Ooh, boy, you know Joe Solmonese is busting out his best Ferragamos for Wednesday’s Don’t Ask Don’t Tell repeal signing! This man put his reputation on the line by promising the law would die by the end of the year, and while the Congress-backed “repeal” isn’t actually the death of the law (Gates and Mullen still have to sign off on it), I guess this means he did it? So he can keep his job? I haven’t attempted to confirm it, but I’m guessing Solmonese — who was gunning for an Obama administration job — will be standing behind the president’s desk when that pen hits paper.
hacktivists
The Beginning Of Joe Solmonese’s Victory Lap
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Fitz
I would almost rather we kept DADT if would mean getting rid of that parasite.
Tollendyr
He disgusts me so much I can’t even watch the video.
SteveC
Does Obama not realise that associating with that quisling Unc-Tom Joe Solmonese will only damage his reputation with our community.
Solmonese is a parasite. And the HRC are a worthless organisation.
jason
I should take more of the credit than Joe. Overall, it was we in cyberspace who did it, not the politically-compromised, cocktail party-attending members of Gay Inc. Gay Inc would have rolled over had it not been for us in cyberspace.
J.
@ Jason: What are you talking about those in cyberspace? It was lobbying and 17 yrls of hard work that ended it. You need a slice of humble pie.
ewe
Am i the only one willing to let him fight for gay rights? This hate against him is so bizarre to me.
Joe
@J.: Jason is actually right.
Because of websites, such as Queerty, the gay base has been incensed. If this site didn’t push people like Jason, and me to act then trust me this wouldn’t have gotten passed.
The Obama/HRC administrations were not gunning to repeal DADT. So, when they didn’t have enough to get it passed a few weeks ago, they had no idea how angry the gay community would be.
Queerty and other sites got their readers to voice their anger, and this is why Obama and Solmonese decided to relent. They both knew that if we withheld our pink money, then the Democrats would sink into the abyss.
We did it.
And one note to my lesbian, gay and transgendered friends that told me they couldn’t get involved in animal issues until DADT was repealed. Well, guy/gals that day has come. So please do what you can to help animals. Whether your issue is to help end puppy mills, or stopping fur farms..please do anything you can. They need us!
SteveC
No 6: Ewe.
But Solmonese and HRC are NOT fighting for gay rights.
They are fighting to maintain their access to those in power in the Democrat Party.
They are willing to sell the rest of us down the river the moment it becomes convenient for them.
With friends like Solmonese and HRC, who needs enemies.
SteveC
Solmonese truly is a repulsive, opportunistic hypocrite.
That smug look on his face when the presenter that he lead the repeal is truly nauseating.
Fire Solmonese and disband the HRC. They are utterly useless.
JR
Time for “Uncle Joe” and the rest of his toadies to pat themselves on the back for a job well done and then disappear into the cigar smoke filled lounge with brandy in hand and congragulate each other on being masters of their domain. do they not have any idea just how out of touch with the rest of us they really are? Fire them all I say, and start anew.
Midtowner
Haha…Love Joe and the HRC!!! You progressive belly achers can’t even be happy when we have a victory. Go back to your angry bitter lives…
Danny
The credit should go to SLDN – Servicemembers Legal Defense Network.
Steve
I think this was passed in spite of Joe Solmonese, not because of him.
I can name a few dozen people whose activism and public statements might have helped, but Joe is not one of them.
Midtowner
@Steve…really? While he was with Obama, backed Obama and constantly pushed Obama…you don’t think he had one thing to do with this. It just kills you that the inside way of doing things-politics per se, actually got this through. You my friend and the rest of you who feel this way are dillusional.
SteveC
“You progressive belly achers can’t even be happy when we have a victory.”
We are all happy that DADT is gone.
But Solmonese and HRC had nothing to do with it.
If you choose to believe that HRC was instrumental in repealing DADT (despite the complete lack of evidence to support this view) then that is your business.
I want the HRC to disband. They do not speak for me. Nor do they represent me.
J.
I’m not saying Joe and HRC didn’t have anything to do with it, but saying Joe was a leader in this is a bit of a stretch. SLDF, SU, HRC and all the others (yes including Dan Choi) that continued to pressure the White House and Congress to not push DADT to the back burner is what helped us to victory. That’s why I was a bit annoyed when someone thought that is was ‘cyberspace’ was solely responsible. If you like to admit it or not, it was a lot of campaigning and elbow rubbing by Gay Inc. that got this done too…
J.
SLDN*
Mike
HRC and SLDN and others didn’t pass this reapeal — but their constant emails to call and write your senators and congressman- kept the dialogue open and utimaley helped repeal this law. So Thank You HRC!!!!
Casey
Congress repealed DADT. Thank Pelosi, Lieberman, Collins, Murkowski, Snowe, Brown, and others. SLDN tried to get through the courts and they are so far failing, and the other groups just wanted to become media whores. Especially Dan Choi.
Harley
Um, maybe an ever-so-slight hat tip for LCR, whose court case was the reason cited by the brass and Secretary Gates for acting now? Humility isn’t exactly high on anyone’s agenda here is it.
J.
LCR, I forgot about them. They certainly helped.
Pan Pan
The only thing Princess Joe is good at is sucking Obama’s cock. And, of course, shopping with all the money he has from his inflated salary. You know the huge salary that you equal-sign suckers are paying for.
AndrewW
As much as I believe HRC is a waste of money – they created the “Compromise DADT Repeal” deal in February. They needed to get some Republican votes, so they created the idea of a “military Study” and it worked.
Most other organizations and activists condemned this “compromise,” but DADT was only repealed because a few Republicans in the Senate voted for it. HRC did that deal and they deserve that honest, objective recognition. Their “idea” worked. Nobody else in the LGBT-equality industry can claim that. Not this year.
Steve
@Andrew:
HRC did not birth the idea of a study. It was the Pentagon itself which demanded such a study, and it was set up to be completed after the elections and just a few weeks b4 Congress adjourned. In other words, it was designed to punt the entire issue to the next Congress, and since the GOP took the House, that would have meant that DADT would be here for another 10 years. It was only because there was a huge outcry at letting this slip away that Reid reversed himself and made it happen. HRC was at best useless and at worst helpful to the forces that wanted to punt the issue.
AndrewW
@Steve: HRC held a meeting in February at the White House proposing a solution called the “DADT Compromise Repeal” that included the “study.” HRC was smart enough to relaize that we needed some republican votes in the Senate. The “study” did that.
HRC did this deal. Give credit where credit is due.
LezGetReals
Robin Mcgehee got DADT repealed. She should be the new President of HRC because she knows how to get stuff done and she is our MLK.
You go girl!!!!! Robin is my hero.
It’s time for Slo-Joe to retire. People know Robin scared the President and now she owns him. We need to send her money so she can set us free. If you are a serious gay or lesbian visit getequal.com and give her some more money. NOW!
Jennifer
@LezGetReals: I think Pam Spaulding got DADT repealed. Her writing has really shaken up Washington DC. I think robin is good at doing some stunts, but they were Pam’s idea. She deserves the credit. She makes a better MLK, too.
jak
You people are truly and certifiably insane.
Tony X
@SteveC:
Well except they did successfully work to overturn DADT …..@AndrewW:
BRAVO – the anti-HRC campaign was started by Partisan Anti-Progressive Gay Scum (Andrew Sullivan and the Log Cabin Republican types)
Daez
@Pan Pan: Oh please, if Joe was really sucking Obama’s cock we would be a lot farther ahead. Any good gay man should realize that the one giving you good head has a better chance of getting everything they want.
Daez
@AndrewW: Oh come on bro, you know the bitter old queens here, that hate Joe more because he is older and gorgeous and aged much better than them, will attack anyone that they feel is doing better than them.
It is a lot easier for many here to attack Joe and HRC than to turn the spot light to themselves because they did nothing. Oh, and writing your congressman/senator is NOT doing something.
Cam
Please remember this.
ORIGIONALLY, The Administration said there would be SERO Movement on Don’t Ask Don’t Tell and Joe Solomnase and HRC backed them up saying it wasn’t the right time. ALSO they came out AGAINST the Lawsuit against Prop 8 in Ca. and origionally were against the Lawsuit against Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.
It was only AFTER Speaker Pelosi dealt with sit-ins in her San Fransisco offices that she forced DADT onto the White House in spite of the White House objections.
So HRC was origionally saying that the Administration NOT bringing up Don’t Ask Don’t Tell was fine. It was only after it was a done deal that they figured they’d better jump on the bandwagon.
Remember, when the first judge in the Prop 8 case struck down Prop 8, Joe Solomnase was all over TV acting like he had something to do with it, when in fact HRC had attacked that lawsuit and the people bringing it from the beginning.
He is doing the exact same thing now.
Cam
@Daez: said..
“”
Oh come on bro, you know the bitter old queens here, that hate Joe more because he is older and gorgeous and aged much better than them, will attack anyone that they feel is doing better than them.
It is a lot easier for many here to attack Joe and HRC than to turn the spot light to themselves because they did nothing. Oh, and writing your congressman/senator is NOT doing something.””
________________________
Really? Thats funny because that is ALL HRC ever asks people to do….so are you saying that all of their efforts, which amount to basically trying to get their members to write or call Congress, meaningless?
Additionally, not only completely defending HRC, but calling it’s head Gorgeous and acting like a little fan-girl. Well I find it interesting that you have continually defended bigots, anti-gay laws, and anything that seems hurtful to gays here on Queerty….and then you are also completely defending HRC. INTERSTING…….
Sean K.
Really Queerty? What is with this bizarre pleasure in the gay community to cannibalize itself? I swear to God, it seems like we eat our own young sometimes…
Yes, HRC is in bed with Democratic Party in a large way, and that sometimes causes problems when people like Joe are too willing compromise with elected officials who supposedly support the cause.
BUT, this machine that gay muckrakers love to crap on just achieved a major victory for gay rights, one that would have been impossible for any other group to accomplish, so let’s quit with the pissy, passive-aggressive headlines on Queerty that downplay this huge landmark (“Senate Passes (Compromised) DADT Repeal Bill” I mean, wth?).
I work with an organization that’s been in contact with Joe Solmonese’s office for some time, and he’s been nearly impossible to get a hold of recently because he’s quite literally been testifying and meeting with Congressmen everyday now for months. C’mon people, let’s a little credit.
Cam
@Sean K.: said..
“”
I work with an organization that’s been in contact with Joe Solmonese’s office for some time, and he’s been nearly impossible to get a hold of recently because he’s quite literally been testifying and meeting with Congressmen everyday now for months. C’mon people, let’s a little credit.””
__________________
He was happy enough to sell gays down the river, even being off on a trip to England when gay rights issues would come up for a vote. It was only after other gay rights organizations were getting movement and traction that he decided to scramble. You can attack blogs like Queerty all you want, but if they HADN’T been holding HRC’s feet to the fire, HRC would have continued trying to give the White house cover to never move on DADt.
Patrick
The anti-HRC crowd is just the new “paid activists” that want HRC’s money. GetEqual spends most of their time online and using different names to attack HRC. They want people to give them money instead of HRC.
I just wrote a check to Pam Spaulding to help keep her website alive. I agree with her and she needs the money.
GetEqual wasted millions last year and they just did 10 stunts.
I’m still giving to HRC – they won this DADT repeal. Cam is way off, HRC made the deal in February – even before the silly Get Equal people came along.
Pan Pan
@Sean K.:
Oh, PUH-LEASE. He’s impossible to get a hold of because he’s a) busy shopping, b) making plans for a faaaaabulous cocktail party and c) instructing his minions to take credit for other people’s hard work (that’s HRC’s business model.)
And even if those things aren’t true, I believe they are, they are the perception of more and more gay people. If Princess Joe actually cared about anything besides himself, he’d step the fuck down and let HRC have a much needed reorg.
Patrick
Wow, Cam is a bitter Queen.
Before you give more money to GetEQUAL, how about helping to save Pam’s House Blend? She needs the money and I know you support her work.
InExile
Robin from GetEqual and Dan Choi deserve credit for the repeal but NOT Solmonese! The repeal would have been done long ago if Solmonese was doing his job and today we would be celebrating the passage of ENDA instead. Unfortunately, it will be years before we celebrate anything now unless the courts come through. Obama and Solmonese had a chance to end discrimination and both failed.
Pam's House
@InExile: Wow! You are Soooooo Correct!
HRC should give half of their money to GetEqual and Dan Choi. THEY got DADT repealed by putting pressure on the White House.
The White House now knows that paid-activists and “left fringe” Bloggers are in charge of all GLBT matters. The community should support both and make Solmonese resign.
Cam
@Patrick: said…
”
Wow, Cam is a bitter Queen.
Before you give more money to GetEQUAL, how about helping to save Pam’s House Blend? She needs the money and I know you support her work.”
________________________________
Well isn’t that the typical response from the paid HRC staff and their little fangirls on here. Conplete and utter anger that anybody would dare to interfere with their collection of cash.
I notice that you attack and name call me, but you seem to have been unable to list one thing I said that was incorrect. Apparently you think what I said was correct, but you didn’t like my saying it so attacked me. This is why HRC has lost so much support in the last decade and had that decline speed up in the last two years. You don’t try to understand the community, you set your opinions and then you lash out and attack anybody that questions them.
Pam's House
@Cam: I’m just trying to help save Pam’s House Blend. Her website is facing financial difficulty. You should make that your cause because she has been very influential. Some of the way-left websites have been very effective this year, but Pam’s is the best.
Help save Pam’s House Blend.
MTiffany
“Everybody Tell Joe Solmonese What A Great Job He Did”
No.
Obama
Do you all ever enjoy your history or do you just bicker.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse/5271828665/
ewe
He’s kinda cute in a three stooges sort of way.
Cam
@Obama:
Gee, and it only took gay donations to the DEMS dropping by 80% for him to do it.
Rick Gold
I give most of the credit to a straight guy from Pennsylvania, Patrick Murphy, for this bill.
By the way, you would think that for a gaymo with millions of dollars and leagues of minions at his gay beck and call could look a little better.
Obama
@Cam:
What? Some of you act like he never wanted to end DADT unless you all existed. Maybe he stands on principles?
Organizing for America put on a massive lobbying effort close to Health Care Reform in these past weeks.
People just want to complain…I’m personally pissed he waited until Wednesday to sign the bill.
justiceontherocks
HRC would take credit for the sun coming up if they could figure out how it would make them money.
To Patrick, “Obama,” and all the other GayInc. apologists, happy holidays and here’s hoping Santa will bring you a brain.
Charlie
@Fitz: “I would almost rather we kept DADT if would mean getting rid of that parasite.”
What a hateful thing to say, you would rather have thousands of lives continue to be in peril because you personally don’t like Joe Solmonese? How offensive and hateful.
@ewe: Its just your typical HRC/Obama bashing from internet tough guys. Pay no heed to it.
HRC is the largest most powerful gay group in the country right now so of course they are going to have enemies. Anyone who doesn’t think they had something to do with this victory or the Matthew Shepard Act isn’t grasping the big picture.
Melanie N
DADT Repeal was Robin McGehee’s idea and she deserves most of the credit. The White House never took gays and lesbians seriously until she handcuffed herself to the fence with crazy-boy Choi.
HRC keeps wasting money. Give your money to Robin and she will set us free.