Just puked in my mouth.

Give where it *CAN* help:
Servicemembers Legal Defense Network provides legal counsel to LGBT service members so that they can either stay in the military or AT LEAST get an HONORABLE discharge if their career can’t be saved.
http://www.sldn.org

American Veterans for Equal Rights is a social and support “veterans service organization” (listed in the VA.gov VSO directory) created by and for LGBT veterans and their supporting allies to help LGBT veterans gain access to their VA benefits, discharge upgrades, etc., and to provide a social community for veterans who are all too frequently ostracized by other VSO’s.
http://www.aver.us

They also don’t really seem to care about a lot of HUMAN rights, and instead just look out for the rich gay white guys who agree with them 100%.

Omitting the inclusions for transgendered people on the (ENDA or Hate crimes?) bill was a pretty big red flag.

Michael, your point is well taken, however the numbers of dismissals from the military for being gay shot through the roof AFTER Don’t Ask Don’t Tell was initiated. It was not followed, an angry ex would tell a persons commanding officer that the person was gay and they would end up getting kicked out even though they had “Told” nothing. The fact that federal employees are not prevented from being hired because they are gay is nice…however I would say that signing DOMA into law when he was so far ahead in the polls absolutly negates that. It’s sort of like having somebody mug you and then drive you to the hospital….I would have prefered they not mug me in the first place. We need to stop being so grateful for any little crumb. It would be like a woman in 1925 saying, “Well sure, they won’t let me vote, but at least they outlawed beating me so I should be grateful.”

What I am saying is that a company that is sued by an employee for sexual orientation discrimination can make a legitimate argument to the court that the case should be dismissed because the federal government mandates and defends such discrimination in the military as they feel it is bad for the organization, therefore how can Congress mandate that a company protect somebody who is suing for dismissal on those grounds. Even if only one company does it, it could weaken ENDA by having the court agree with them. There is no reason not to package the two together into one bill which states “No discrimination against LGBT in public or private or Military capacity. End of story.

Don’t fuck with me fellas. This ain’t my first time at the rodeo!

Don give HRC any of your money, don’t listen to any of their propaganda, don’t allow them to speak for you, don’t wait around for them to accomplish anything. BTW, when has HRC accomplished ANYTHING?

f u hrc.

oh, and it looks like hrc employees have been adding their comments above – funny how they never expose this fact. Queerty u know it’s happening, how’bout doing something about it.

@galefan2004:

Only effective organizations get my money.

How about the possibility of new, intelligent, tactical actions? Pressuring the DNC, and the adminstration, and HRC and ALL of the rest of the friggin’ DC establishment is absolutely the right thing to do…if we are tenacious, and tough, and committed, and persistent, we will have many real gains for our cause during this administration.

HRC is a sham and who ever feels like they are supporting all of our rights is lying to themselves.

No biggie, but, actually, House DADT repeal lead Ellen Tauscher is apparently still waiting for her State Department appointment to come through, not Cabinet.

MA Congressman Patrick Murphy is expected to take the lead which is GREAT because not only is he straight and HATES DADT but is, I believe, still the only Iraqi vet in Congress, who was one of O’s military advisors during the campaign. No one’s going to tell him he doesn’t know what the military generally or young troops specifically are like.

YouTube seems to be hung up at the moment, but when it’s back, you can scroll down on the page at the link below for an inspiring example of his nailing banshee Elaine Donnelly to her homohating cross during a DADT Congressional hearing last summer.

http://www.leonardmatlovich.co.....after.html

.@Cam:

We are not served by ignoring the good that came out of the Clinton administration any more than we would be by ignoring the bad. Did you know that in a twist typical of the upside down world of DADT that gays in the military, thanks to an Executive Order by Clinton, DO have “hate crimes” protection while civilian gays, as you know, still don’t? Did you know that in another twist, per another of his orders, the discovery that a servicemember is gay during a security clearance check cannot be used to discharge him/her? And, that, through another order, gay employment discrimination is banned in federal hiring?

Finally, it’s time for the President to stop listening to the dinosaurs in the Jurassic Park of the Pentagon. To recall what he himself said in 2007: “America is ready to get rid of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy. All that is required is leadership.” To remember his own better angels and freeze discharges immediately. And, then, for him to become a “drum major for justice,” leading Congress to fully repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.

Please help that day arrive sooner by calling the White House at 202-456-1414 or e-mailing the President at http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/.

Thank you.

Its ironic… in 2009 we’ve seen Steve Schmidt, Meghan McCain, and Cindy McCain come out for gay marriage. At the same time we saw the NY GOP Senate leadership allow their caucus to vote on marriage. We saw John McCain shift his position on DADT. We saw Dick Cheney come out for marriage.

I’m not a Republican myself but I think we should stop aiming all our anger at them, especially because they no longer control the government.

Truth is, I don’t see any infighting. The only person I see anger geared at is Joe Solmonese for his self-aggrandizing failure to lead a sinking ship called the SS HRC.

I think you and I read the same books. Hitting an incumbent in a safe blue district from the left in a primary is often an effective means of getting the incumbent to move left. You mentioned Taucher – I don’t know how closely you’ve followed her career but a couple years ago she was absolute shit – very conservative. It was only after being threatened with a primary that she started to come around to the progressive side of things. And let me emphasize this: it was only with the threat of a primary challenger.

The same thing is happening with Sestack and Specter. Specter is suddenly moving to the left – way to the left – because of the threat from Sestack in the upcoming primary.

And, yes, I contribute to those campaigns with money I can ill afford to spend. I probably spent a thousand dollars in the last cycle. In the last few months I even got my own act blue page up, though that didn’t raise a lot of money.

Still, and at risk of sounding like a broken record, calling your representative regularly is a very effective strategy. Doing it from work is hard, though. When I was working, I did it from my cell phone (had the numbers in my address book) on my lunch break.

We have only THREE people in Congress and two of them are bending over the President. One of them (who shall go unnamed) is bending over barebackwards.

Were you as sickened and disappointed as I was with Barney Frank’s reversal?

Captain Freedom…I think you are very smart :)

We had Ellen Tauscher and then she got appointed to the Cabinet. My guess is Obama didn’t want her to give us rights so he took her out of Congress! Lol!

I think the most effective way to get the Democrats in line is to go to safe-D districts, find those who are not standing up for us, and run openly gay primary challengers against them. We have only THREE people in Congress and two of them are bending over the President. One of them (who shall go unnamed) is bending over barebackwards.

I know what you meant, I’m just saying that I’m not offended. We are both clearly mad and both clearly mad at the right people. :-) Your anger at HRC and “over the top” comments towards earlier me reveals an anger which is completely justified. So I’m not offended, because I understand. I’m with you. Are you hearing me?

And yes, I find Joe’s comments stupid and useless, but I’m not really all that mad at him, either. He’s a guy with an opinion with which I disagree, which I think covers a whole lot of our country right now. (and truth is, I kinda skipped over his comment after reading the first line. No reason to descend into that kind of stupidity).

I think we should definitely get involved w the politicians in DC but keep in mind that is not enough. We need to get involved on the ground.

Definitely. But I just want to emphasize, here, the effectiveness of those three phone calls. I just made them right now and I ask you to do it, too. Please, Captain Freedom, do it for me. Humor me. Make the three calls right now and then tell me how you feel. It usually puts a smile on my face for an hour or so and I’d like to know it does the same for you. It’s SO easy and SO effective!

Prop 8 won’t get overturned by politicians in DC or some far-and-away leader.

This is true on Prop 8. But the three issues I call on are Single Payer, DOTA and DOMA, and that is definitely in the purview of the House and Senate. Try it! Give the fuckers a call! They work for you.

Prop 8 won’t get overturned by politicians in DC or some far-and-away leader. It will get overturned by grassroots activism and people waking up and voting.

You were rude, I responded in kind. I think it zeros out.

Look, you’re clearly angry and justifiably so. I just think all this typing in a Queerty comment thread is not the most effective channel for your energy. So, to you, I humbly offer this suggestion:

Every other day, I make three phone calls, one to my representative in the House, Madame Pelosi, and one to each of my senators, Boxer and Feinstein. The calls are very quick and go like this:

“Hi there. I would like you to pass on a message to the Speaker (or the Senator) for me. I am a constituent, I live in the 94117 zip code. I am in favor of single payer, and I’m in favor of the immediate repeal of DOMA and Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. Can you pass that along for me?”

To which the person on the phone always says something along the lines of “I’d be happy to. ” They sometimes ask for my name and address, which I’m happy to give. It takes less than five minutes to make all three calls, and please believe me when I say that these phone calls are effective. They add up. The offices keep a tally by their phone and record the numbers. Legislators start to freak out when they get a lot of calls. It tells them we are paying attention. And your five minutes is far better spent on the phone than it is writing a check to HRC. Or any other A-Gay Group of professional queers.

HRC is run like AIG. A bunch of old fruits with no plan and a big mouth and lots of money sucking on the Obama Administration for another bailout in the form of crumbs and self promotion.

Talking out of both sides of his mouth is a game he expects us to play but but most of us won’t play any more. That court filing recently was the most disgusting and insulting filing to come from an administration’s Department of Justice and damaged any attempt to overturn DOMA too. When you compare Gays in effect to criminals, you don’t have much chance of ever overturning DOMA nor an argument any longer for doing so. Obama is the gift that keeps giving to republicans and homophobes alike and HRC tells us to be patient? This struggle isn’t about Obama but about us and equal rights. It’s only about him in the sense that he made promises he’s failed to keep. It’s no use telling us he’s working on DADT and discussing the issue when that issue has been talked to death. You’re either for it or against it and you’re either going to keep your word or not and now and not some time in some distant future when it’s politically convenient for you. In the meantime, good people and patriots like Daniel Choi who should have a right to serve their country get thrown out of the military and we get a token month to celebrate Gay pride, some diplomats get equal rights and federal workers get them too but without all the benefits their heterosexual co-workers get. So much for Obama’s fierce advocacy of Gay rights and so much for the HRC that believes that waiting means soon when in fact like Martin Luther King said, “Waiting means never”.

YES! I AGREE 100%! More if it were possible! They are the gay version of the DLC!

Come to San Francisco. You will see millions of outraged Californians who don’t care for HRC, EQCA, or any of these organizations but just want their marriage rights back. Talk to my friends who are activists who subscribe to every gay organization out there. They are all pretty tired of the constant newsletters from HRC bragging about some event that they were not invited to and could care less about.

When you’re ready to stand up for us and our rights, we’ll be waiting. Until then, HRC DOES NOT SPEAK FOR ME.