People. Stop harping on the Human Rights campaign. As reader Brian points out, they totally managed to get LGBT legislation on President Obama’s immediate to-do list! Oh, wait.
Times: “Mr. Obama has laid out an ambitious domestic agenda. He wants to overhaul the financial regulatory system, and Democrats began to push a bill through the Senate on Monday. He also wants to rewrite his predecessor’s signature education bill, pass climate change legislation and revamp immigration laws. Sunday’s victory has clearly emboldened Democrats and raised expectations for Mr. Obama.”
The reporter must’ve written “repeal DADT” and “passing ENDA” in invisible ink.
Mike L.
What about the overhaul of LGBT Civil Rights Legislation Mr. President??!!!!???!?!?!?!?!?
Figures. I understand he has to do Immigration Reform this year b/c of Hispanic-Americans riding his ass and not to mention that they make a bigger minority size-wise than LGBT’s and need their votes this Dec, but I hope they include the Uniting American Families Act as part of that, At least that.
I’m all for Immigration Reform, but if dems consider giving rights to ppl who as of yet aren’t even US residents let alone citizens over American citizens it really f’ng pisses me off.
But what should we expect from Dems, our most loyal frenemies.
The Artist
Okay I’m PISSED, can you cut a brother a break! He only JUST passed a very important piece of legislation for everyone. Can he take a breath! Dang. Yo dig if you will a picture with an ocean of violets in bloom! How perfect that would be. Don’t worry, the man will repeal all the JACKASS laws that were passed agains the Mo’s. Change doesn’t happen overnight and it certainly not painful. It only took, um, let’s see, over 40 years for someone to do something about healthcare. BITCHES (term of affection) Spread the word…PEACELUVNBWILD!
lanjier
The Administration is planning on giving civil rights to illegal immigrants, ahead of giving us ours. Nice. We were there voting for that fucking party year after year after year, and then they repay our loyalty with this slap in the face.
Andrew
@Mike L.:
Actually, they may not.
7-10% of the population is GLT.
Another 10-15% are Bi.
Admittedly, Bi is a harder number to get, but that’s about what I’ve seen from all the studies I’ve read on the matter.
Hispanics are only 15%.
Tim W
@The Artist: In what world do you live in? The only way he can do this if he has a Democratical controlled Congress which he will no longer have as of November. He has given the GLBT community nothing but lip service. He has not spent one iota of political capital on GLBT issues. After November he’ll see I tried but the Republicans are blocking me. But hey give me money to get re-elected and I promise the next time I get around to your issues. Fool me once….
Tim W
Boy bad typos Democratical=Democratic see=say
PopSnap
@Tim W
Actually, if they play their cards right, they could have just begun in turning the tables back against the Republicans Sunday night. They really made asses out of themselves. Just check places like AOL and Yahoo which are normally full of right-wing nuts. It took two racial slurs, “baby killer”, and shrilling for insurance companies openly on the floor of Congress, but people have finally noticed.
The Artist
@Tim W: Good thing comes to those who wait. Don’t worry, the man’s got yo back, well if u deserve it. Admit it people just like 2 whinge. B apart of solution, not the problem. PEACELUVNBWILD!
AndrewW
ALL of us must handcuff ourselves to the White House fence. If you don’t have handcuffs, go to someones office and refuse to leave. Maybe make some clever posters and march around town. Demand. Demand. Demand.
THAT will force the President to deal with us.
Cam
Everybody from HRC keeps saying that lobbying is the way to go. wow, they really can get things done can’t they….oh wait.
jeffree
The economy & jobs might be worth a look at do ya think? ENDA & repeal of DOMA & DADT may just seperate out WHEAT from CHAFF when it comes down 2 showing who in congress cares about us. Now that the Repubs are trying to come up with excuses why they FAILED to expansd health coverage, is the time to let them try to show if they are more Pro-America or just Anti-Obama!!
P.S. Ignore the troll AndrewW. It’s just here to yell NO NO NO but *never* to provide better ideas! It’s got nothing to add to any conversation other than WHINE & NEGATIVITY.
Steve
@Andrew wrote: “7-10% of the population is GLT. Another 10-15% are Bi.”
I don’t think so. I have seen many dozens of studies that support a range of 2% to 5% G&L. The percentage that are T is too small to measure. (It would be interesting to have an actual census question. Maybe ten years from now.)
Basically, the G&L minority is so small that no congressman is worried about it. Lobbying by such a small group cannot change even one vote in congress. Not even Nancy Pelosi, who represents San Francisco, has ever been concerned about the gay vote. Sometimes a cogent argument can convince a congressman that supporting one of our bills is the “right” thing to do. But that is so rare it hardly matters.
The Courts exist to protect minorities. Other minorities have won their equal rights in court. It doesn’t hurt to keep making noises at the Congress, but the decisions will come from the Court.
jason
He’s waiting to be annihilated in the Congressional elections so that then he can use it as an excuse to do nothing. I’ve told you all along he has no interest in repealing DADT, and is simply waiting for the Congressional rout to make it impossible.
jason
Actually, about 80-90% of all men are bisexual in orientation.
delurker again
Whatever, jason. Enough with the BS about bisexuality.
And I agree with the poster above would said GLBTs are not sizable enough to influence and effect change in legislatures. Deal with the fact that our numbers are not large enough as a voting block to force any politician to do anything.
Yet Another
Its not just about the size of the voting block. Its about the inverse proportion of political backlash he’ll get for it.
I’d argue that the DODT/ENDA battles would have cause almost as much flack as health care (minus the teabaggers) and would have achieved far less both practically and politically. Gay issues probably compare just as poorly to financial reform, immigration, etc….
Look, President Obama is still a political leader. He’s still operating within our political system. He’s using his political capital where he thinks it’ll do the most good now. I understand that I’m on a gay board so thats not acceptable here. But thinking as a democrat first, I’d rather he do the best of the most people now, as long as he does his best for us before too long.
That doesn’t make me an apologist for him. Thats just to say that my personal political priorities aren’t skewed that gay, despite the rest of me being a $3 bill. It does suck that our “gay” issues aren’t headlining.
But isn’t it great my being HIV positive won’t get me kicked off my insurance and ineligible for another one? Be happy for me at least.
romeo
In a country that is as evenly, and fiercely divided as America, the GLBT vote IS a major voting block. We can tip the scales, especially for democrats. Also, the 7-10 percent for just gays and lesbians alone is correct by most studies. Bi’s don’t necessarily identify differently than the rest of the population, many gays don’t either, BUT in crucial legislation that effects personal liberty in regard to same-sex orientation, Bi’s vote with gays. As I’ve said before, that is why gay legislation NEVER scores lower than 30%, and in recent years always close to 50%. And you can bet that’s mostly gays and bi’s, albeit many in the closet. The vast majority of same-sex oriented people are indistuishable from the general population, and are mostly closeted for social and economic reasons. That, however, is changing.
And such defeatism I’m seeing here. Things are looking up, even for us. I’ll reiterate my prophecy made several weeks ago. The senate in November will be 62 dems. Romeo sees all, Romeo knows all.
BTW: new poll today, majority of electorate now FAVORS the health bill and is happy that dems were able to do it. And the repugs are getting redder and redder in the face — not good for old farts.
jason
Not all bi’s vote with the gays. Assuming 80% of all men are bisexual in orientation, it’s obviously not the case that these men are currently voting in a pro-gay way.
The reason that not all bi’s vote with the gays is simple: many bi’s are ashamed of their same-sex component or they don’t believe it’s important. Also, quite a number of bi-oriented guys have such a minimal same-sex component, it doesn’t figure in their lives.
Community TV Network
Check out this PSA made by Chicago high school students:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OwwDSj5ZYI
jeffree
@Steve: It’s not just the % or # of LGBTs that u should consider. We do, well many of us, have families & str8 friends or co-workers who support us and will base votes at least partly on Queer issues. No, they don’t have “skin in the game” like we do, but we DO matter to them & when we can appeal 2 their sense of fairness & justice AND get them to get off the futon 2 vote, they mean more votes than just us.
i’m still not giving up hope that the priority on jobs & economy is important. Without jobs being created we have nothing…..
reason
@jason: wrote “He’s waiting to be annihilated in the Congressional elections so that then he can use it as an excuse to do nothing.”
I don’t mean for this to be offensive, but that is one of the most ignorant comments that I have read in a while. Obama is trying to be a transformational president, health care is just the start of his ambitious agenda. You think he is trying to give up on his entire agenda just so he can hide out from DADT? That just doesn’t make any sense, I understand people are emotionally charged but try to stay in the vicinity of reality.
@Steve – While I agree that the percentages are small, the belief that it’s to small to make a difference is absolutely incorrect. The Jewish population is small but yields massive influence in this country. One of the reasons this community doesn’t get ahead is because people are so bitter and vindictive against others and ourselves.
Steve
@reason: “”One of the reasons this community doesn’t get ahead is because people are so bitter and vindictive against others and ourselves.”
Indeed, the number of people who hate (have animus toward) gay people far exceeds the number of people who are gay. The number of people who hate gay people seems to be even greater than the number of people who are willing to grant gay people equal rights. As evidence of this, consider the elections in which gay issues have been on the ballot.
reason
@Steve: That doesn’t take away from the fact that this community will not move forward if were constantly denigrating someone or fighting among ourselves. How are we going defeat our enemies if we are defeating ourselves.
Rainfish
There are fewer Jewish people in the entire world than there are GLBT citizens in the United States of America.
BREAKDOWN:
Total number of people on Earth as of 2005 was 6,430,856,221 and the Jewish percent of that population was 0.227% or around 14,596,218.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_population
The estimated Gay and Lesbian population of the United States alone is around fifteen to twenty-eight million — and probably far more, which does not even include the bisexual population.
So for anyone to even suggest that we are politically insignificant is, to put it politely, pure BULLSHIT!
According to many exit polls, in some metropolitan areas, the GLBT percent of Democratic voters is as high as 16% of the total number of Democrats who voted in the last Presidential election. This should come as no surprise because even though Blacks only represent 13% of the US population, they can comprise many times that number as a percentage of Democratic voters in national elections.
So, you see, your importance to keeping the Democratic Party’s numbers high (in local as well as in national elections) as a voting block is far more than your actual numbers in the population at large. When elections are won or lost by only a few thousand votes or less (Gore v. Bush in Florida…Kerry v. Bush in Ohio) I truly believe that the Dems would be absolute fools to take the GLBT community for granted, especially if the GLBT community proclaimed in a very strong and united voice to withhold support for any candidate for office who did not support full equality under the law in all aspects of American society for the GLBT American population.
HRC’s impotent tactics are about as useful as Neville Chamberlain’s negotiating skills with the Third Reich. You never confront entrenched power from a position of appeasement or weakness, but rather from a position of power. Other minorities in the US have figured that one out, why hasn’t the GLBT community?
We have power too — it’s in our wallets and in the voting booth. Making it very clear that we have that power to those in Congress and in the White House who ignore us has been our weakness, but our greatest failure is not believing that we actually yield that power ourselves.
The Dems have acted just like the Health Insurance Corporate vultures in the USA — they offer you assurances that they will be there for you – for a price (money and votes) – but, when you really need them, you just become a liability for them to scrap.
Now that we have Health Care Reform, how about demanding Democratic Party Accountability to Constituents Reform?
We brought them to the Ball, now it’s time for them to stop waltzing with everybody else and to give us our turn on the dance floor as well. If you don’t make it clear to them that you wont tolerate just being their limousine driver to and from the Ball, then go ahead and get used to being a wallflower – forever.
jeffree
Maybe we’re missing the point. Too many people don’t vote because they dont think it matters. Maybe theyre lazy. The haters mobilise the masses based on scare tactics: “the gays are trying to take over” gets the churchy crowds out, and the Tea Party people get people up in arms because of DEATH PANELS.
Our message that “gee we dont want 2 get fired for being gay” or “we really want to get married please” gets shouted down because people dont take an hour to go vote because it seems like *no big deal* or even obvious or a done deal.
In a class at school, political science 2 be exact, i asked who voted in the last election. about 40 people were there and just 9 raised their hands. Average age is about 23. Only 14 were even registered 2 vote.
Apathy = failure
Message to us: we got ***WORK*** to do !!
Bussy
Look guys DADT will be repealed. For the mere fact that the public wants it gone..its going. They have no reason in hell to sustain that law.
DOMA is not going anywhere and ENDA is unpredictable for now. This is the political reality for now. It doesn’t matter if
all gay soldiers chain themselves to the fence of the White house and lose their service career..DaDt will be repealed. Obama wants this done properly
and I suggest we all let the big boys do their job.
In November the DEMs will most likely lose their majority but I am sure DADT will go. Stop whining and start thinking positively.
Rainfish
What a bunch of “whiners” Dr. Martin Luther King’s little racial group of trouble-makers must have been — that is, according to some of you who are ignorant of the history of civil rights movements in America.
And look, all of you Cassandras out there (and you know who you are), do you think your amazing ability to sooth-say what is going to happen in November is really anything more than a weak excuse for apathy and/or capitulation? Buying into so-called “political pragmatism” is too often a self-defeating act of bowing down to the status quo. It’s a “Don’t rock the boat or there might be backlash” sort of rationalization for doing nothing or pathetically accepting someone else defining you as less deserving of being treated as a human being entitled to the full palette of human rights and respect.
So, how well did that plan work out for the Jews, homosexuals, labor unions, etc., in pre-Nazi Germany?
As far as us letting “the big boys do their job”…uh, we’re still waiting…and waiting…and waiting…and waiting…ad infinitum — while they’re stealing our votes and destroying our hopes. What is really unforgivable is how they (the Dems) are creating a new generation of young GLBTs who no longer believe or trust in anything. For that, I cannot forgive them.
It is far past time for non-violent, civil disobedience. It worked for Women’s Suffrage; for Black people’s civil rights but, whether or not it will work for us…well, that really depends a lot on us. Well…doesn’t it?
If you don’t love yourself enough to demand to be treated as a human being, then at least fight for the one who you may meet and fall in love with someday. Sometimes people only take an interest in their own lives if there is someone else in it to protect.
The Artist
@Bussy: Thanks 4 spreading the word. PEACELUVNBWILD!
Sam
Obama may or may not have LGBT issues on his agenda, and should be lauded or criticized for that. But to rag on the President because of what one Times reporter decided to include in a list describing the President’s agenda seems a little off base.
This wasn’t a statement from the White House that left us out, Queerty. Save your scorn for acts that are actually scorn-worthy (of which there are many). This Faux News-style shit just makes you seem like you have a petty agenda.
Tim W
@Bussy: Sorry but I want to know where your delusions are coming from. Story after story comes out that the Pentagon is not studying how to repeal DADT but if it should be repealed. How many Republicans have signed on for a repeal of DADT? That would be 0. And you would have to be a pollyanna not to believe that the Democrat are going to lose a bunch of seats in both chambers this November. Do you really think with higher numbers of Republicans some of them are going to say now I support repealing DADT?
The fact of the matter is the Democrats have had the numbers yet they have accomplished nothing. And the president will use it as an excuse for not getting it passed. I’m willing to lay money on it. Facts are facts. Show me any proof that the Democrats are going to get this or EDNA passed. They blew it. But I’m sure they will be begging for our money for mid-term and 2012 elections.
Bussy
Mr timmy. You and people like u r the fucking reason why everyone is not paying attention to the gays jabbering and whining anymore.
DADT is going to be repealed. FACT. Is it going to be easy? HELL TO FUCK NO? The pentagon can decide to drag this shit forever but Obama has issued an order so
you bet ur ass it will be done. The public support is the most crucial thing here and they have it so the only reason to drag leg is political. That is how it works in real life. Deal.
Now ENDA…I’m not really sure. If public support is as poor as DOMA then I’m not sure how that will play out.
If u want DADt repealed lose the bullshit and start getting patient. Its not going to happen soon
Bunny Snuggles
A large majority of the American people support ending job discrimination against Gays and Lesbians (still divided on marriage equality though). It is Congress and Obama that are out of the loop. That is because of apathy, personal bigotry and cowardice. If you think that they (Congress) are just reflecting public opinion on the issue by dragging their feet, you haven’t done your research.
Check the Gallup stats:
http://www.gallup.com/poll/6541/More-Accepting-Homosexuals-Canada-US.aspx
Yet Another
Look, anyone find a poll that says anything they want. And anyway can cast aspersions on any politicians political agenda. There are no FACTS. There are no assured predictions. None of us know what anyone else is thinking or what they can and cannot accomplish.
I choose to BELIEVE that gay rights have picked up momentum and we’ll reach equality regardless of politics. There are gay activist out there working hard. There are good people in politics trying to do the right things. America’s views are progressing. Change will come. Whether is through this administration or the next.
I love to hear people cite the civil rights movement as if it was accomplished within a Presidental term. It was long and hard. And you know what saw black people through? Faith that change would come and patience to continue on until it did. The Civil Rights movement wasn’t hung on the actions or office of one man. It saw its leaders and it’s favored president KILLED. Yet change did come.
Its not just fine, its “right” to be mad as hell about the condition of gay rights in this country. But stop heaving the responsibility on one man, one administration or one party, especially when you’re trying to make comparisions to a movement that did neither.
AndrewW
What we do know is that we have 50 anti-gay US Senators. It really doesn’t matter what happens in the House – these Senators are NOT changing their minds/votes until their constituents change theirs. Something we do NOTHING about.
Bunny Snuggles
“I favor legalizing same-sex marriages, and would fight efforts to prohibit such marriages.” ~ Barack H. Obama 1996
Obama’s answer to a 1996 Chicago “Outlines Newspaper” question on marriage equality — that is, before his ambition overwhelmed his ethics.
According to the Windy City Times, during the 1996 race for the Illinois State Senate, President Barack Obama gave statements that expressed an “unequivocal support for gay marriage.”
————————————-
Also from the same report on the duplicity of our Commander & Chief Hypocrite…. is this from the comment section that bears repeating.
A very astute observer of the human condition who goes by the handle “oldbrit” wrote in the Huffington Post the following:
“The desire for freedom and fighting for it is in the DNA of all people an cannot be ignored or set aside in the light of “higher” priorities. Those that do not have full human and civil rights will fight and agitate to achieve them. This creates a bigger distraction from other things than simply granting the civil rights.
Civil and human rights for all people is a basic requirement for unity in the U. S. and peace in the world and provide the only stable foundation for civilization and governments throughout the world
Without civil and human rights for all people, anything done to fix other important issues such as the environment and the economy are built on a house of cards with an unstable foundation.
Our government and American citizens are capable of doing multiple things at once. When we have civil and human rights for all, that will be one less thing to worry about.
If we are serious about fixing the other issues, we will assure full civil rights for all people so that we can all work together on the problems.”
Posted 10:28 AM on 1/15/2009
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/01/13/obama-once-supported-same_n_157656.html
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I couldn’t agree more. But how does one fight for one’s human dignity when we just helped elect a man to lead us who has no honor.
Sami
Be patient, and give the Obama Administration and Congress time.
LGBT issues will be discussed, but there are more important issues facing the United States right now.
As a gay male, I am very happy with our condition of life is here.