Obama administration blocking Courage Campaign site, while Teabagger site is okay

Can't wait to hear the excuse for this one.

From the Hill:

A progressive activist group in California is complaining that the Pentagon has prevented soldiers from accessing its web site in Iraq.

The group argues that Californians serving in Iraq who will vote on a series of ballot measures on Tuesday do not have access to the Courage Campaign “voters guide,” which might help them make decisions.

The Hill independently confirmed that the Tea Party Express site can be accessed on Defense Department computers while the Courage Campaign site cannot be accessed. Courage campaign said it has received information that web sites affiliated with the Traditional Values Coalition, California Election Forum and Christian Voter Guide through the Defense Department computers in Iraq.

And this had better not be the reason:

However, there could be other possible explanations for the blocked site, such as an automatic filter that sifts through specific words. The Courage Campaign site uses multiple references to “sex” (as in same-sex marriages) and “gay” (as in anti-gay, or gay rights). The site also contains information and action items on the repeal of the military’s ban on openly gay service members.

And I don't want to hear "it's the Pentagon, not the President." Is he in charge of his own administration or not?  We'd never have given George Bush a pass for something nasty "an agency" did to us. Read More...

Ron Howard defends the fag joke

By now you may have heard that Ron Howard has a new movie coming out that includes a line where a character says about an electric car, "it's gay." Universal pulled the joke from the movie's trailer since, you know, scores of gay kids just happened to be killing themselves after being bullied.

But Ron Howard says the joke is staying in the film. And his reasons are as warm and all-American as embracing a n-word joke.

Let me share a little bit of what Howard had to say about gay jokes.

So why was the joke in the movie? Our lead character of Ronny Valentine has a mouth that sometimes gets him into trouble and he definitely flirts with the line of what's okay to say. He tries to do what's right but sometimes falls short. Who can't relate to that? I am drawn to films that have a variety of characters with different points of view who clash, conflict and learn to live with each other. THE DILEMMA is a story full of flawed characters whose lives are complicated by the things they say to and hide from each other. Ronny is far from perfect and he does and says some outrageous things along the way.

Good try.

You see, you can really only get away with using fag jokes to show how bad a character is when you actually show how bad a character is for demeaning gay people. For example, when Finn in Glee used the word "faggy," he was ripped to shreds by an adult in the popular TV series, thus sending the message that it's not okay. Is the lead character in Howard's film going to be ripped to shreds for calling something "gay"? Somehow I doubt it.

Now, note how Howard referred to the recent spate of gay suicides:

It's true that the moment took on extra significance in light of some events that surrounded the release of the trailer...

Did you catch that? The recent tragic suicides of young gay kids are "some events." Nice.

More from Howard:

I believe in sensitivity but not censorship.

Do you tell n-word jokes, Mr. Howard? I'm going to guess that you don't. And if you don't, is that "censorship" or simply being a decent human being?

It is a slight moment in THE DILEMMA meant to demonstrate an aspect of our lead character's personality

I cry BS on that one. Does Howard really want us to believe that the audience is going to recoil in horror at what a bigot the lead character is for saying "it's gay"? Seriously? The audience is going to laugh. It's not going to be a teaching moment, it's not going to show anything about the character's personality other than he's funny and cool because he mocks fags.

Did you think it wasn't offensive? I don't strip my films of everything that I might personally find inappropriate. Comedy or drama, I'm always trying to make choices that stir the audience in all kinds of ways.

Right. We're to believe that Ron Howard put the "gay" joke in to help stir the audience. Or was the joke put in because Hollywood is notoriously more than a tad homophobic and Howard thought it might be funny to put a fag joke in, since that's what regular funny guys do, they tell fag jokes?

But if storytellers, comedians, actors and artists are strong armed into making creative changes, it will endanger comedy as both entertainment and a provoker of thought.

Again, you only get strong-armed when you think it's okay to throw bigoted jokes in your movies. If you got it, if you didn't find bigotry funny, you wouldn't put it in in the first place. And when notified of it, you'd take it out because it would offend YOU. Again, would Ron Howard have a character tell a black joke simply because he knew the audience would find it funny? I somehow doubt it. He's using a free speech smokescreen to keep a fag joke in his movie because he thinks it's funny and not a big deal.

You can read the rest of the interview for yourself.

Look, I can handle the fact that Howard doesn't want to be censored. But if Howard understood the problem, he wouldn't have put the joke in the script to start with - or he'd have another well-liked character tell the bigot that it's really not right to use that kind of language. But I'm gonna bet that no such teaching moment happens in Ron Howard's film. It's Howard's own intolerance that's forcing others to be intolerant with him. And at some point, artists, and everyone else in society, have to stop using free speech to justify bigotry. Yes, you have the right to be a bigot, and we have the right to call you on it.

Oh, and next time you get interviewed about the topic, Mr. Howard, show a little respect for all the kids who have killed themselves by referring to their deaths as something other than "some events." Read More...

Major heckling of Obama today in CT - I think by AIDS protesters

Anyone know who did the heckling? Starts about 2:00 into the video and doesn't let up.

Read More...

GA Megachurch pastor comes out: 'To think about saving a teenager, yeah, I'll risk my reputation for that'

Compare this to Tony Perkins who said gay kids know they are "abnormal," which is why they kill themselves. Read More...

Why do church leaders hate the troops? Many would abandon our troops over DADT repeal.

And, they call themselves men of God? Give me a break. This is downright anti-American. A group of right-wing religous types, probably prompted by Elaine Donnelly, sent a letter to the President and Secretary Gates warning they'll abandon serving troops if DADT is repealed. No doubt, the release of this document was timed to counter the leaked news that most troops aren't concerned about serving with gay troops.

What's stunning to me -- absolutely stunning -- is that church leaders would actually end their relationships with the Pentagon over this. Seriously?:

A spokeswoman for the Pentagon said chaplains must have the endorsement of their church or religious organization to serve the role. If a chaplain's church withdraws its endorsement, the military begins processing the chaplain to leave the military.

Several denominations have already threatened to take such a step, citing long lists of potential conflicts the chaplains could face with openly gay soldiers.

The Southern Baptist Convention, the Roman Catholic Church, the Orthodox Church in America, the Presbyterian Church in America, and the Rabbinical Alliance of America have issued statements or written to the Obama administration this year with their concerns that repealing "don't ask, don't tell" could force their chaplains to choose between serving God and serving the military.

No, the churches are choosing to abandon our men and women in uniform -- the people who are willing to die fighting for their freedom of religion.

This is one of the most craven, despicable acts I've seen from homophobic religious types. It shines a light on just how rabidly these anti-gay religions are. Now, the gay community is used to this crap. But, that they're willing to give up on the U.S. military is beyond the pale.

Any church that withdraws its endorsement of our military should have its 501(c)(3) status withdrawn. They're making a political statement, not a religious one. Read More...

HRC & NGLTF ignore Obama marriage comments

Kerry Eleveld at the Advocate on Joe's interview with the President:

President Barack Obama answered the first questions of his presidency from an LGBT media outlet and nudged open the door to switching his position on same-sex marriage, saying “attitudes evolve, including mine.”

[E]ven more stunning than the words themselves was the deafening silence from the national LGBT groups following the open door Obama handed to them. It was just one more missed opportunity in what has been a long and maddening succession of them ever since this president took office with Democratic majorities in Congress we may never witness again.

Huffington Post touted the interview on its banner with the massive headline “Meet the Bloggers” hanging over a picture of President Obama. Politico wrote specifically about the president’s marriage revelation. During the next day’s press briefing, MSNBC wondered when the president might complete his evolution and The Wall Street Journal asked whether we should “anticipate that at some point in the future, he is likely to feel comfortable with gay marriage being legal.”

Apparently, the president’s words were newsworthy enough for journalists to explore but a nonevent for our LGBT advocacy organizations like the Human Rights Campaign and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. Fascinating.

I usually refrain from saying much about how the national LGBT groups acquit themselves because I generally find finger-pointing only serves as a counterproductive distraction from the most critical tasks at hand. But quite frankly, watching some of them at the federal level over the past two years has been a lesson in political malpractice that has left me ill and speechless more times than I care to count.

I wouldn't be surprised if the White House asked NGLTF and HRC not to react to the President's interview, in order to downplay what he said. And dutifully, they did. Or, both groups simply don't care about marriage equality. Take your pic. Read More...

Leaked survey 'is altering the 'don't ask don't tell' debate at a critical point'

This is fascinating. Most of the leaks from the Pentagon have undermined the effort to repeal DADT. This one could be helping. And, the conservatives are cranky about it. Don't get me wrong, one possibly helpful leak doesn't necessarily mean that the compromise repeal language will pass this year, as promised repeatedly. But, it's sure good to see the other "grumbling" for a change:

A leaked Pentagon survey that says most troops support openly gay service members is altering the “don’t ask don’t tell” debate at a critical point — just before Tuesday’s elections that could change control of Congress.

The anonymous leak, first reported by NBC News on Thursday night, may provide ammunition for those trying to repeal the military’s 1993 ban on openly gay troops, even if the issue rolls into a new, more-Republican Congress next year, a San Diego congresswoman said Friday.

Meanwhile, the camps of San Diego County’s Republican contingent are grumbling about the leak, saying they will reserve their comments until the full survey is released in December.

The President told me that he has a strategy to get the Defense bill passed this year -- and that he's going to be involved. We're waiting -- and watching. More importantly, the men and women who are willing to put their lives on the line for the rest of us are waiting and watching. I'll believe it when I see it. Actions speak louder than words. Read More...