Great story. I am pleased that we have a paper the Washington Blade that is not afraid to stand up to bullies.

It makes me sick that black members of the DNC are insulted that gays want to be an equal part of the organization. Black people wanted civil rights and got them. Gays want civil rights but somehow, according to black members of the DNC, it's insulting to their cause. I don't get it. Am I missing something?

I'm a bit upset by this lack of historical perspective. The history of the civil rights movement is filled with disparate groups working together for common goals. Whether it was women's groups, college groups, Jewish groups, or people of color, everyone came together to support one another. Not so much the case with the gays. We look for support but instead are told we're insulting others. Aren't we all fighting for the same thing: equality under the law and acceptance as a legitimate part of American society?

It makes me even sicker that the Democrats will always throw the gays under the bus if theres any chance any african american will be insulted. So what if the blacks objected? Since when do they own the civil rights movement?

Please Queerty, tell me again, tell me again the story about Alabaman lesbian politician Patricia Todd winning the Democratic primary in a race for a House seat.

That story should be told and told again.

It would be nice if once in a while you would at least try to post something positive about what the DNC is doing. That information is out there as well! Maybe your readers would be interested in this. Not sure if the post of this will come through, so readers should feel free to go to: http://www.democrats.org — go to the LGBT section — oh and by the way compare that to the GOP's LGBT outreach on their website! Thanks. Brian Bond

Dear Friend,

In eight short months, Americans will go to the polls for one of the most crucial elections in our nation's history. We don't need to tell you that, especially for the LGBT community, the stakes couldn't be higher. We need a Democratic President and a larger majority in Congress to promote fair and equal rights under the law.

We have already seen the success of Governor Dean's 50-State Strategy for our community in the 2006 election. The election of Democratic governors and state legislatures across the country has meant tangible progress and real rights for the LGBT Community:

In places like Massachusetts, Colorado, Iowa, Oregon, New Hampshire, and Indiana, the Democrats you helped elect in 2006 have blocked anti-LGBT ballot initiatives, passed civil union bills, extended protections against employment discrimination, and passed second parent adoption bills.

The Democratic governors elected in 2006 have signed employment protections in Iowa, Ohio, Colorado, and Oregon.
Newly-elected Democratic governors have signed a second parent adoption bill in Colorado and domestic partner or civil unions laws in Oregon and New Hampshire, while keeping an anti-marriage amendment off the ballot in Massachusetts.

The Democrats in state legislatures elected in 2006 defeated anti-marriage efforts in Indiana, New Hampshire, Alaska, Maryland and North Carolina.

We would never ask you to support the Democratic Party simply because the Republicans are bad. The LGBT community should support the Democratic Party because Democrats believe in an America that respects the rights and dignity of every American. We haven't won every battle, and we know there is still more work and education that needs to be done, but the facts speak for themselves: Democrats better represent the values and aspirations of LGBT Americans.

We look forward to working with you in the coming months as we get ready to mobilize Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Americans all across the country. With your help this year, we will retake the White House, increase our majorities in both houses of Congress, and elect more Democratic governors and legislatures that will not only put an end to divisive scapegoating of our community, but will work to promote fairness and equality under the law for all Americans.

Over the next eight months we will do our best to keep you informed on how to keep the momentum building towards the November election. We have already seen unprecedented numbers of Democrats - including LGBT Americans - participating in primaries and caucuses across the country during the current Presidential Primary season. In this monthly newsletter, we will do our best to keep you informed on the issues and the election, as well as on how you can get involved as LGBT Americans. We need your support and commitment in order to build upon our successes this year.

Rick Stafford
Chair
DNC LGBT Caucus Mirian Saez
Vice Chair
DNC LGBT Caucus Brian Bond
Executive Director
DNC GLLC

DNC Outreach to the LGBT Community
The DNC's political trainings for field staff included essential outreach to the LGBT community — educating thousands of political operatives and activists from state party staff down to the precinct level.
The DNC's National Lawyers Council has set up a working group to advance voter education and opportunities for people in the transgender community, which will educate political and electoral staff at every level on the special concerns for transgender voters.

Governor Dean appointed a record number of 7 openly LGBT members to the standing committees of the Democratic National Convention, including four members of the Platform committee. Governor Dean became the first chairman in DNC history to appoint an at-large transgender standing committee member.

The DNC aggressively continues to work with State Parties and National Stonewall Democrats to reach out to LGBT organizations of color to promote greater inclusion.

The DNC is building a 2008 "PRIDE at the Polls" program that will include unprecedented outreach during the Pride season by the DNC, State Parties, and Stonewall Democrats to engage LGBT Americans in the effort to elect a Democrat to the White House.

At the DNC's 2007 Winter Meeting, which coincided with World AIDS Day, the DNC passed a resolution calling for a comprehensive National AIDS Strategy and hosted HIV/AIDS awareness workshops in each of the caucus meetings.
Governor Dean Tours San Diego LGBT Community Center
From The Center: On Feb. 19, 2008, Howard Dean visited the San Diego Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Community Center (The Center) to speak with members of the local LGBT community. Gov. Dean, who is also an MD, has a special interest in both health and programs for youth, and wanted to learn more about the many health and human services programs The Center provides.

"We are delighted that Gov. Dean was able to take time out of his busy schedule to ask about the real needs of this community and the work that's being done here at The Center," said Richard Valdez, chair of The Center's board. "His willingness to come to our Center, ask questions and truly listen to what the community had to say shows the depth of his engagement with our issues. We appreciate his interest in San Diego's LGBT community and his outspoken support for equal rights."

"Equality is our birthright under the U.S. Constitution," said Gov. Dean. "That means civil rights should be the same for every single one of us, regardless of gender, age, race, sexual orientation or any other factor that has been used to divide us. The Democratic Party stands proudly with the LGBT community to build a hopeful and optimistic vision of America that is inclusive of all Americans, rejects the politics of fear and division, and renews our commitment to ending discrimination in all its forms. Together we can achieve that vision."

For more information on the San Diego Center, please visit: http://www.thecentersd.org

The Road to Denver — Convention Update
Democrats from across the country will gather in Denver, August 25th - August 28th to nominate the next President and Vice President of the United States. This will be one of the most historic conventions our nation has ever witnessed. Thanks to the efforts of Convention CEO Leah Daughtry, not only will it showcase the diversity of the Democratic Party and its values, but it will also be the greenest convention yet.

For more information on the 2008 Democratic Convention, please visit: http://www.demconvention.com

LGBT Delegates to the Democratic National Convention

Building on the previous successes of the DNC LGBT Caucus, for the first time in history, the DNC's 2008 Delegate Selection Rules require state parties to adopt inclusion plans for increasing LGBT participation in the convention and in party affairs. As a result, 50 out of 56 states and territories have set numeric goals for LGBT delegates - up from 16 states in 2004.
In conjunction with National Stonewall Democrats and other allies, the DNC sponsored the inaugural delegate selection trainings, which educate LGBT activists on how to become delegates and to further engage in Party affairs.

If you are interested in becoming a Delegate or Standing Committee Member as a LGBT American, please visit the National Stonewall Democrats' Pride in the Party website: http://www.prideintheparty.org

DNC Elects Record Number of LGBT Members to the 2008 Democratic National Convention Standing Committees, Including the First Transgender Appointment
During the month of January, the 2008 Executive Committee of the DNC unanimously elected Governor Dean's nominations for the Chairs and members of the 2008 Democratic National Convention Standing Committees. These nominations include a record number of openly LGBT members. Governor Dean's LGBT appointments include: Dr. Marjorie Hill of the Gay Men's Health Crisis organization in New York, Diego Sanchez from the AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts, State Representative Patricia Todd of Alabama, and Ingrid Duran of Virginia to serve on the Platform Committee, along with Campbell City Council Member Evan Low, DNC GLLC Chair to the Rules Committee Claire Lucas, and Bob Rogan of Vermont to the Credentials Committee. In addition to increasing previous record numbers of LGBT standing committee members, Governor Dean is the first DNC Chair to appoint a member of the transgender community to a Convention Committee.

The elections included the Chairs of twenty-five Party Leader and Elected Official (PLEO) members to the three Convention Standing Committees: Credentials, Platform and Rules. The Standing Committees of the Convention are responsible for reviewing Convention business and formulating recommendations for consideration by Convention delegates.

For a list of and biographical information on the PLEO members from each Standing Committee, please visit: http://www.democrats.org/StandingCommittees

Other LGBT News…
DNC Provides Seed Money to Increase the Pool of LGBT Candidates of Color
"We are at a point in history in this country where it is more than just a place at the table to help bring about change; it is about a place on the ticket for the LGBT community."
–Governor Howard Dean

In a non-partisan effort to increase the number of LGBT candidates as well as more accurately reflect the diversity of the LGBT community, the DNC has provided the Gay and Lesbian Leadership Institute (GLLI) with resources for scholarships for qualified applicants for its upcoming Candidate of Color training. This training will be held in Baltimore, Maryland, from April 23rd to April 26th in partnership with the National Black Justice Coalition. The GLLI training program is renowned for providing the essential road map and educational tools necessary for successful LGBT political participation.

For more information on the training, please visit: http://www.glli.org/training
For scholarship information, please email: lauren.peters@victoryfund.org

DNC Highlights Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day
Governor Dean, Vice Chair Lottie Shackelford, Black Caucus Chair Virgie Rollins, and LGBT Caucus Chair Rick Stafford issued the following statement on February 7th recognizing National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day:

"National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day is an important opportunity to renew our commitment to a national strategy for combating the devastating impact HIV/AIDS continues to have on the African American community here in the United States. The HIV/AIDS epidemic is a humanitarian issue that affects all of us, but while African Americans represent 13 percent of the American population they account for nearly half of all new HIV infections. So today we renew our call for the development of a comprehensive, science-based strategy for combating the HIV/AIDS epidemic that includes expanding access to treatment, fully funding research and education programs, expanding HIV prevention efforts, and reducing HIV-related racial disparities. If we do these things, we can save lives and ensure the quality of life for all Americans."

Congresswoman Baldwin to Secretary Rice - February 21, 2008
In a Congressional letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin and three of her colleagues called on the Secretary Rice to address workplace inequities facing gay and lesbians in the U.S. Department of State. The letter states that "the lack of equitable treatment could force dedicated, intelligent, and needed FSO's and officials to make a needless choice between serving their country and protecting their families."

To read Congresswoman Baldwin's full letter, please visit: http://tammybaldwin.house.gov/.....ewsID=1437

Decline to Sign - Stop Divisive California Ballot Measure That Would Put Scapegoating Marriage Issue on the November Ballot
In an effort to scapegoat the LGBT Community in California and "ratchet up" the turnout of right wing voters for the California November election, a petition drive is underway to put an anti-gay marriage issue on the ballot. The proponents of this measure only have until mid-April to collect 1.1 million signatures. The DNC has joined many fair-minded allies in an effort to stop this measure from getting on the ballot.

If you want to help keep this unnecessary and divisive measure off the November ballot in California, please visit "Equality for All": http://www.equalityforall.com

Florida Red and Blue
Similar to the proposed measure in California, a divisive Marriage issue will be on Florida's November 4, 2008, ballot. It is clear that, since "same-sex" marriage is already illegal in Florida, this measure is an obvious attempt to not only scapegoat the LGBT Community, but also to increase right-wing voter turnout in the November Presidential election. Florida Red and Blue has been mobilized as a non-partisan, independent campaign dedicated to defeating this so-called "marriage protection" amendment.

To find out more on how to stop this unnecessary state constitutional amendment, please visit: http://www.floridaredandblue.com

Out Mayor to Head Democratic Mayors - January 2008
David Cicilline, the openly gay mayor of Providence, Rhode Island, was recently elected president of the National Conference of Democratic Mayors. This is a major show of support of his leadership by his colleagues of Democratic mayors from around the country. Cicilline is in his second term as mayor of Providence.

For additional information on Mayor Cicilline, please visit: http://www.providenceri.com/government/mayor.php

DNC Gay and Lesbian Leadership Council - Fundraising
Under the leadership of DNC Treasurer Andy Tobias and Gay and Lesbian Leadership Council (GLLC) Chair Claire Lucas, the GLLC is gearing up for what promises to be an expensive election. The GLLC has sponsored a record number of five events in the month of February alone. Governor Dean headlined LGBT grassroots fundraisers in Miami, Denver, Chicago, and Palm Springs, CA, and met with LGBT activists in Seattle.

Aside from raising money to supply our nominee with the necessary tools and resources for victory in November, these events attracted hundreds of past, current, and new donors - a sure sign that the LGBT community is energized and motivated as we enter the general election. As we move closer to the November election, the GLLC will continue to highlight the important role of the LGBT community in the political process.

To make a contribution through the GLLC, visit: http://www.democrats.org/gllc. For more information about the GLLC, please contact GLLC National Finance Director Tom Petrillo at petrillot@dnc.org.

The DNC is Recruiting Interns
The DNC is currently accepting applications for our summer 2008 internship session. With the Presidential Election ahead, the DNC is a busy and vibrant place. Interns are a vital part of the team at the DNC and work in all departments. This exciting and enriching experience in politics is an opportunity to get an insider's view of the Democratic Party and to make valuable life long connections. The DNC internship program encompasses every department, including Internet, Finance, Communications, Political, Research, and American Majority Partnership. Applications for the summer session are due on March 15th. For more information and to start your application, please visit the DNC website at http://www.democrats.org/interns.

Please Give Us Your Feedback
The DNC is eager to reclaim the White House and provide a new direction for America. Our staff is busy working with our state parties to ensure we are ready to hit the ground running once we have a nominee. Your feedback on any grassroots activities that we can implement around the convention, and ultimately on Election Day, are essential to our victory in November. Send your thoughts and ideas to bondb@dnc.org. To sign up for updates on LGBT issues from the DNC, including this newsletter, The LGBT Democrat, please click here: http://www.democrats.org/page/s/glbt. If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, please contact Brian Bond at bondb@dnc.org.

or even this article on the Blade website today.

Great posting. Thanks for the summary of a complicated story.

Let's all remember that MLK's right hand man and the organizer or the March on Washington was a gay man, Bayard Rustin.

Contrary to popular belief (especially in the black community, it seems), people can be gay AND black.

This shows me that the DNC leadership really isn't integrated at all, but is composed of little fiefdoms competing for power with … surprise … the straight white guy on top deciding who gets what.

Sounds like a college campus to me.

Dean wants equal rights in a way that won't offend blacks? That's an ignorant way to even phrase the question … and it shows that he's a bit afraid of both groups. He doesn't want to be called racist and he doesn't want to be called phobic and pretty soon he'll be too scared to take a shit without first consulting a diversity committee.

Well, Donna Brazile, Al Gore's former campaign manager. Now we know, the reason behind the sudden (out of the blue) video posting from Al Gore, suggesting gays should have the right to marriage.

I guess he knew this would come out sooner or later and wanted to distance himself Brazile.

I remain amazed at how effectively Donna Brazile has re-closeted herself. I met her during the run up to the Millennium March (she was on the board of the big LGBT gathering), and she was not at all shy. She became Al Gore's campaign manager and got cushy positions with the party and as a cable TV commentator, and suddenly she has a mysterious sexual orientation and is opposing LGBT inclusion in policies.

Those with a racist axe to grind often claim that African Americans are uniformly bigoted against us. They say things like "Black churches have influenced him (Obama), the majority of which rabidly oppose gay rights…" The non-racist truth is that some African Americans churches are bigoted but many are not.

While it’s true that the superstition based religious bigotry of some African American ‘leaders’ is centered on pigheaded opposition to same sex marriage the unfolding story of the DNC’s Bigotgate didn’t happen in isolation.

Historically it’s been the Clintons and other Dixiecrats who’ve led the attack on us in the Democratic Party. They rammed bigoted laws like DOMA and DADT through Congress and then Bill Clinton scuttled over to ultraright religious broadcasters like Pat Robertson Jerry Falwell and paid for campaign ads boasting about his role in passing and signing DOMA in 1996. He still claims that same sex marriage is the ‘kiss of death’ for Democrats and counseled Kerry to support state DOMA laws during the 2004 election. Hillary Clinton’s superstitious religious opposition to samesex marriage carries over into her antagonism to outright repeal of DOMA. Her campaign manager, Barney Frank and her lapdogs in the HRC led the fight to trash ENDA and the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes bill last December so they couldn’t be used as ‘wedge’ issues by Republicans. Dianne Feinstein rammed through the appointment of gaybashing Bush nominees to the federal judiciary and as Attorney General with significant Democratic support.

It’s in that context that the Bigotgate story in the DNC is unfolding. Right wing religious bigots in the African American churches have succeeded in frightening some 'leaders' like Brazile and in planting superstitious driven bigots like Daughtry in key leadership positions. Like the Clintons, Obama, Feinstein, Pelosi, Frank and Reid, Brazile and Daughtry are far to the right of their rank and file supporters and voters. If they again succeed in fooling enough voters their party will control both the White House and the Congress next year, but by then it’ll be too late to avoid a Democratic repeat of the war, economic dislocation and bigotry of the Bush years. GLBT Democrats and HRC huggers will have a lot to answer for.

While African-Americans do not "own" the civil rights movement, I think some (white and black alike) view the horrors of the middle passage, 2 centuries+ of slavery, lynchings, disfigurement/torture of wilfull slaves, untold rapes, America's jim crow apartheid and other atrocities as separate and distinct from the ostracization and discrimination of homosexuals. I think the schism within the DNC regarding the inclusion of gays as part of the agenda is attributable to several issues. First, possibly due to the vestiges of slavery, older blacks (like most Christians) put way too much emphasis on God/religion and fail to separate church from state in making fundamental decisions about people's lives. This cohort will eventually expire with the passage of time and be replaced by a younger generation that is more receptive. Second, there's likely a perception problem as to who gay men are. We've been complicit I think in showing in popular culture too many well-heeled affluent gay white men going to Ibiza, decorating fabulous homes and living la dolce vita or acting out irresponsibly (Queer Eye Carson Kressley, Project Runway, Larry Craig, Jim McGreevey, that Florida congressman who had the audacity to say he offered head to a black cop because he was scared, etc. it's really sort of one dimensional). It's a hard case to forge an alliance with or have empathy from old black people if that's the popular view, especially when some make the point, "Being gay is not necessarily identifiable like my being black and doesn't have the same penalties" (Anyone see the documentary Flag Wars?, the tension was so palpable). To counter this, I think we need to see more representation of blue collar white gays, for gay men of color (all races, but in particular black men) to be out and visible to show the diversity of our community. Third, it's a two-way street, there is elitism and racism within the white gay community (e.g., that twink Gay Conservative Liberal referenced on this site is a prime example) and I think some blacks within the DNC might feel, "why should I really be concerned about your rights, when you're not that readily concerned about mine?"

+1 Bill Purdue re: that African-Americans are not uniformly bigoted towards gays and that HRC is not the savior or supreme ally of the gay community

I have always been for Obama, because of the underdog mentality. Hilary will be the DNC candidate thanks to the super delegates that want a sane candidate that can defeat McCain. Obama is history because of Right Honoralble Doctor Whatever Wright and all the otther black "Jesus" people.

Black Jesus Pastors. They are scary.

Support for gay rights among African Americans actually declined over the last decade or so (marriage rights polls are a relatively recent creation, compared to employment and hate crimes laws).
Regardless, the Democratic Party has never had much of a consistent rationale for its affirmative action policies with respect to delegates. Is it based on historical restrictions on the right to vote? Then we would mandate that fifty percent of the delegates be female, right?
In any event, any African American opposition to gay rights is not monolithic, nor is the basis for it clear. Gay racial minorities are placed in the worst spot by this debate.
A friend of mine, waiting in line to vote in Flint in 2004, was waiting next to a young black man and an older black woman. The marriage amendment came up in conversation; he was voting for it because he felt that it was unfair to conflate homosexuality and racial status. Specifically, he said that gays never faced the same kind of discrimination African Americans did. The old woman laughed and said, "I was raised in the South. You're the one who hasn't seen real hatred. If two people want to be together, I'm not getting in their way. I'm voting against it." I've always thought that conversation was kind of revealing. Maybe younger African Americans, facing poverty, incarceration and fear, just think that the gay men they see have it pretty easy. But while it is no longer acceptable to (appear) outwardly racist, you can still get away with calling gays a bigger threat to America than terrorism. And as many Jewish people will tell you, economic advantage, real or imagined, is a thin guard against hostile political majorities. As gays have been reminded time and time again, the Fourteenth Amendment will not protect them in the same way it will protect others.

This just illustrates the nature of the modern Democratic Party. Simply an apparatus, where social progressives, centrists, corporatists, minorities and the working class struggle with and against each other. Still infinitely preferable to the insane policy consensus that largely guides the opposition.

Surely superdelgates realize that if they elect Obama as a candidate, the GOP will bring all kinds of crazy angry black evangelist saying worse than "god-damn America" out of the closet on to your TV and YouTube, sound bite after soundbite. The way that Rove did to Kerry "Swift Boast". McCain will be President. DNC has no option but to elect Clinton. Donna Brazile means well, as I did. But Hilary seems to be the path at this juncture.

Oh Charley, White Jesus Pastors are not scary or as virulent in their hatred? Homophobia is not the exclusive province of church going black people or pastors. For your edification read this: http://francislholland.blogspo.....lacks.html

Also, I feel like we've been hoodwinked or Rev. Jeremiah Wright, his fiery speech was in the context of quoting Ambassador McPeck, a white man, who said the chickens were coming home to roost because of American imperialisism and arrogance in protecting interests that suited us. Moreover, his church is actually pro-gay in that they run a workshop for same gender loving men in how to date and have functional relationships and he is a vociferous advocate for people with HIV/AIDS saying no one deserves to suffer from this but deserves campassion. Yeah, scary indeed. And then you wonder why some blacks are turned off and alienated from you.

I think what white people find scary is the impassioned fiery voice (PERCEIVED black anger can be unsettling to some, e.g., MLK being preferred over Malcolm X) but this speech makes perfect sense to me, you reap what you sow.

http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2008/03/21 … emiah-wrights-911-sermon/

The full story behind Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s 9/11 sermon
Posted: 10:09 AM ET
Editor’s note: CNN Contributor Roland Martin has listened to several of the sermons of Rev. Jeremiah Wright from Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago. Portions of the sermons have been excerpted in recent stories.

As this whole sordid episode regarding the sermons of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright has played out over the last week, I wanted to understand what he ACTUALLY said in this speech. I’ve been saying all week on CNN that context is important, and I just wanted to know what the heck is going on.

I have now actually listened to the sermon Rev. Wright gave after September 11 titled, “The Day of Jerusalem’s Fall.” It was delivered on Sept. 16, 2001.

One of the most controversial statements in this sermon was when he mentioned “chickens coming home to roost.” He was actually quoting Edward Peck, former U.S. Ambassador to Iraq and deputy director of President Reagan’s terrorism task force, who was speaking on FOX News. That’s what he told the congregation.

He was quoting Peck as saying that America’s foreign policy has put the nation in peril:

“I heard Ambassador Peck on an interview yesterday did anybody else see or hear him? He was on FOX News, this is a white man, and he was upsetting the FOX News commentators to no end, he pointed out, a white man, an ambassador, he pointed out that what Malcolm X said when he was silenced by Elijah Mohammad was in fact true, he said Americas chickens, are coming home to roost.”

“We took this country by terror away from the Sioux, the Apache, Arikara, the Comanche, the Arapaho, the Navajo. Terrorism.

“We took Africans away from their country to build our way of ease and kept them enslaved and living in fear. Terrorism.

“We bombed Grenada and killed innocent civilians, babies, non-military personnel.

“We bombed the black civilian community of Panama with stealth bombers and killed unarmed teenage and toddlers, pregnant mothers and hard working fathers.

“We bombed Qaddafi’s home, and killed his child. Blessed are they who bash your children’s head against the rock.

“We bombed Iraq. We killed unarmed civilians trying to make a living. We bombed a plant in Sudan to pay back for the attack on our embassy, killed hundreds of hard working people, mothers and fathers who left home to go that day not knowing that they’d never get back home.

“We bombed Hiroshima. We bombed Nagasaki, and we nuked far more than the thousands in New York and the Pentagon and we never batted an eye.

“Kids playing in the playground. Mothers picking up children after school. Civilians, not soldiers, people just trying to make it day by day.

“We have supported state terrorism against the Palestinians and black South Africans, and now we are indignant because the stuff that we have done overseas is now brought right back into our own front yards. America’s chickens are coming home to roost.

“Violence begets violence. Hatred begets hatred. And terrorism begets terrorism. A white ambassador said that y’all, not a black militant. Not a reverend who preaches about racism. An ambassador whose eyes are wide open and who is trying to get us to wake up and move away from this dangerous precipice upon which we are now poised. The ambassador said the people we have wounded don’t have the military capability we have. But they do have individuals who are willing to die and take thousands with them. And we need to come to grips with that.”

He went on to describe seeing the photos of the aftermath of 9/11 because he was in Newark, N.J., when the planes struck. After turning on the TV and seeing the second plane slam into one of the twin towers, he spoke passionately about what if you never got a chance to say hello to your family again.

“What is the state of your family?” he asked.

And then he told his congregation that he loved them and asked the church to tell each other they loved themselves.

His sermon thesis:

1. This is a time for self-examination of ourselves and our families.

2. This is a time for social transformation (then he went on to say they won’t put me on PBS or national cable for what I’m about to say. Talk about prophetic!)

“We have got to change the way we have been doing things as a society,” he said.

Wright then said we can’t stop messing over people and thinking they can’t touch us. He said we may need to declare war on racism, injustice, and greed, instead of war on other countries.

“Maybe we need to declare war on AIDS. In five minutes the Congress found $40 billion to rebuild New York and the families that died in sudden death, do you think we can find the money to make medicine available for people who are dying a slow death? Maybe we need to declare war on the nation’s healthcare system that leaves the nation’s poor with no health coverage? Maybe we need to declare war on the mishandled educational system and provide quality education for everybody, every citizen, based on their ability to learn, not their ability to pay. This is a time for social transformation.”

3. This is time to tell God thank you for all that he has provided and that he gave him and others another chance to do His will.

Hilary the DNC candidate because of super delegates over Obama ? How does that translate, Racial riots in L.A., NYC, D.C. Alabama, Missippi, LA and Georgia? Don't need a fortune teller to predict that. Burn baby burn.

Alec, when you say that “This just illustrates the nature of the modern Democratic Party. Simply an apparatus, where social progressives, centrists, corporatists, minorities and the working class struggle with and against each other” you’re leaving out a little something.

The Democratic Party is the last closet. As long as deluded people support it they’re just spinning their wheels. We need to break from them and fight in our own name for our rights.
Social progressives, minorities and the working class don’t have billions of dollars at their disposal. In politics money counts and billions count absolutely. That's equally true for Democrats and Republicans. Those with real clout in the Democratic Party are the right-wingers, corporatists and centrists like Obama and Clinton. These political prostitutes, bought and paid for, are the public face for the policies of the ultra rich. And as for the self styled ‘leaders’ of the social progressives, minorities and the working class, they end up being pathetic hangers on whose only role is to provide left cover or window dressing for the real owners and rulers of the Democratic Party. As Malcolm X said, describing a cigar smoking minister/Congress member, they’re ‘fire on one end and fool on the other.”

Like I said, after the election they’re going to have some explaining to do.

Charley – We need a little clarification here. When you say “GOP will bring all kinds of crazy angry black evangelist saying worse than “god-damn America” out of the closet on to your TV and YouTube, sound bite after soundbite. The way that Rove did to Kerry “Swift Boast” are you claiming that the Republicans racist smears and muslim baiting will be better, worse or the same as those of the Clinton campaign.

The truth is that Wright, like all superstitious people, can get sidetracked into taking illogical positions. But his robust hatred of racism and hypocrisy are totally logical and well founded.

My opinion is that the homophobia of the DNC, Clinton and Obama and the decision of the Democratic majority in Congress to dump ENDA and the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Bill combined with the blatant racism and muslim baiting of the Clinton campaign are proof that in spite of the illusions of people trapped in a political closet, the Democratic party is a cesspool of bigotry. Far being able to transform American society, it mirrors the ugliest traits of US society.

Wright's angry demeanor, and the old fashioned southern dramatic way he expresses himself overshadows his message. White America feels threatned, and concludes a revolution is in the making, rather than his robust hatred of racism and hypocrisy being well founded. Cool headed Obama sets the record straight, but is it enough ?
Many African Americans and others in the DNC resent us comparing our LGBT equal rights fight with the fight for black civil rights. They claim we have not suffered the way they have.
Perhaps because of our public persona, celebrating gay pride parades, we are not seen as an oppresed group by Congress.

We all know that if a gay man sent his attorneys over to the premier black publication in America to threaten the publisher, editor etc, Howard Dean would have fired his ass faster than the blink of an eye. I think dear Howard wants desperately to fire sweet Leah D. over this debacle but he can't.
So Howard, you can fire gays and you can't black women. Does not sound very Democratic to me. I am sure you are not having a Party over this.

Charlie : maybe you havn't suffered for your sexuality; Many other people have and have worked illegal or subcapable jobs due to being gay. Some of us have a history of chronic job loss due to being gay.
I can see that the Afro American bigotry is as bad against Somolians as it has always been against gays, as it is when I describe the history of my Irish ancestors. Many blacks figure that they deserve a corner on persecution and that the government owes them and only them everything special; its origins are nothing real; just learned helplessness, which we do nothing to encourage.
Donna Brazile should be tossed out on her fat ass! As should Dean. They are both stupid creeps. Dean's statement (above) tells you in no uncertain terms where he is at regarding gay people: if he includes gay people he will ruin the 'civil rights movement'!

I don't see that with the attitude that he has he could possibly attract gay people. I'd as soon dump him in a creek. As far as affirmative action goes, it has a pathetic record here in the U.S.regarding anyway: better to educate people.
The party system here in the U.S. is the most patetic way waty of organizing totally unrelated people.
The Republicans are a bunch of Greedy slugs along with the religious social issue nutcases who they've convinced have something important in common with them.
God knows about the democrats anymore: since nobody believes in having principles anymore, the Dems will drag anybody along thats left, if they can. Forget about any real issues; everybody is to stupid to figure out what they are more than a passing fancy.
I'm getting more exhausted than you Bill, I havea slight feeling that we would be better of with anybody but another Bush(which McCain is pledged to be.)

Charley "White America feels threatned" = racists feel threatened.

M. Shane,
I said they didn't understand. Of course I have suffered, from death threats in the U.S. Navy of being thrown off ship in the middle of the Pacific, to being tossed in the brig "for my own safety". Have been gay bashed by thugs and robbed several times at knife point to my neck.
This all happened when I was in my 20's and I was obsessed with suicide, to the point of having panic attacks because of my dark thoughts.
Glad I didn't do myself in, and lived to have more great times and bad times. I am now 74 and glad I was on the roller coaster of self discovery. Feel sorry for those who have not suffered, but I don't think you will find any LGBT's. There is a segment of righteous nuts that wants us dead, and if we buy into it, we will die.

Bill,
Right. White racists feel threatned, and they are the dangerous ones to look out for, even though most don't consider themselves racists. I am one of the priviledged educated whites that voted for Obama, and resent his campaign being hurt by Jerimiah Wright, no matter how many African American LGBT's defend him. Wright represents anger of being oppressed, but it is time to move on as Obama is rising above the past of black slaves being lynched.

M Shane, regarding your point that "many other people have and have worked illegal or subcapable jobs due to being gay. Some of us have a history of chronic job loss due to being gay" that is an aspect that needs to be visible in the media (mainstream particularly) to lend credibility to the plight of our gay brothers/sisters. It goes back to the perception point I made earlier when I stated that we see TOO much representation of well-heeled affluent gay white men in the media and people are simply not going to feel sympathy if they are under the erroneous impression that Sam Champion, Steve Bartlestein and Anderson Cooper are your supposed downtrodden and in need of being included in an affirmative action agenda. To put it crassly and bluntly, I heard someone once say "gay men are just rich white men who suck cock." Also, Charlie regarding your gay pride parade comment, I think such parades make us appear like a bunch of wanton hedonistic libertines (mmm, the Black Party is this weekend, which of you bitches is going?) (which is admittedly, our right as well and it's great that we can express our individuality) but such parades are not going to curry favor with the mainstream either — ever see that NYC 5th Avenue spectacle. But getting back to you M Shane and your dismissive point that "many blacks think they deserve a corner on persecution and that the government owes them and only them everything special" it is without question that African-Americans have endured the most horrendous unconscionable treatment in this country and if you feel otherwise, I suggest you take a walk to your local library and look it up. In the interim, by way of background, I've provided you with a synopsis Cliff Notes version at the link below to assist you in this endeavor. Moreover, the consequences and legacy of such horrendous treatment and policies is readily visible to the present day — there are pockets of people who really have no chances of being "mainstreamed" and are consigned to perpetual low paying jobs or illicit activities. I am an attorney, and have been so for 8 years. At my first firm, I was one of 2 black attorneys out of a firm of 180 attorneys. I have since left the firm and there are now 6 black attorneys out of 225. Affirmative action encompasses blacks, white women, asians, hispanics, native americans, etc. Studies have shown that the prime beneficiaries of affirmative action policies have been white women although it's quite interesting how it's characterized in popular culture as "an unqualified black taking something from a deserving white person." I provided the aforemetioned anecdote simply to illustrate that some blacks in the DNC might feel suspicious or have some level of trepidation in including gay men in an agenda which they haven't necessarily benefitted from in the manner they feel that is warranted given the history of blacks in this country and the current state of blacks as a whole in this country.

http://theblacksentinel.wordpr.....-american/

I worked once asa family systems specialist, mainly giving classes and workshops for the state University. One of the things I remember closely id the idea of "social scripts" which are sets of beliefs which survive intact and are passed on from generation to generation despite the lack of any real causal factors. This is especially true with black people and their role in this world. The Blacks were freed after the civil war when my Irish ancestors were escaping British oppression (worse than most slaves suffered here).
Somehow the Irish overcame thier delimitations by hook or crook(most often) I think because no one took care of them as they did slaves. Hence the scipt that they are owed sustinence simpluy for being subservient. Learned helplessness which seems to be passed from generation to generation. This does not go for all black people by any means,. I thjonk thaty A good example are the people who went to work on the railrad as porters etc. and joined unions.

It was a black man who saved my life aboard ship who told me the rest of the crew were planning to throw me overboard. I came out to the Commanding Officer, was given "other than honorable" discharge, and word spread like wildfire. This was in the closeted 50's. Needless to say, I stayed below deck for the whole time, until we reached Treasure Island where they tossed me in the brig. In the brig, more humiliation and torment always from white men.
Blacks I met back then seemed to have much more shared empathy for gay people, that was before the current religious fervor against us from both black and white churches.

Charley, I agree with you that Rev. Wright is alienating some white people due to his resonating voice railing against America's hypocrisy and misdeeds. It's unfortunate that his 30+ career has been reduced to youtube sound bites without putting his entire speeches in context. However, black people are not asking to live in the past, but rather to acknowledge it so that we know why our present is the way it is and where we want to go in the future and that we not repeat the past. Charley, you even lump it all together, "black slaves being lynched" when freed blacks were lynched and maimed during the mid 1900s. M Shane, spare us the platitudes on "Irish self-help" and inaccurate assertions that the "Irish had it worse than black slaves here." Yeah, slavery was paternalistic and benevolent. Clearly, you know absolutely nothing of which you purport to speak. The Irish benefitted from being drawn into the fold of being deemed "white." My maternal side immigrated to this country via the Caribbean and Central America and my grandfather clearly remembers after he came through Ellis Island, that the Irish were not considered white back then — my very dark grandfather lived in an Irish neighborhood and over time saw how the Irish assimilated and began to be regarded as white. This theory was posited in the seminal book on the subject, "How the Irish Became White" and an excerpt of the author's premise can be found here:
http://www.zmag.org/ZMag/articles/jan97postel.htm

M Shane, stop doing the readers of queerty a disservice in posting knee-jerk responses that are patently false and offer very little insight but perhaps your disdain for blacks.

@McShane

Can you tell me about this Irish slavery? I wasn't aware of it. It was worse or equal to black slavery? Did multiple *generations* of Irish slaves live on some British Lords plantation, while being denied education, rights and any freedom? They were property that could be killed at will? Who knew? When these Irish slaves had children who spoke with British accents, how did the Brits know they were Irish?

Bill Perdue +1 in response to your post that the Democrats like the Republicans are all bought and paid for and HRC has too many paybacks to give if she ever gets in office. Where are her tax returns anyway? I wish the Democrats were as progressive as some have been duped into believing. It's all status quo. Check out http://www.commondreams.org, very good site.

Monday, March 24, 2008 by TruthDig.com
A Conscientious Objection
by Chris Hedges
Those of us who oppose the war, who believe that all U.S. troops should be withdrawn and the network of permanent bases in Iraq dismantled, have only two options in the coming presidential elections-Ralph Nader and Cynthia McKinney. A vote for any of the Republican and Democratic candidates is a vote to perpetuate the occupation of Iraq and a lengthy and futile war of attrition with the Iraqi insurgency. You can sign on for the suicidal hundred-year war with John McCain or for the nebulous open-ended war-lite with Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama, or back those who reject the war. If you vote Democrat or Republican in the coming election be honest with yourself-you have voted to allow the U.S. government to continue, in some form, the campaign that needlessly kills ever more Americans and Iraqis in a conflict that has become the worst foreign policy disaster in U.S. history and a crime under international law.

“When will the American people actually vote to give to the world more than bombs and missiles, sweatshops, dubious science, frankenfood, poverty and misery?” Cynthia McKinney, the presidential candidate in the Green Party primaries, told me. “Not only do we need an immediate, orderly withdrawal from Iraq and Afghanistan, we need an end to the militarism that has placed U.S. troops on the soil of over 100 countries. A true peace agenda means a complete redefinition of security. I remain convinced that if people in Haiti, Venezuela, Brazil, Ecuador, Bolivia and Nicaragua can vote a peace and justice agenda into power, then so too can we.”

Examine the proposals on Iraq offered by Clinton and Obama. They talk about withdrawing some troops, but they also talk about leaving behind forces to protect U.S. bases in Iraq, assigning troops to train the Iraqi army and continuing the fight against “terrorism.” Clinton and Obama do not throw out numbers, but a rough estimate would be 40,000 or 50,000 troops permanently stationed in Iraq. Obama, his advisers say, will also not rule out continuing to use private security companies like Blackwater Worldwide in Iraq. The war would not end under a Democratic administration. It would drag on until the mission collapsed and the U.S. retreated in humiliation. And when pressed, the Democratic candidates have admitted as much. Tim Russert in the New Hampshire debate asked the Democratic candidates to guarantee that all U.S. troops in Iraq would be home by 2013. No one, including John Edwards, was prepared to make such a commitment. Dennis Kucinich, the only Democratic candidate who opposed a continuation of the war, had been excluded from the debate. When the question was asked he was standing outside the hall in the snow with supporters to protest his exclusion.

But the lust for militarism by Clinton and Obama does not end with Iraq. The two remaining Democratic candidates back the occupation of Afghanistan. They defend Israel’s indiscriminate bombing of Lebanon, which killed hundreds of Lebanese, destroyed huge parts of Lebanon’s infrastructure and left U.S.-manufactured cluster bombs littered over southern Lebanon. Clinton and Obama praise the right-wing government in Jerusalem and callously blame the Palestinian victims for the suffering inflicted on them by Israel. They support, in open defiance of international law, the 40-year Israeli occupation of Palestinian land and the draconian siege of Gaza, dismissing the grim humanitarian crisis it has unleashed on the 1.5 million Palestinians trapped in the world’s largest open-air prison.

The Democrats, who took control of the Congress in midterm elections largely because of public dissatisfaction with the Iraq war, have continued to fund the war, ignoring anti-war voters. The party, as a result, has sunk even lower in public opinion polls than the president, to a 19 percent approval rating, according to a NBC/Wall Street Journal poll. Clinton and Obama dutifully lined up with most other Democratic legislators to cast ballots in favor of squandering more than $300 billion in taxpayer money on a war that should never have been fought. And, if either is elected, he or she will spend billions more on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. I will skip the rest of the mediocre voting records of Obama and Clinton, which include pandering to corporate interests, failing to back a universal single-payer health care system, refusing to call for the slashing of the bloated military budget, not urging repeal of NAFTA and the Taft-Hartley Act, which cripples the ability of unions to organize, and not seeking an end to nuclear power as an energy resource. Let’s stick with the war. It is depressing enough.

The anti-war movement bears much of the blame. It sold us out to the Democratic Party. The decision by anti-war activists to accept a moratorium on demonstrations in 2004 in order to support John Kerry ended our chance to build a widespread, grass-roots movement against the war. Kerry, in return for this support, ridiculed and humiliated those of us who opposed the war. He called for more troops in Iraq. He mouthed thought-terminating patriotic slogans to out-Bush Bush. He promised victory in Iraq. He assured voters that he, unlike George W. Bush, would never have pulled out of Fallujah. Anti-war voters stood passively behind him as they were humiliated and abused. And the anti-war movement has never recovered. The groundswell of popular revulsion that led hundreds of thousands to take to the streets before 2006 collapsed. The five-year anniversary of the war was marked with tepid protests that were sparsely attended. Why not? If the anti-war movement gutlessly backs pro-war candidates, what credibility does it have? If it fails to support those candidates on the margins of the political spectrum who stand with it against the war, what is the movement worth? Why not be cynical and go home?

“It is a virus,” Nader said in a phone interview. “It is self-defeating. What are they doing this for if they can’t push it into the political arena? Is it all theater?”

“The strategy of the Democratic Party is to beat the Republicans by becoming more like them,” Nader said. “How can they get away with that? If they become more like the Republic Party they start eating into the Republican vote. This usually would inflict a price on them. They would lose the left’s vote, but since the left signaled to the Democrats that their vote can be taken for granted because the Republicans are too horrible to contemplate, they get both. As a result, when you put this cocktail together, becoming more Republican to get Republican votes and hanging on to the left because they have nowhere to go, you set up a tug in the direction of the corporations. There is no discernable end to this strategy by the left. When you ask the left they say not this year, sometime later. But when? If it is not now, if it is sometime in the future, when? What is their breaking point? If you do not have a breaking point you are a slave.”

The energy and idealism are out there. Nader, in a March 13-14 Zogby poll, took 5 to 6 percent in a race between McCain and either Clinton or Obama. Nader, among voters under 30 and among independents, polled 12 to 15 percent. If the anti-war movement gets behind him and McKinney, if it stands behind its principles, it could begin to shake the foundations of the Democratic Party. It could re-energize itself. It might even force Democrats to offer voters a concrete plan to withdraw from Iraq.

War is not an abstraction to me. I know its evil. It is time, if we care about the state of the nation, to take an unequivocal stand against the war. If Clinton and Obama do not want to join us, so be it. I support those candidates and organizations that fight back. We should, in solidarity, strike with the International Longshore and Warehouse Union on May 1 against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. We should support Code Pink’s refusal to pay the portion of our taxes that go to funding the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. But most of all, we should refuse to be suckered by Democratic candidates who use fuzzy language and will not commit to a total withdrawal from Iraq. We owe it to the hundreds of thousands of dead and injured. We owe to those Iraqis and Americans who will die in the coming days, weeks and months. We owe it to ourselves so, at the very least, we can salvage our integrity.

Chris Hedges, who graduated from Harvard Divinity School and was for nearly two decades a foreign correspondent for The New York Times, is the author of “American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America.“