07/24/2010
Video: Majority Leader Reid on #GetDADT/ #GetENDA/ @ltdanchoi #nn10
**UPDATE: Breaking: Dan Choi's letter to Harry Reid at Netroots Nation; gives away West Point ring [Pam]
**MORE: From the Q&A, a powerful moment with a nice, literal ring to it:
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07/24/2010
Well he *does* want my life to come with walls
Clearly the universe feels I've been hitting the Facebook "like" button on too many of my friend's wall posts.
Maggie notes upside downiness of world, refuses to stop flipping it
Yesterday Maggie Gallagher "schooled" us all on hate not being a family value. Now the professional fomenter of hostility for gay and lesbian relationships continue her seemingly irony-free attempts to teach gays and pro-equality allies about what is bad and good and loving in this world:
[SOURCE]
Yes, Maggie -- and on this end of that flipped world, our ankles are starting to chafe and the blood is starting to rush to our heads. If you'd quit your job today, the natural world's unnaturally burned axis would become less strained overnight.
NOM: Eliminating both rights *and* silver cupcake wrappers?
Benign children's baking product or stealth National Organization For Marriage (NOM) fundraising tool? You decide:
Gross-a-licious cupcake molds: open skull with bare brain [Boing Boing]
(H/t: Dick MIlls)
If only our cherished NOM would be so honest about what's really going on inside their heads.
Video: Speaker Pelosi on ENDA #nn10
The speaker speaks on merit, if not timeline. Only a minor shout out from the GetEQUAL folks:
Thoughts?
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***UPDATE: Karen Ocamb has transcript and more: LGBTPOV
07/23/2010
Maggie Gallagher says 'Hate is not a family value'; my eyes may never stop rolling
The headline? It's something that Maggie Gallagher just wrote, without irony, on the National Organization For Marriage's blog, with her comments directed not towards those who are out to use their personal faith views to stop LGBT people's civil rights, but rather to the people who are simply saying, "no, stop, quit it, don't":
"My message to the protestors: Hate is not a family value"
[NOM Marriage Tour]
My message to Maggie: "Actuality is not an abstract value."
A Humm in search of a roar
Some people in our movement just deserve respect. Longtime activist, politico, journalist, and "Gay USA" co-host Andy Humm is one of those people.
At Michael Petrelis' request, Andy has cooked up a spicy piece of thought-food concerning the state of our movement. From HRC to GetEqual, bloggers to the administration -- Andy addresses all. Whether you strongly agree or disagree, your passion for this civil rights fight makes Andy's piece worth a read:
The LGBT movement is one of the most anti-democratic social movements in the country. It is almost completely controlled by big donors and closed, self-perpetuating boards who claim anyone who sends them five bucks as a "member." No decision by any of these groups is EVER subjected to an open community vote nor, in most cases, even an open community meeting where the big decisions of the "leaders" can be questioned.
**KEEP READING: Andy Humm: Democracy in LGBT America; GetEQUAL = HRC's Agenda [Petrelis]
The National Organization for [scientifically rejected 'ex-gay' therapy]
In addition to the idea that the National Organization for Marriage has a decided strategy of victimization, there's another parallel thread that I'd like to suggest we who cover this group start mentioning on a more frequent basis. That is: The fact that NOM, by virtue of the people with whom they frequently associate and/or promote, have proven that their true agenda goes well beyond marriage rights for same-sex couples.
Take their latest tour stop from Columbus, OH. One of the speakers that NOM put at the podium was Bobbi Radeck from the Concerned Women For America. And NOM is now heavily promoting Radeck's appearance on their blog and Twitter feed:
"Concerned Woman for America stands together with NOM in one voice: Gays and lesbians have the right to live as they want to, but they do not have the right to redefine marriage for the rest of us."
Bobbi Radeck of CWA-Ohio in Columbus [NOM Blog]
But check this out: We've discovered that as recently as May, Ms. Radeck was aggressively promoting the offensive, scientifically-discredited notion that gays can and should "change" via so-called "ex-gay" therapy:
[SOURCE]
The piece to which Ms. Radeck linked is a hostile attack against "the forces of darkness and evil around us," aimed at "healing" what the author, Michael Glatze, calls his "fellow brothers and sisters in bondage." It's completely off NOM's usual message. But remember what Ms. Radeck said in the quote above: She "stands with NOM in one voice." One voice that is screaming damaging untruths, regardless of what the science says!
And this is not the first time "ex-gay" has come up on this NOM tour. In Augusta, ME, the NOM team heavily promoted Bob Emrich. The same Bob Emrich who links to many over-the-top "ex-gay" videos on his official YouTube page (and who has defended them to this writer). Again: If NOM wants him on their tour (just like they wanted him on their "yes on 1" campaign), then they clearly think Bob's saying and doing the right thing. Every single credible science group in this nation -- EVERY LAST ONE! -- disagrees.
But that's the thing with our opposition. They can try the nice, "it's all about families" talk all they want. But more often than not, one only has to give the teeniest, tiniest tug on the "culture war" threat to yank out messes of undeniable attacks on the cores of LGBT people's beings. We just need to start seeing it and saying it at every chance we get!
