GPTMC) makes Philadelphia and The Countryside® a premier destination through marketing and image building that increases business and promotes the region’s vitality. For more information about travel to Philadelphia, visit www.gophila.com or call the Independence Visitor Center, located in Independence National Historical Park, at (800) 537-7676.

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February 24, 2008

If You’re An Obama Supporter… / If You’re A Clinton Supporter… Part 2

See Part 1 here

If you’re a Clinton supporter, you look at Obama and see no “there” there.

If you’re an Obama supporter, nothing gets your goat like a Clinton supporter saying Obama is all style and no substance.

If you’re a Clinton supporter, you ask Obama supporters to show you Obama’s substance.

If you’re an Obama supporter, you tell Clinton supporters that Obama is a “blank screen” onto which you’re supposed to project all your own hopes and dreams.

If you’re a Clinton supporter, the “blank screen” line just means there’s no “there” there.

If you’re an Obama supporter, you get angry when the Clinton supporters dismiss the “blank screen” concept.

If you’re a Clinton supporter, you ask the Obama supporters to explain, in their own words, what Obama intends to actually do.

If you’re an Obama supporter, you direct all Clinton supporters to Obama’s Web site, to read somebody else’s words — and then complain that nobody reads Obama’s Web site.

If you’re a Clinton supporter, you’ve combed through Obama’s Web site, repeatedly, and find no “there” there.

If you’re a Clinton supporter, Obama’s entire campaign smacks of a preachy, religious tent revival.

If you’re an Obama supporter, you rail against religious or “cult” comparisons — while you refuse to discuss issues and policies, instead following your “Camp Obama” leader’s directive to share only “personal conversion stories.”

If you’re a Clinton supporter, you hate using such a heavily-loaded word as “cult,” but you’re extremely uneasy about the many ways in which the Obama supporters resemble the followers of… well… sorry to say it, but… yes… Jim Jones.

If you’re an Obama supporter, you take extreme umbrage at being branded “cult-like” — but you have to consult Wikipedia to find out who Jim Jones was.

If you’re an Obama supporter, once you find out who Jim Jones was, you suddenly understand what “drinking the Kool-Aid” means, and you’re positively aghast anyone would aim that Jonestown allusion at you.

If you’re a Clinton supporter, you want to scream at the Obama supporters: “What do you think everybody meant about ‘drinking the Kool-Aid’ in reference to the Bush administration all these years?!” And then you go bang your head against the nearest doorjamb until the pain stops.

If you’re an Obama supporter, you revile Bill Clinton — and by extension, Hillary — for signing NAFTA.

If you’re a Clinton supporter, you think signing NAFTA was one of Bill’s worst mistakes — but you remember that 1) Obama was for NAFTA before he was against it, and 2) Obama actually wants to expand NAFTA.

If you’re a Clinton supporter, you’re still stunned that Bill Clinton was impeached over lying about a lousy blow job, yet all attempts to impeach George W. Bush, a bona fide war criminal, have failed.

If you’re an Obama supporter, Bill Clinton deserved to be impeached for lying about a lousy blow job, but you don’t support impeaching Bush or even Cheney, because Obama told you that he doesn’t support it, explaining that “you reserve impeachment for grave, grave breeches, and intentional breeches of the president’s authority” — which means that Bill’s lousy blow job is a far more “grave, grave breech” than anything Bush or Cheney has ever done.

If you’re a Clinton supporter, you remember when former U.S. ambassador Joe Wilson risked everything to blow the lid off BushCo’s “yellowcake” lie and expose the treasonous, criminal betrayal of his wife, CIA operative Valerie Plame — which not only endangered her life, but endangered national security.

If you’re an Obama supporter, Joe Wilson is a paid Hillary operative, and Valerie Plame is a ditzy blonde who needed her husband to bail her out of an embarrassing situation.

If you’re a Clinton supporter, you think Paul Krugman is a brilliant economist and fine political commentator, whose progressive perspective has remained consistent since the early 1990s.

If you’re an Obama supporter, you think Paul Krugman is an inbred knuckledragger too stupid to balance his own checkbook.

If you’re a Clinton supporter, you’ve always thought Peggy Noonan was a bitter, nasty, right-wing hack, and your opinion has never changed.

If you’re an Obama supporter, you never realized how wise and erudite Peggy Noonan really was, until late January of 2008, when she ripped both Clintons up one side and down the other.

If you’re an Obama supporter, your newfound admiration of Peggy Noonan ended less than a month after it began, when Noonan published an op/ed critical of Barack and Michelle Obama.

If you’re a Clinton supporter, nothing Peggy Noonan writes surprises you, since Noonan was a speechwriter for Ronald Reagan, after all, and— by the way, speaking of Ronald Reagan…

If you’re an Obama supporter, you agree with Obama’s praise of “that sense of dynamism and entrepreneurship” Ronald Reagan employed in curbing “all the excesses of the 1960s and 1970s.”

If you’re a Clinton supporter, you know that the “excesses of the 1960s and 1970s” Reagan’s right-wing backlash was targeting included the civil rights movement, the anti-Vietnam war movement, the women’s liberation movement, the gay liberation movement, the consumer-protection movement, and the environmental movement. For starters.

If you’re an Obama supporter, you cry, “That’s not what he meant by ‘excesses of the 1960s and 1970s’!” but when pressed to explain what he did mean by “excesses of the 1960s and 1970s,” you start to mumble something about “fiscal excesses,” but stop mid-sentence when you realize that Reagan was a union-busting tax cutter who gutted the middle class and racked up the largest federal deficit in U.S. history.

If you’re an Obama supporter, you can’t comprehend how Michelle Obama’s remark, “For the first time in my adult life, I am proud of my country because it feels like hope is finally making a comeback,” could possibly be perceived as a dismissal of every American achievement of the past 25 years.

If you’re a Clinton supporter, you wonder, as Sasha Issenberg put it, “So what did Michelle Obama think of the United States before her husband decided he wanted to run the place?”

If you’re an Obama supporter, you’re quick to correct the quote; what she really said was “For the first time in my adult lifetime, I’m really proud of my country, not just because Barack has done well, but because I think people are hungry for change.”

If you’re a Clinton supporter, you don’t see how the addition of the word “really” changes the meaning — especially since both quotes are correct, as she made them in two different speeches on the same day.

If you’re an Obama supporter, you respond that no one can possibly understand what Michelle Obama really meant unless you’re black, because America has yet to earn the pride of a minority that has been oppressed, demonized, and dehumanized throughout the entirety of America’s 232-year history.

If you’re a Clinton supporter, and you’re gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender, you wonder how you manage to find plenty of things to make you proud of America while remaining oppressed, demonized, and dehumanized throughout the entirety of America’s 232-year history.

If you’re a Clinton supporter, you also wonder how Obama supporters can keep claiming that Barack Obama “transcends race,” when they keep using lines like “You can’t understand what Michelle Obama really meant unless you’re black.”

If you’re an Obama supporter, you’ve been demanding Clinton release her tax returns, right damn now!

If you’re a Clinton supporter, you’re not allowed to wonder why public access to Michelle Obama’s 1985 sociology thesis has been “Restricted until November 5, 2008.”

If you’re an Obama supporter, you’re quick to point out that Hillary Clinton’s 1969 thesis was sealed in the early days of Bill Clinton’s presidency, in 1993.

If you’re a Clinton supporter, you remember that too — and you also remember the way the Clintons were raked over the coals for it.

If you’re an Obama supporter, you remind the Clinton supporters that Michelle Obama’s thesis is irrelevant — Michelle isn’t running for president.

If you’re a Clinton supporter, you remind the Obama supporters that Hillary Clinton wasn’t running for president in 1993, either.

If you’re an Obama supporter, you know Obama is going to take the general election in a landslide — just look at how he’s knocked Hillary flat on her butt in 24 state primary races already!

If you’re a Clinton supporter, you know that Obama wins caucuses and open primaries (in which registered Republicans and in some cases even unregistered voters) can vote for whoever they want, while Clinton wins closed primaries. (Obama has won eleven caucuses, five open primaries, and eight closed primaries — while Clinton has won nine closed primaries, three open primaries, and one caucus.)

If you’re an Obama supporter, you snark at Clinton supporters because they’re essentially saying: “Some states don’t count.”

If you’re a Clinton supporter, you know that Republicans who “cross over” to vote for the weaker Democrat in open Democratic primaries — like the Heritage Foundation’s Robert Bluey — are not an anomaly.

If you’re an Obama supporter, you scoff at Clinton supporters who just can’t believe that Obama is accomplishing exactly what he said he was going to do: convert Republicans and Independents to the Democratic Party.

If you’re a Clinton supporter, you’re stunned by how deeply in denial the Obama supporters are about the Republicans’ long tradition of gaming the system.

If you’re an Obama supporter, you just don’t believe the Republicans are that smart, or that organized.

If you’re a Clinton supporter, you wonder if the Obama supporters have even the first clue about the real meaning of “Rovian tactics.”

If you’re an Obama supporter, you’re convinced that Obama’s healthcare plan will give every American the same health-insurance coverage Obama himself enjoys.

If you’re a Clinton supporter, you know Obama’s plan is a mandate for 15 million uninsured American children — and nobody else.

If you’re an Obama supporter, you rail against Clinton’s healthcare plan because you think it involves “wage garnishment.”

If you’re a Clinton supporter, you ask Obama supporters if they think Social Security (a.k.a. FICA) deductions are a form of “wage garnishment,” too.

If you’re an Obama supporter, you point out the vast unfairness of Clinton’s healthcare plan, as it will “penalize” childless Americans who have to pay for the coverage of somebody else’s kids.

If you’re a Clinton supporter, you point out — again — that Obama’s plan is a mandate for 15 million uninsured American children, and nobody else — which means childless people will be paying for the coverage of somebody else’s kids.

If you’re an Obama supporter, you’re stuck for an answer to this one, especially as the Clinton supporters turn to the next logical question: “Do Obama supporters complain just as loudly about their taxes paying for ’somebody else’s kids’ to attend public school, too — or would they prefer school vouchers?”

If you’re a Clinton supporter, you’d never in a million years dream of attributing any of Obama’s negative campaign tactics or unlikeable personal characteristics to the fact that he’s black — that would be a truly despicable, racist thing to do.

If you’re an Obama supporter, there’s a strong chance you attribute everything you hate about Hillary Clinton to the idea that she’s having her period, or she’s not having her period, or she’s past having her period — all of which makes her “unhinged,” “hysterical,” “shrill,” “screeching,” a “harpy,” a “shrew,” a “bitch,” a “nag,” a “virago,” “weepy,” “emotionally unbalanced,” “losing it,” “cracking up,” “like your ex-wife yelling at you,” “an angry schoolmarm,” “insane,” subject to “mood swings,” “bipolar,” having “Mommy Moments,” having a “case of the vapors,” “on the rag,” and “in need of a Midol” — or, as Obama himself so slyly put it, “the claws come out” and she “launches attacks” … “periodically when she’s feeling down.”

If you’re an Obama supporter, you know it’s not your place to judge whether or not anyone is a “true Christian” — but you’re well within your rights to judge whether or not anyone is a “true Democrat.”

If you’re a Clinton supporter, the familiar strains of “You’re either with us or you’re against us” sends a chill down your spine.

If you’re an Obama supporter, you wax poetic over the way Obama is going to unite all Americans.

If you’re a Clinton supporter, you tremble when you think of the last presidential candidate who billed himself as “a uniter, not a divider.”

If you’re an Obama supporter, “unity” means: Vilify, marginalize, ostracize, and ridicule Hillary Clinton and her supporters — while “reaching out” to Republicans; gloat like a soccer hooligan over Obama’s popularity; and tell Clinton supporters Obama doesn’t need their support, their donations, or their votes.

If you’re an Obama supporter, you can’t understand why Clinton supporters respond with: “OK, then win without us in November. Good luck.”

Yes, it looks like we’re going to have a Part 3!

Copyright (c) 2008 LavenderLiberal.com. Permission is granted to reproduce “If You’re An Obama Supporter… / If You’re A Clinton Supporter…” in part or in full, on the World Wide Web or through email only (i.e., not in any hardcopy or other permanent storage medium), solely on the condition that 1) this copyright notice, 2) proper attribution (”Lavender Newswire”) and 3) a live hyperlink back to this post or to the Lavender Newswire home page ( http://news.lavenderliberal.com ) is included with the reprinted content.

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February 22, 2008

State Bill Protects Employment Rights of Medical Marijuana Patients

From Americans for Safe Access:

State Bill Protects Employment Rights of Medical Marijuana Patients

AB 2279 would reverse the State Supreme Court in Ross v. Raging Wire

Sacramento, CA — Assemblymember Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) and several co-authors introduced a bill yesterday that would protect the rights of hundreds of thousands of medical marijuana patients in California from employment discrimination. The bill leaves intact existing state law prohibiting medical marijuana consumption at the workplace and protects employers from liability by carving out an exception for safety-sensitive positions. The employment rights bill, which is being co-authored by Assemblymembers Patty Berg (D-Eureka), Loni Hancock (D-Berkeley) and Lori Saldaña (D-San Diego), is in response to a January decision by the California Supreme Court in Ross v. RagingWire. National medical marijuana advocacy group Americans for Safe Access (ASA) argued the case before the court and is now a sponsor of the bill.

“The California Supreme Court decision said that an employer may fire someone solely because they use medical marijuana outside the workplace,” said Assemblymember Leno. “Long ago, the legislature prohibited patient use of medical cannabis in the workplace or during working hours,” continued Leno. “AB 2279 is merely an affirmation of the intent of the voters and the legislature that medical marijuana patents need not be unemployed to benefit from their medicine.”

On January 24, in a 5-2 decision, the California Supreme Court upheld the lower court’s ruling that denied qualified patients a remedy from employment discrimination, based either on their status as a patient or a positive test for marijuana. The plaintiff in the case, Gary Ross, is a 46-year old disabled veteran who was a systems engineer living Carmichael, California, when he was fired from his job in 2001 at RagingWire Telecommunications for testing positive for marijuana. “It’s important that we not allow wholesale employment discrimination in California,” said former plaintiff Gary Ross. “If the court is going to ignore the need for protection, then it’s up to the legislature to ensure that productive workers like me are free from discrimination.”

The decision in Ross v. RagingWire closed the door on redress through the courts, shifting the debate to the state legislature. California is not alone in its attempt to affirm employment protections for medical marijuana patients. Both Oregon and Hawaii have introduced similar legislation aimed at clarifying the intent of the state legislatures. This recent multi-state effort builds on existing legislation adopted in ten out of twelve medical marijuana states, including California, which already sought to protect patients from employment discrimination. “We welcome and strongly endorse this clarification from the legislature,” said ASA spokesperson Kris Hermes. “Despite the ill-conceived ruling by the California Supreme Court, the intent of state legislatures has been to recognize the civil rights of patients and to offer them reasonable protections.”

Before the court made its final decision, Ross enjoyed the support of ten state and national medical organizations, all of the original co-authors of the Medical Marijuana Program Act (SB 420), and disability rights groups. Since it began recording instances of employment discrimination in 2005, ASA has received hundreds of such reports from all across California. Employers that have either fired patients from their job, threatened them with termination, or denied them employment because of patient status or because of a positive test for marijuana, include Costco Wholesale, UPS, Foster Farms Dairy, DirecTV, the San Joaquin Courier, Power Auto Group, as well as several construction companies, hospitals, and various trade union employers.

Further information:

Employment rights legislation introduced yesterday:
http://safeaccessnow.org/downloads/AB2279.pdf

California Supreme Court decision in Ross v. RagingWire:
http://www.safeaccessnow.org/downloads/Ross_Ruling.pdf

Review legal briefs and more about the Ross v. RagingWire case here:
http://www.safeaccessnow.org/Ross

# # #

With over 30,000 active members in more than 40 states, Americans for Safe Access (ASA) is the largest national member-based organization of patients, medical professionals, scientists and concerned citizens promoting safe and legal access to cannabis for therapeutic use and research. ASA works to overcome political and legal barriers by creating policies that improve access to medical cannabis for patients and researchers through legislation, education, litigation, grassroots actions, advocacy and services for patients and the caregivers.

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Hillary’s Moment for the Ages

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February 21, 2008

Civil Rights Activist Rev. James Orange; Fought for LGBT Equality

Human Rights Campaign Mourns the Death of Rev. James Orange

“The GLBT community has lost a great ally,” said HRC President Joe Solmonese

WASHINGTON—Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, offered the following statement today on the death of the Rev. Dr. James Orange. Rev. Orange was a prominent civil rights leader who fought to ensure that the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community remained on the forefront of the fight for equality.

Solmonese said: “The GLBT community has lost a great ally and leader. From the time he was a young man, Rev. Orange demonstrated the passion and dedication to a vision of a nation free from hate. He continued that work until his death, and the GLBT community will be forever grateful for his efforts.”

Rev. Orange was active in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference through the late 1970s, when he became a union organizer. Throughout his life, he served at numerous national and international labor and civil rights organizations, including the AFL-CIO and the People’s Agenda for Voter Empowerment. He also supported the Bayard Rustin Breakfast, a GLBT component of the events surrounding Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

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The Human Rights Campaign is America’s largest civil rights organization working to achieve gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender equality. By inspiring and engaging all Americans, HRC strives to end discrimination against GLBT citizens and realize a nation that achieves fundamental fairness and equality for all.

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February 20, 2008

Mutilated Body of Edward II’s Gay Lover Found

Yes, the excerpt is from the sensational Telegraph.co.uk, but the story is real:

Abbey body identified as gay lover of Edward II

A mutilated body found in an abbey graveyard has been identified as that of a notorious medieval villain rumoured to have been the gay lover of Edward II.

The remains, which bear the hallmarks of having been hanged, drawn and quartered, are thought to be those of Sir Hugh Despenser the Younger, who was executed as a traitor in 1326.

Sir Hugh had been favourite of Edward II - who was widely believed to have been homosexual - but was brutally executed before a mob after the king was ousted from the throne.

. . .

Sir Hugh insinuated himself into the king’s favour by backing him in his battles with the barons. Through a series of ruthless deals, he consolidated a huge fortune, winning himself a legion of enemies in the process, including Edward’s wife, Queen Isabella.

His downfall came when the queen and her ally, Roger Mortimer, deposed the king in 1326.

Sir Hugh was judged a traitor and a thief. He was hanged and, still conscious, castrated, disembowelled and then quartered before his head was displayed on London Bridge.

[Mary Lewis], a biological anthropologist at the University of Reading, found that the Staffordshire skeleton had been beheaded and chopped into several pieces with a sharp blade, suggesting a ritual killing.

There was also evidence of a stab wound to the stomach.

She said: “This form of public execution was high theatre that aimed to demonstrate the power of government to the masses. High treason dictated that the perpetrator should suffer more than one death.” …

More at the link.

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February 19, 2008

If You’re An Obama Supporter… / If You’re A Clinton Supporter… Part 1

If you’re an Obama supporter, you know Clinton has too much “baggage” to win the general election.

If you’re a Clinton supporter, you know Clinton has successfully fought off the Republican attack machine for the past 16 years, and there’s nothing new to throw at her that will stick.

If you’re an Obama supporter, asking how Obama will deflect right-wing attacks (such as questioning his “Muslim family ties” or dealings with Tony Rezko) during the general election campaign is good strategy.

If you’re a Clinton supporter, asking how Obama will deflect right-wing attacks (such as questioning his “Muslim family ties” or dealings with Tony Rezko) means you’re just a paid Hillary shill and/or “concern troll” trying to smear Obama.

If you’re an Obama supporter, suggesting that Latinos are not voting for Obama because “Latinos hate blacks” is a valid observation.

If you’re a Clinton supporter, noticing that African-Americans are voting overwhelmingly for Obama is racist.

If you’re an Obama supporter, you hate Hillary for her pro-Iraq War Resolution vote, and remind everyone within earshot that Obama never voted in favor of the IWR.

If you’re a Clinton supporter, you remind everyone within earshot that Obama was not a Senator at the time of the IWR, and thus no one knows how he might have voted (especially when you consider his votes to continue funding the war ever since), but you get drowned out by the Obama supporters reminding everyone within earshot that Obama never voted in favor of the IWR.

If you’re a Clinton supporter, you don’t like the fact that Clinton voted to authorize the Iraq War, but you realize that 76 other Senators, many with far more liberal leanings than Clinton, were duped into a “Yea” vote by the Bush administration’s lies.

If you’re an Obama supporter, Hillary started the Iraq War all by herself.

If you’re an Obama supporter, you remember than Barack supported John Kerry in his 2004 run for the White House, and you think this is fine, because both are solid, anti-war Democrats.

If you’re a Clinton supporter, you remember that Kerry voted the same way Clinton did on the 2002 Iraq War Resolution.

If you’re an Obama supporter, you cheer Obama’s plan to start withdrawing troops from Iraq within 16 months after taking office.

If you’re a Clinton supporter, nobody listens when you mention Clinton’s plan to start withdrawing troops from Iraq within 60 days after taking office.

If you’re a Clinton supporter, you know you can’t reasonably assume that Hillary is going to bring all the best things about her husband’s eight years of peace and prosperity to the table — you may be getting a “twofer,” but ultimately, it’s Hillary running, not Bill.

If you’re an Obama supporter, you know Hillary is going to bring all the worst things about her husband’s eight years of — well, you can’t remember what was so bad about the Clinton years, except for the Monica Lewinsky scandal, but you’re sure there’s plenty of bad stuff that will carry over into a Hillary Clinton administration.

If you’re an Obama supporter, it’s time for those old, out-of-touch, irrelevant Baby Boomers — in fact, it’s time for everyone over the age of 45 — to get the hell out of the way and hand the reins over to the youth of America.

If you’re a Clinton supporter, of any age, you suddenly become irrelevant the moment you remind the Obama supporters that Obama himself is 46 years old, which makes him a Baby Boomer, too.

If you’re an Obama supporter, 54-year-old Robert F. Kennedy is an out-of-touch Baby Boomer (he did, after all, endorse Clinton).

If you’re an Obama supporter, 50-year-old Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg is a savvy, intelligent American (she did, after all, endorse Obama).

If you’re an Obama supporter, you use to revere 80-year-old poet laureate and living American treasure Maya Angelou — until she endorsed Clinton, which suddenly made her old, out of touch, and irrelevant.

If you’re an Obama supporter, 76-year-old Ted Kennedy is neither old, nor out of touch, nor irrelevant, because he endorsed Barack Obama.

If you’re an Obama supporter, you stand behind Obama for demanding that Don Imus and John Tanner be fired from their respective jobs for making racist remarks.

If you’re a Clinton supporter, you have no right to demand that Obama fire rabidly anti-gay “ex-gay” preacher Donnie McClurkin — who demonizes gay and lesbian Americans as child killers — hired to emcee an Obama fundraiser chock-full of homophobes.

If you’re an Obama supporter, you agree that marriage equality for same-sex couples is a decision that should be left to the states.

If you’re a Clinton supporter, you wonder how Obama can use the same “states’ rights” argument against same-sex marriage that was used against his own parents’ interracial marriage (which wasn’t recognized in a handful of states at the time they were married).

If you’re an Obama supporter, you echo Obama’s repeated mantra of “post-partisan unity,” and agree wholeheartedly that it’s time to “reach out” to Republicans because we can’t get anything done if we’re not all working together.

If you’re a Clinton supporter, pointing out that Obama pits minority groups within the Democratic Party against one another in order to score votes and donations from the larger and more powerful group is just wrong. And racist.

If you’re an Obama supporter, you insist that Obama has not interjected religion into this campaign.

If you’re a Clinton supporter, you want to know how Obama can justify his refusal to support same-sex marriage equality based on his own religious beliefs — as well as the religious beliefs of Dick Cheney, “and over 2,000 religious leaders”.

If you’re an Obama supporter, anyone who won’t sign a loyalty oath to vote for Obama in the general election is a traitor to the Democratic Party.

If you’re a Clinton supporter, you’re not allowed to take issue with Michelle Obama’s reluctance to support Hillary Clinton if she wins the Democratic nomination.

If you’re a Clinton supporter, you remember how quoting passages from a speech by British Labor party leader Neil Kinnock, and “forgetting” to attribute those passages to Kinnock, cost Joe Biden the 1988 Democratic nomination.

If you’re an Obama supporter, plagiarizing a key portion of Deval Patrick’s 2006 campaign speech is a non-issue.

Stay tuned for Part 2. There’s just so much more, presenting it all at once would result in the longest blog entry in the history of the Web.

Copyright (c) 2008 LavenderLiberal.com. Permission is granted to reproduce “If You’re An Obama Supporter… / If You’re A Clinton Supporter…” in part or in full, on the World Wide Web or through email only (i.e., not in any hardcopy or other permanent storage medium), solely on the condition that 1) this copyright notice, 2) proper attribution (”Lavender Newswire”) and 3) a live hyperlink back to this post or to the Lavender Newswire home page ( http://news.lavenderliberal.com ) is included with the reprinted content.

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February 18, 2008

From the Book of Jerks 13:13: Asshats Beget Asshats

In response to “Big & Rich & Homophobic” (October 31, 2007), which reveals D-list country-western singer John Rich’s big & ugly homophobia, a spelling-, punctuation-, and capitalization- challenged reader by the name of “ashley” and email address beginning with “pookielove_12″ (which says it all, in addition to revealing the writer’s probable age) whines:

i agree with john… i though everyone is entitled to their own opinion (freedom of speech) this is america people if you dont like it get the hell out.

In other words, ashley-pookie-poo, you’re all for free speech when it agrees with your narrowminded, bigoted views — and when it doesn’t, you want to throw me out of your country.

Listen up, pookie-wookums: In addition to my right to tell you that you’re the un-American one, my opinion is that you sound like some sort of inbred idiot who gets your talking points from right-wing hate radio, and couldn’t come up with an original thought if your pointless, sheltered little existence depended on it.

Next…

Speaking of asshats, some asshat who calls himself “Peter G Tomaro” ripped off my Conservative Babylon article on Dave Hyles and reprinted it word-for-word on his “Crazies Crusaders of Christ” free Web site (”free Web site”: from the Latin “I’m too cheap to buy a real Web site, and too stupid to build a Web page without an automatic Web-page-builder thingy”) at Webs.com / Freewebs.com.

I’ve lodged a formal complaint; while I’d like to see the entire site of this shameless copyright violator shut down completely, I’ll be satisfied if my original material is removed. Immediately. As for punishment for breaking the Eighth Commandment (or Seventh, for you Catholics and Lutherans), I have it on good word from Jesus himself that “Peter” is going to get a plague of lobster boils on his ass. (Locust boils? Something about a plague and jawing like an ass. Jesus tends to slur after four or five tokes.)

Now, the rest of our dear readers may be asking: “Sapph, why are you wasting your time on bigoted, inbred idiots who appear to lose control of their bowels the moment you criticize their big & ugly, homophobic idols? And why are you getting so irritated about some small-time putz when you know his Web host is going to take your article off his crappy little site?”

I’ll tell you why, folks: Because I just finished watching The History Channel’s fascinating two-hour special, Life After People, throughout which I kept nodding and muttering, “The disappearance of people would, indeed, be the best thing that could happen to this poor old planet. Well, most people… as long the only people left were the ones who were kind to the earth, and to one another, and wouldn’t dream of trying to force anyone else to conform to their beliefs or way of life.”

Right afterward, I discovered my original article ripped off by the Jesus-wingnut, and right after that, I received the ashley-poopy-pie email about John Rich — both of which only served to affirm my conviction that the planet would be far better off without people.

Well, most people.

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February 15, 2008

GLAAD Urges Media to Report on the Intersection of Anti-Gay Bullying and Violence Following California School Shooting

Los Angeles, February 15, 2008 — Lawrence King, a 15-year-old student from Oxnard, Calif., died after he was shot February 12 by a classmate in what prosecutors have identified as a premeditated hate crime based on King’s perceived sexual orientation. The Los Angeles Times spoke to students who identified King as being gay.

King was shot in the head by 14-year-old Brandon McInterney, who was allegedly part of a group of students that regularly bullied King. King, who was being kept alive for organ donation, died Thursday night after being taken off a ventilator. Classmates said King had been harassed for wearing makeup and jewelry. King was in foster care at Casa Pacifica, a shelter for abused and troubled children in Camarillo.

“This senseless act of violence is deeply disturbing and a reminder of the climate of harassment, bullying and violence that so many gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender students face across the country.” said Neil Giuliano, President of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD). “It is imperative that the media shine a spotlight on bullying, violence and hate crimes based on real or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity. Calling attention to such issues is critical if we are to address the hostile and sometimes dangerous environment that LGBT students face all too often.”

Based on percentages from the 2001 California Healthy Kids Survey, more than 200,000 California students are harassed because they are gay or lesbian, or are perceived to be. The same survey indicated that one-third of students in 7th, 9th and 11th grade report having been harassed or bullied based on their actual or perceived race, ethnicity, religion, disability, gender or sexual orientation. The same survey shows that students who face this kind of harassment are more likely to miss school.

GLAAD is urging the media to address the issues of hate crimes against the LGBT community and LGBT student bullying in their coverage of this tragic story and to consult with leading student health authorities as other authorities on this kind of bullying and harassment.

For resources and tips on covering hate crimes with depth and accuracy, please refer to GLAAD’s Media Reference Guide. http://www.glaad.org/media/guide/infocus/crimes.php

Media Resources

American School Counselor Association
Kathleen Rakestraw, Director of Communication
703-864-8734

Contact California Teachers Association:
http://www.nea.org/schoolsafety/glbt.html

The Ventura County Rainbow Alliance:
Jay Smith, Executive Director
805 339-6340

Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network:
Daryl Presgraves, Media Relations Manager
646-388-6577

Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund:
Jason Howe, Public Information Officer
415-595-9245

Gay-Straight Alliance Network:
Carolyn Laub, Executive Director
415-235-4556

For Additional Information:

Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD)
Vaishalee Raja, Associate Director of Media Field Strategy
323-605-3728
raja@glaad.org

Related Stories

Los Angeles Times
http://www.latimes.com/news/…

Associated Press
http://ap.google.com/article/…

KNBC
http://www.knbc.com/news/15282066/…

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About GLAAD

The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) is dedicated to promoting and ensuring fair, accurate and inclusive representation of people and events in the media as a means of eliminating homophobia and discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation. For more information, please visit www.glaad.org.

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Straight people need to stop being so angry and get over their issues or they’ll never get justice.

readmoreoften graciously allowed us to post this here.

I’ve been trying to help the Straight community for a long time. The Whites and the Men, too. I totally believe that you are equal. After some soul-searching introspection, I have come to this realization. But I want you to tell you: you must learn to be patient. You Straights have to stop being so angry. It’s a real turn-off to those of us who are trying to help you and give you your equality. Not all of us are out to “get” you. I want to tell you a beautiful story about a Straight couple I saw today at the grocery store:

So I was at the grocery store in the produce aisle with my kids in the cart and I saw a straight couple. They weren’t obvious about it, but I could tell they were straights. They weren’t “doin’ the nasty” (tee hee) or anything like that or even holding hands, but it was totally obvious they were straight. I mean, you know, you see a man and a woman shopping together and you kind of assume… They were standing really close to each other and you could feel the tension between them. I don’t mean sexual tension, I mean, like, emotional tension, like they were a real couple that cared about one another just as if they were regular people.

Well, the other folks in my town were looking at them funny. So many old-fashioned types, it’s to be expected. Even though they tend to be opposed to the idea of thriving heterosexual families, the people in town are good, moral people mostly. I saw my auto mechanic, Harriet, and she seemed a little uncomfortable by the presence of two straights, but she didn’t say anything. (And I know Harriet is the type who rushes out to vote on every anti-straight piece of legislation she can get her hands on!) It’s true, some people were moving their children away from the couple, but you know how people get overprotective with children. I stayed right where I was, though. I wasn’t worried in the least. Why should I be concerned if my daughter sees two straights in the grocery store? Who cares! Get over it, right! But I think people were understandably nervous that the couple might kiss orthe man might put his arm around the woman and then their kids would be really confused. I always tell my friends–what do you care if your kids find out about heterosexuality?! It’s not like you can catch it! They’re probably born that way! I’m sure that you straights, of all people, understand, though, why some people wouldn’t want their kids to be straight, given all the prejudices that people have about straights in society and all the injustices that you’ve suffered. I’m sure you wouldn’t want your kids to be straight either! I’m sure if there was a cure, you’d take it! You weren’t asked to be born that way.

BUT THE GOOD NEWS IS the straight couple just bought their vegetables and left the store quickly and without incident. It was no big deal! No one bashed them or called them names or anything! People didn’t even stare too much. So much productive has come of this, I’m sure of it. The straight couple must know that they are welcome in our community. And as for the rest of the people in my town, I think they learned a lesson too. They learned that if you see a pot-bellied, middle aged man and his salt-and-pepper haired female lover/partner/whatever, they’re not going to throw down and have kinky sex in front of your kids! She’s not going to start giving him a blow job like in the porn mags and he’s not going to start doing her in the rump right there in the grocery store for all to see! It just doesn’t happen.

So that’s my message to you Straights out there who think that all the rest of us are out to get you. Relax. We’re on your side. Most people these days believe that what two consenting adults do in the privacy of their own bedrooms is nobody’s business.

But you need to stop being so angry. Nobody is going to tell their politicians to give rights to angry people. And you should probably lower your sights, too. You have to be realistic. Heterosexuality is simply against some people’s religion. When you go to the grocery store, you’re going to get nasty looks from little old trannies and they might call you filthy sinners and so forth. Everyone isn’t going to always like you–you have to accept that. Everybody doesn’t like me and I accept it! Not all your landlords are going to accept that you’re straight. Not all your bosses are going to be okay with it either and you might get fired. But really, if you think about it, how is your boss going to know you’re straight? What? Are you planning on having sex on your desk! JK-(yes, I know, all straights are not sex-obsessed freaks who get drunk and spank each other at the holiday office party and go home and have penile-vaginal intercourse and cheat on one another! That’s just a stereotype!)

But seriously. You people need to start courting us or we’ll be less inclined to fight for your equality. A lot of times, we’re just trying to help you, but you just won’t listen to us. And how can we help you, if you don’t listen? Give us a break, okay? We’re your friends. We totally understand and we’re right here to give you a hand up!

Peace!!!!!

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February 14, 2008

Gay Student Murdered in School Because of Sexual Orientation

14-year-old Attacker to be Charged with Murder, Hate Crime

NEW YORK, Feb. 14, 2008 – Ten years after Wyoming college student Matthew Shepard was brutally murdered because of his sexual orientation, a 15-year-old gay California student is brain dead after a student allegedly shot him because of his sexual orientation and gender expression.

Lawrence King, an eighth-grader at E.O. Green Junior High School in Oxnard, was being kept alive today for organ donation after being shot Tuesday morning in class. The 14-year-old attacker, among a group of students known to bully and harass King because he sometimes wore makeup and jewelry and told classmates he was gay, will be charged with murder and a hate crime.

“This incident of senseless violence is truly horrifying, and our hearts go out to the student’s friends, family and the E.O. Green School community,” said Kevin Jennings, Executive Director of GLSEN, the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network. “As a nation, we’ve had our heads in the sand for far too long. We need to do everything we can to prevent something like this from happening again.

“In doing so, it’s absolutely crucial that we name the problem of anti-LGBT bullying and harassment and address it directly to find a solution to the everyday fear that keeps countless youth from feeling safe in school. We must confront the fact that LGBT students are much more likely to be threatened with a weapon and much more likely to feel unsafe at school than other students.”

The California Healthy Kids Survey for the California Department of Education found that California students who were harassed because they are, or are perceived to be, gay or lesbian were more than five times more likely than other students to report being threatened or injured with a weapon (28% to 5%).

“I am deeply saddened by the terrible news about the shooting of Lawrence King. My prayers go out to all of Lawrence’s friends and family,” said Judy Shepard, Executive Director of the Matthew Shepard Foundation. “This terrible incident underscores the fact that we cannot let hate go unchecked in our schools and communities. Our young people need our direction and guidance to prevent this type of crime from happening. I urge all parents and teachers to educate their children and students about acceptance, understanding and compassion.”

Two of the top three reasons students say their peers are harassed in school are actual or perceived sexual orientation and gender expression, according to From Teasing to Torment: School Climate in America, a 2005 Harris Interactive report commissioned by GLSEN. The top reason is physical appearance.

As was the case at E.O. Green Junior High, what begins as bullying and harassment too often escalates to violence. In GLSEN’s 2005 National School Climate Survey, nearly a fifth (17.6%) of LGBT students reported being physically assaulted at school in the past school year because of their sexual orientation and over a tenth (11.8%) because of their gender expression.

California is one of only 10 states that protect students from bullying and harassment based on sexual orientation and one of only five that protect students from bullying and harassment based on gender identity/expression.

“Safe schools laws and policies are vitally important, but simply having a law is not enough,” Jennings said. “Schools need to implement staff development and trainings to address anti-LGBT bullying and harassment. Schools also need programs that teach young people respect and tolerance. Every student deserves to feel safe in school. We must take action and take responsibility for our inaction.”

Another crucial intervention to protect students and all Americans is to pass the Matthew Shepard Act as an appropriate and measured response to the unrelenting and under-addressed problem of violent hate crimes committed against individuals based on actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender, gender identity and disability.

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About GLSEN

GLSEN, or the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, is the leading national education organization focused on ensuring safe schools for all students. Established nationally in 1995, GLSEN envisions a world in which every child learns to respect and accept all people, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity/expression. For more information on GLSEN’s educational resources, public policy agenda, student organizing programs, research, public education or development initiatives, visit www.glsen.org.

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Fundies Threaten Exodus from CA Schools. Does Anybody Care?

Despite the stomping of feet and gnashing of teeth, the RRRW bigots have failed to halt California’s SB 777, which adds LGBT students to the list of students protected from discrimination in the state’s schools. Accordingly they’re now threatening, in conjunction with Phyllis Schlafly, an “Exodus” from public schools in favor of religious home-schooling.

Separated at birth?

California Governor Schwarzenegger signed legislation mandating that public school children be indoctrinated to accept as normal the homosexual lifestyle and other forms of sexual deviancy. In the wake of the failed effort to obtain a referendum to repeal this legislation, a broad coalition of Christian grassroots organizations have endorsed the Campaign for Children and Families’ call for California families and churches to rescue their children from California’s public schools.

Ok, they’ve got us. At this very moment schools are being retrofitted with specialized re-education rooms, all painted pink and lavender of course. Students will be drilled on the Gay Lifestyle until they completely renounce their heterosexuality and know the score to the H.M.S. Pinafore inside and out.

According to Phyllis Schlafly, President of Eagle Forum, “Many of us have worked to reform public schools. Unfortunately, SB 777 and the related legislation represent a repudiation of 2,000 years of Christian moral teaching on human sexuality, marriage, and the family. The result is that California’s schools are now promoting behaviors and lifestyles that are physically and spiritually dangerous for children. Consequently, in California, parents must try to find alternatives to the public schools.”

Now I haven’t been a Christian for quite a few years but I seem to remember something in the Bible about loving they neighbor. I also remember a verse about the person without sin being the first to cast a stone. What I don’t remember is anything about throwing a hissy fit if LGBT people were protected by the same law that protected everybody else. But I’ll admit I’m a little rusty here so maybe I missed that verse.

To rescue their children, loving parents need to find an alternative to government schools, and every church needs to make it a priority to help parents be in charge of their children’s education again.”
…

E. Ray Moore, Jr., believes that it is urgent that the coalition make parents and pastors aware of how dangerous the new legislation is going to make public schools and that they must take up their God-given responsibilities with their children. In fact, according to Moore, “The Biblical and theological case for Christian families and churches to practice K-12 Christian schooling or home schooling is strong. Christians should begin with the belief that children belong to the Lord and are a stewardship of the family, not the state.”

I say, Let them go. Imagine how many fewer likely homophobic kids will be in the public system for LGBT children and teens to deal with. Bullied and harassed LGBT students can breath that much easier knowing they won’t have as many idiots spewing religious hatred at them. And just think of the reduced burden on the California school system. There are nothing but positives as far as I’m concerned.

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February 10, 2008

Our Second and Final Night as Harvey Milk Extras

My much-better half has blogged our cinematic swansong in “A Sea of Candles and the Sound of Silence.”

I’ll add only this: A shout-out to our faithful Lucas Grabeel fans, who’ve been watching the Lavender Newswire for Lucas news. I hate to disappoint you, but Lucas was not there Friday night, as far as I know… but his name was indeed mentioned by the “extras wranglers.” That’s the best I can give ya! But there’s something you can do that I know will be important to Lucas, and to everyone involved in this film: Spread the word about what an important film this is. Tell your friends that in addition to watching Lucas, they’re going to get a “history lesson” that’s way more interesting, and intense, than that dusty old crap they try to teach you from books all year.

Trust me, Lucas fans: There is no way to be connected with this film and not get how important it is. I don’t know Lucas myself, but I’d bet any amount of money he is as deadly serious and devoted to the meaning of this film as anyone.

So spread the word, not just in Lucas’s name, but in Harvey’s. OK?

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February 8, 2008

Barack Obama and “The Fierce Urgency Of Now”

ruggerson gave us his gracious permission to print this here.

I was impressed and intrigued with Barack Obama at first. His speech in 2004 at the convention was a barn raiser, a clarion call to reach past the politics that the Republicans had perfected so well over the last quarter century and find something more substantial and more sustaining in both our political process and in the American spirit.

I eagerly anticipated his announcement speech in Springfield last year and watched him speak on a cold day, announcing his candidacy for President. I was a little surprised that I was not as taken with this speech, as I was looking for something a bit deeper and clarifying, a glimpse into who this man really is and in what he really believes. It was, again, a finely crafted speech full of poetry and inspiration. But it left me somehow unsatisfied and hungry. I knew now that Barack Obama believed in hope, but I didn’t know why or to what end. I didn’t yet know the man beneath the flowery prose.

The first alarm bell for me went off at the Logo debate. Again, nothing specific, but he seemed, somehow, uncomfortable and out of his element discussing issues of importance to gays and lesbians. He went through the motions, as if a student preparing for an exam, and gave many of the right answers. But I saw no there there. I didn’t see a man who deeply felt and understood the struggles that gay people face on a daily basis. John Edwards was trying to get it, it was very easy to see he had agonized and thought deeply about the issues facing gay families. Hillary Clinton gets it on a very deep level, she understands the nuances of our concerns and her respect and commitment shine through. But Senator Obama was off key and removed. I remember registering an almost dissonant moment of disconnection. This man does not understand who we are.

Then came McClurkin. At first I gave him the benefit of the doubt and waited patiently for him to cancel the offensive tour or change the lineup. His campaign, obviously flustered, took a couple of days to come to a decision. Senator Obama decided to keep a man who seriously harms gay youth and who represents a movement that wants to destroy gays and lesbians, as a headliner at his concert. The motive was all too apparent and cynical. He was making a naked appeal to the black evangelical community at the expense of gays and lesbians, black, brown and white, everywhere. It was a breathtaking moment of betrayal, and for many people it brought into sharp focus the value system and priorities of this man who would lead us. This time I did get a glimpse into his soul.

Recently, Willie Brown made it public that he and Gavin Newsom had thrown a fundraiser for Barack Obama during his Illinois senate run in ‘04. This was shortly after Mayor Newsom had shocked the nation with perhaps the most electrifying act of civil disobedience in a generation. He sat through George Bush’s state of the union speech that year, listened to Bush’s call for a consitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, came home to San Francisco and decided, in a moment of sheer courage, to unilaterally declare same sex marriage legal in his city. His constituents, overjoyed and living as if in a dream, actually started getting married, and it was all carried live on national television. Couples who had been living under Jim Crow heterosexist laws for their entire adult lives together, couples of twenty, thirty, fifty years could actually walk down the marble steps of City Hall, having made their union legally equal to those of their straight friends, neighbors and family.

Senator Obama came to this fundraiser in San Francisco after Gavin Newsom had confronted the nation’s homophobia dead on and what did he do?

He told Willie Brown that he wanted to make sure he did not take a picture with Mayor Newsom. He did not want to be publicly associated with the man who just did for gays and lesbians what Martin Luther King had done for African Americans fifty years ago.

Senator Obama is fond of quoting Dr. King and speaks regularly of the “fierce urgency of now.” Gay people know this concept far too well. We have been told for many, many years that this is not the time, this is not the moment, keep quiet and we will take care of you later, don’t make a ruckus this election cycle and your demands will be addressed next time. We know what the “fierce urgency of now” means, because we have lived through decades of being told it’s not our turn.

If Senator Obama understood what he was uttering, if he really understood what the phrase meant and believed it in his heart and soul, he could never have refused to take a picture with Mayor Newsom. On the contrary, he would have been eager to be identified with a man who not only understood the “fierce urgency of now” but had just put it into practice, jolting an entire nation in the process.

I can’t listen to Barack Obama’s poetry now without wincing. “The fierce urgency of now” rings hollow, as for him it is a selective urgency, apparently excluding an entire population.

When will you address us, Senator? When will we become not only a part of the litany of your ritual poetry, but part of the fabric of your soul?

We’re over here watching you, still hoping that you will lift us up too. Not just in words delivered in a sermon, but in actions and deeds.

We’re your chance to prove that the “fierce urgency of now” is more than a revarnished political slogan, but something you actually feel deep in your heart.

We’re still waiting for you to reach out to us.

We’re still waiting for you to demonstrate that you understand who we are.

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February 5, 2008

I’m Ready for My Close-Up, Mr. DeMille: The Extras Shoot for “Milk”

My much-better other half Buffy blogged our night out as extras in the upcoming Harvey Milk biopic, Milk — and I’m glad she did, as my arms are tired from punching the air while chanting “Civil Rights or Civil War, Gay Rights Now!“

Hit the link. There are even pictures!

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February 3, 2008

Gay City News Drinks the Kool-Aid

Gay City News has endorsed Barack Obama. You can read the whole empty justification here; I have no desire to stain the Newswire with such sorry, stale apologetics.

I will, however, repeat for you my reaction to the piece (which, as of this writing, GCN has not yet posted):

“We must yet take it on faith…”

That sums it up right there: Your confidence in Obama is faith-based. Sorry, folks, but I want plans, not platitudes.

It’s especially disheartening to see a gay publication buy into the “building bridges” meme; how can you justify “building bridges” with the very people who marginalize, demonize, and ultimately want to destroy LGBT Americans? Your wunderkind Obama, and by extension you, extend more consideration to the Republicans (and other sworn enemies) than he/you extend to your very own gay and lesbian family.

Put down the Kool-Aid.

I’m not the only one who feels this way. Among other, even more pointed comments (and yes, the NObamas far outnumber the Kool-Aid drinkers):

Audacious, But No Hope for Gays

This is NOT a plug for Hillary Clinton, but a criticism of boarding the electoral train as if it is the way to effect social change. Particularly with a guy like Obama (or Clinton, for that matter). Neither candidate backs our full legal equality. Why do we endorse anyone who doesn’t endorse equal marriage rights for same-sex couples? As Larry Kramer asked, “Where’s the self-respect?”

Obama, a corporate candidate, advocates spending more money on national “defense,” such as enlarging the army. He has recklessly suggested bombing Iran and invading Pakistan. Will there be anything left over for domestic programs, drastically cut in recent years to funds wars for US empire?

Historically, social change has been made in the streets. Movements involving women, African Americans, workers and gays attest to this fact.

Bob Schwartz, Chicago, IL

Obama Does Not Believe In Equal Rights

How can any gay person vote for this man? He does not believe that we should have the same rights as he. He is opposed to gay marriage. [Civil] Unions? Separat but equal does not work, as any student of cilvil rights knows.

Obamas own parents would not have been married when he was born in many states, or they could have been prosecuted. Miscengation was still on teh books in 1967 in 16 states and was not repealed by the Supreme Court until that year.

I refuse to vote for anyone who does not believe I am equal and says so.

You want to vote for him because he is better than any repub? Go ahead. I refuse. Remember how Clinton betrayed the gay community?

How long is the Democratic party gping to take us for granted? Forever until people make a stand and say no, I am equal and deserve equal rights and you better support that.

Stephen Brown, New York, NY

Not a well formulated endorsement

I am no fan of Hilliary Clinton, or Bill for that matter, but your endorsement of Obama has obviously not been thought through clearly enough. It seems based on what would sound better then what is sound. For example, “He will serve the nation well if he can articulate a comprehensive approach..toward the mess in Iraq..of America’s standing in the entire Islamic world.” In order for someone to get my vote they first have to articulate why they should. “In his recent comments about…Ronals Regan…Obama ought to have made more clear his understanding…hope for unity can not substitute for hard choices.” To me he made clear his praise of a mass murderer!!

Then you breeze over what you refer to as, “The McClurkin episode.” Which I would not term as simply misguided, but openly homophobic.

Then you push aside Clinton’s support of Robert Johnson, Charles Rangel, and Maxine Waters, to basicaly accuse her of running a racist campaign.

This inept journalistic viewpoint is one of the main reasons gay journalism is not taken seriously.

Robert Rizzuto, New York, NY

How does this help us at all

Obama is spouting one thing and then in the next he’s embracing, not just mcklurkin but also Bush’s “spiritual advisor” Rev Caldwell.

I can’t endorse that and neither should you be. The fact that Obama is embracing a lot of republican ideas and and is also willing to use obvious anti gay pastors to gain votes within the black community is disturbing. I can tell you now, if Obama wins the Presidency, he will be very right of centre.

You have been warned.

L:aurance Allen

Obama ties to homophobic ministers troubling

Nationally syndicated columnist Rev. Irene Monroe, an African American lesbian, has written often about her opinion that Obama’s campaign is using gays — tossing us crumbs and then backing off to cut slack for anti-gay ministers — not just McLukin. Her views are disturbing and make it hard for me to back Obama any more than Clinton. It’s vote-for-the–lesser-of-two-evils time again. I’d like to trust Obama but I don’t feel I can.Your endorsement seems too idealistic.

Susan Jordan, Rochester NY

Are you NUTS?

Obama’s own parent’s marriage was not recognized in some states yet he can oppose gay marriage?

Is this a gay newspaper or a political journal? Why don’t you defend your readers? Hope and Change and No Queers.

michael, new york

If you truly have the best interest of this country at heart, Hilary Clinton is who you should be endorsing.

As you summed up in your article, both candidates have had similar attitude towards the LGBT community and either will be a step in the right direction. So, let us put this aside as this isn’t the only issue we need to look at for this primary race.

We need to look at experience, leadership, and who can be President. I watched all 2 hours of the democratic debate, where an inexperienced politician fumbled with his words and didn’t answer questions. He gave ideals- instead of real situations and potential solutions- and he stated that “he wants to be right from day one”. We all have started a new job, sometimes with all the qualifications and sometimes with some of the qualifications, and the one thing you can be sure of is that you will not start off “right” from day 1. So, what make him think that he can make those promises?

… From Clinton, we know she has the experience, the ability to jump right in and hit the floor running, and the same amount of passion that interests us from the other candidate. …

Ron Zacchi, Astoria, NY

I consider this a betrayal

Obama cynically exploited homophobia first with the McClurkin incident, then with Kirbyjon “ex-gay minister” Caldwell. Although neither candidate supports marriage equality, Obama consistently states his opposition in the most RW-friendly, religious terms possible (”something sanctified between a man and a women.” I don’t know what you people are thinking, but this gay voter will never support Barack Obama.

DJS, New York, NY

If you want to see the pro-Obama comments, they’re there — and they’re decidedly in the minority.

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