I'm not an 'LGBT American'

The Democratic Party is in full "repair relations with the gay community" mode. Here's a mailing from DNC chair Tim Kaine. Two things, before you read the mailing: First off, these "accomplishments" are a bit of a stretch. DADT is nowhere near repealed, and as for the hate crimes bill, that was great, but Obama didn't lift a finger. And as for hospital visitations, jt's disturbing that in 2010 that's considered a great achievement. We want to get married.

Secondly... so now, according to the Democratic party, we're all "LGBT Americans." I'm sorry, but I'm not an LGBT American, and have never heard anyone, ever, call themselves that. Again, I get it. But I think people are going too far. If we're going to list everyone who falls under the penumbra, then list everyone - break the Ts into multiple categories, add the queer and questioning youth and everyone else until the acronym is 50 letters long. Why stop at 4? (Many people don't - in fact, the new thing is to call us LGBTQ among younger LGBTQs.)

Case in point - this is from Wikipedia:

Many variants exist including variations that merely change the order of the letters; LGBT or GLBT are the most common terms and the ones most frequently seen in current usage.[23] Although identical in meaning, “LGBT” may have a more feminist connotation than “GLBT” as it places the “L” (for “lesbian”) first.[23] When not inclusive of transgender people it is sometimes shortened to LGB.[23][24] LGBT or GLBT may also include additional “Q”s for “queer” or “questioning” (sometimes abbreviated with a question mark) (e.g., “LGBTQ”, “LGBTQQ”, or “GLBTQ?”).[7][25][26] Other variants may add a “U” for “unsure”; an “I” for intersex; another “T” for “transsexual” or “transvestite; another “T”, “TS”, or “2” for “Two‐Spirit” persons; an “A” or “SA” for straight allies; or an “A” for “asexual”.[27][28][29][30][31][32] Some may also add a P for polyamorous, and an O for other.[23][33] The order of the letters has not been standardized; in addition to the variations between the positions of the initial “L” or “G”, the mentioned, less‐common letters, if used, may appear in almost any order.[23] Variant terms do not typically represent political differences within the community, but arise simply from the preferences of individuals and groups.[34] The terms pansexual, omnisexual, fluid and queer-identified are regarded as falling under the umbrella term “bisexual”.[35] Likewise, the terms transsexual and intersex are regarded by some people as falling under the umbrella term “transgender” though many transsexual and intersex people object to this (both for different reasons).[23]

Not to mention, ironically, I think LGBT is a cop out for straight people. Much easier for a politician to laud the LGBT community than the GAY community, because no one outside of the gay community knows what the LGBT community even is. I've seen signs at rallies proclaiming something or other about "LGBT", and I'll bet everyone at the rally who wasn't gay was scratching their head. In an effort to be more inclusive, we've shoved ourselves back into a sort of linguistic closet.

If we're all one community, then we don't need to keep adding letters to divide us. And for that matter, who decided that we'd go from GLBT to LGBT a few years ago? And why put L first? Why not TLGB? Or why not give the Bi's first dibs.

From: Tim Kaine
Subject: Share your voice this Pride Month

Friend --

Today marks the beginning of Pride Month -- a time not just to remember the brave Americans who stood up to hate and discrimination at the Stonewall Inn 41 years ago, but a time to stand with those who are committed to that same fight today.

LGBT Americans have helped build the Democratic Party into what it is today. And, as a leader of the party, I'm proud of our role in the struggle for equality.

That's why it's important to me -- and to the future of this party -- that we hear from you.

Take a moment to share your thoughts with us this Pride Month.

At times the pace of progress has not been as fast as some -- myself included -- would like. And, while equality cannot be achieved overnight, the President and our Democratic leaders in Congress have made important strides over the past 16 months to address barriers that LGBT Americans face.

-- Last year, we passed the Matthew Shepherd & James Byrd, Jr., Federal Hate Crimes Act -- which expanded the definition of hate crimes to include sexual orientation and gender identity and became the first federal law to provide protections for transgender Americans.

-- In April, the President issued a directive, making critical changes to federal regulations and allowing gay and lesbian Americans to make medical decisions on behalf of their partners.

-- And now we are on the verge of living up to President Obama's pledge to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." The House just passed historic legislation to end this discriminatory policy, and the full Senate is getting ready to vote in the coming months.

Governor Tim Kaine
Chairman

Read More...

McDonalds airs gay ad in France

Very nice and cute ad. Good for McDonalds, but when will they be airing this "Come as you are" ad in McDonald's home country of the United States? If McDonalds wants to show support for gay rights then there could be no better place to air an ad like this than in countries where Talibangelical ideologies are prevalent like right here at home.
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Speaker Pelosi on DADT: 'This is over'

I was just on a conference call with Speaker Pelosi, and asked her about the recent DADT repeal compromise passed by the House. I mentioned that many of our military leaders are talking about the repeal of DADT not being a "done deal" yet, and they're increasingly talking about the Pentagon's implementation study being about "if" and not just "how" to implement a repeal.

Pelosi's response: "This is over."

Let's hope the Pentagon gets the message. Read More...

A comprehensive look at GetEqual

A very long, but necessarily so, in-depth look at how GetEqual, the new LGBT rights advocacy group, got started. You'll recall that GetEqual organized the recent handcuffings at the White House, the arrests in Pelosi's offices, and the interruptions of the President at two recent Barbara Boxer fundraisers. Read More...

Mary Cheney may be helping anti-gay politician

Wouldn't it be nice if Mary Cheney ever, even once, used her fame and influence to help the cause of gay civil rights? If just for her child, who has two moms, and could probably use a friendlier world. Read More...

DADT is a done deal

In the ongoing debate over the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell, the Pentagon brass seems to have forgotten a single inconvenient truth: The battle over repealing DADT has already been fought, and they lost.

In an ongoing effort to prove to the world that America is actually Bolivia, and that the US military is not subject to civilian control, the joint chiefs continue to try to undercut the express will of our elected officials in the White House and the Congress. The latest outrage: an email to the troops, sent this weekend by Secretary of the Army John McHugh and Army Chief of Staff Gen George W. Casey. As Bilerico reports, the intent of the email was to tell the troops that the repeal of DADT was not a "done deal."

Please get this information to your soldiers and Families and ask them to resist that urge to think that this is a "done deal" and that their input is unimportant.

Uh, yes it is a done deal. Unless McHugh and Casey plan on taking up arms against their own commander in chief and the elected majority in Congress who think they voted for repeal this past week, this issue is over. They lost. (And with all due respect to our troops, they don't get to vote, American Idol style, on the policy decisions made by their commander in chief and our elected members of Congress. Our troops do not get a say in how their orders are crafted, period.)

Regardless of whether or not you believe the DADT compromise passed by the House, and a Senate committee last week, will lead to the full repeal of DADT, the members of Congress who voted for that compromise, and the President of the United States who endorsed and helped broker that compromise, believe that it will. Not only that, but both Defense Secretary Gates and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Mullen both made clear in their February testimony that not only are they for repealing the ban, but that their implementation study of DADT is not about "if" the ban should be repealed, but rather, "how" it shall be repealed. (Thus it's odd that Mullen is now trying to "take it back.")

The train has left the station, and the cat is out of the bag. It's over. McHugh and Casey lost, fair and square. The President, their boss, said what he wanted to do, Congress put its stamp on the proposal, and is in the process of enacting it into law. With all due respect to McHugh and Casey, it is now irrelevant that they think the repeal of DADT is not a done deal. The commander in chief and Congress have now spoken. Game over. They lost. They don't get to revisit the issue, like some Argentine junta, simply because they disagree with the democratic outcome.

As the media made clear last week, everyone thinks that Congress voted to repeal DADT last week. And everyone in Congress thinks they did the same. That's why people like Senator Jim Webb (D-VA) refused to endorse the compromise - because he thought the compromise would make DADT repeal a "done deal." That's why all of the joint chiefs wrote to McCain to stop the legislation from being passed last week - and it's why two of the chiefs thought that the legislation outright repealed DADT. Because they thought that the compromise was in effect repeal, and thus made repeal a done deal.

I'll say it again. Regardless of whether you think the compromise will lead to full repeal next year, all of the actors in this drama - from the President, to the Democrats and even Republicans in Congress, to the joint chiefs - all believed that a vote for this legislation was a vote for full repeal. That the intent of our elected leaders, was full repeal. Period.

So enough of the games. The joint chiefs fought this war, against their own commander in chief, and against our democratically elected officials, and they lost. They're entering some rather dangerous territory, in terms of trying to subvert our democracy, and they need to get over it. If the joint chiefs, or anyone else in the US military, can't handle the results of our democratic process, they should resign and move to Latin America circa 1984. They'd fit right in. Read More...

Happy Memorial Day!

Note from Joe: We should have posted this last night, so apologies to Tim -- and we're all hoping he feels better.
_____________

I was involved in a car accident in Columbus, GA this weekend. I had traveled there to watch my niece graduate high school, and celebrate my nephew's twenty first birthday. A car rear ended me while I was stopped in traffic waiting to merge onto an interstate. I experienced a compression fracture of the T12 vertebrae. The lady who hit me experienced a broken arm, bruised legs, couldn't breath properly and I thought she was going to die on the scene. The whole experience has been very traumatic, but I'm alive and, most importantly, I'm sore but mobile. The doctor didn't need to tell me it could have been so much worse and I'm anxious for the fracture to heal with no complications! I'm accepting positive thoughts, prayers, good energy or whatever positive vibes you want to send my way.

Therefore, this Memorial Day I'm taking it easy but as a proud gay Cold War submarine veteran I want to wish ALL veterans a happy Memorial Day. As a gay veteran, I'm also thankful to those in the blogosphere who have refused to shut up, or acquiesce and have continued to rally for "Don't Ask Don't Give" in order to pressure our friends, and our enemies, to do the right thing. Read More...

Outed Right-wing CA State Senator backing away from anti-gay positions

Roy Ashburn seems to be evolving, ever so slowly. The outed State Senator is showing signs of an awakening. The closet really is a horrible place:

State Sen. Roy Ashburn has begun taking some tentative steps toward backing gay rights, a little less than three months after the Bakersfield Republican was outed after a drunken driving arrest near the Capitol.

He vowed at the time to continue his staunch opposition to the expansion of gay rights - he has one of the strongest anti-gay records of any lawmaker - saying that is how his constituents would have him vote.

But since then, Ashburn has held several meetings at the Capitol with a major gay rights organization that he previously avoided, and on Thursday made an unusually personal speech that showed he is re-evaluating his thinking on some issues. Senate colleagues say he seems happier.

Perhaps Ashburn could make a visit to Capitol Hill to explain his evolution to the closet cases in Congress. But, they'll have to deal with the reality that the GOP and its masters in the Religious Right aren't so welcoming. Read More...