SOUNDBITES — “The indication from the White House is they want to show the president is still committed to this, but that it’s further down on the list of priorities. He’s got a lot in front of him, and the big question is how much political capital he’ll put behind this. Will he pressure Congress? Will he pressure the Pentagon? There’s just no indication right now that he’s going to spend his political capital in that way.” —CBS News Chief Political Correspondent John Dickerson on The Early Show over the weekend (yes, we missed it until now), evidently confirming CNBC’s Washington correspondent John Harwood earlier statement that the White House has dismissed those calling for gay rights (among other things) as part of the “fringe”
political capital
What Does NBC Universal and CBS Agree On? White House Has Dismissed the Gays Completely
Help make sure LGBTQ+ stories are being told...
We can't rely on mainstream media to tell our stories. That's why we don't lock Queerty articles behind a paywall. Will you support our mission with a contribution today?
Cancel anytime · Proudly LGBTQ+ owned and operated
DanW
Maybe Barney Frank knew what he was talking about?
ajax
DanW, I think Barney Frank dismissed us too.
Perhaps some commentors who have dismissed Sunday’s Eqality March now understand the logic behind the March. It’s harder to dismiss a group that can garner media attention. It’s harder to dismiss a group that can rally support outside of its own community. It’s especially hard when mainstream media will openly discuss this administration’s cynicism and hypocrisy toward equality.
Thank you to NEM’s organizers and to everyone who attended and/or supported the NEM.
Can someone contact HRC and see how they respond to Mr. Dickerson and Mr. Harwood?
Charles Merrill
Lady GaGa got all the attention. Bad judgement giving her a microphone upstaging all those that should have been on CNN, MSNBC, and FOX such as NAACP leader Julian Bond. Instead, it was Lady GaGa, and the news pundits all laughed. The NEM did more harm than good.
DanW
As I commented on another thread, my husband watched some of the C-SPAN coverage (which included Lady GaGa) and was repulsed by all the anger. I’ve heard Julian Bond had a wonderful message, which was overshadowed (sadly) by folks like Lady GAGa. If NEM was intended to mobilize public opinion in favor of supporting our rights, it may have utterly failed.
Brian
Yea, gays who think Oblahblah is violating his Oath to equal protection, protecting the country and honoring our veterans is the craaaaaazy left. We are so crazy and looney for complaining about disgracing our soldiers. How nutty we are!!!! And he is perfectly mainstream by kicking their asses to the curb. Nice.
schlukitz
The only people who have “utterly failed” here, are those posters who feel the constant need to belittle and dismiss the efforts of those who are willing to get up off their asses from behind their computer screens, spend some dough on plane fare and march their asses off in the hot afternoon sun to draw attention to the fact that our President is not delivering on the promises he made to us.
These efforts may not be good enough to suit you, but when one gets right down to it, who really give a good shit what you naysayers think? You really don’t matter, one way or the other, in the scheme of things.
You naysayers and people who love taking a dump on the efforts of others, to get you the rights you currently enjoy and will also benefit from in the future, ought to be thoroughly ashamed of yourselves for behaving in such a mindless and childless manner.
It saddens me, however, to know that this is not the case. People like you thrive on the misery and suffering of others and never miss an opportunity to take a crap on anyone who tries to make things better for the lot of us, no matter how insignificant those efforts may be deemed to be.
AlwaysGay
DanW and Charles Merrill, Fixed News and many other haterosexuals would criticize and/ or at the march no matter what.
Remember everyone to keep the pressure on by sending letters, emails, faxes and phone messages to Congress and the White House.
Cam
Gee, what a shock, a piece about the march posts to Queerty and all the anti-march folks jockey to be first in line. Dan, you’ve been posting constantly about how all the anger turned off your husband etc.. and that the march did nothing. Well the fact of the matter is, two days after the march suddenly Senator Lieberman announces he was contacted by the White house to talk about a DADT repeal. So obviously something changed. As for Barney Frank being right…Barney Frank exibited the anger of the head cheerleader who has told everybody to wear only yellow on Friday and having everybody show up in Blue. He is angry that the gay community isn’t listening to him tell us to shut up, sit down and be quiet, as has been the case for the last 15 years. He is angry because How dare the community stand in the way of his getting a high level appointment in the Obama adminstration. …and lastly Dan, I find it amazing that your husband was turned off by all the anger. It’s a weird response that when somebody is told that they are second class citizens who don’t have equal rights, that you would attack them for being upset and not the people that are attacking them first.
rudy
Lady Gaga, too angry – no straight person is going to sit and watch the whole march on C-SPAN anyway.(My personal favorite was Urvashi Vaid whose speech is on youtube)
Last night John Stewart read out FOX’s coverage of the march.
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/tue-october-13-2009/queer-and-loathing-in-d-c—-radical-gay-agenda
J. Clarence
I don’t see why this is surprising. I don’t think any reasonable gay person or progressive would seriously advocate that in the midst of two wars, an economic crisis, and God knows what else, gay-rights should be at the top of his list. It shouldn’t be.
However, that doesn’t mean it he should forget about he said during the campaign and for that matter that we should give me a free pass on it either.
As long as he can demonstrate that his administration is actively working on these policies (and there are a lot of people in the White House, so it is not as if they cannot juggle more than one issue at a time) and guarantees that he won’t veto gay rights legislation if it comes to his desk–which he has–I think that should suffice. These issues will ultimately be settled in the Congress anyway, so I have no idea why collectively the gay community has been starring at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. And we’ve seen how bad the president is in controlling the Congress anyway.
DanW
Cam–get this through your head, queers are a MINORITY. That translates into facts like: we need friendly heteros supporting what we want in order to get it done. Period.
My understanding is that the NEM was, among other things, supposed to energize our allies and future allies to support our cause, which is equality. Straight people turned off by folks like Lady GaGa are not likely to support us in Congress or at the ballot box.
Perhaps the organizers need to get honest. If the NEM was actually intended as a vehicle for angry people to vent it, then the March succeeded all too well. In that event, the positive messages, e.g. Julian Bond’s have been wasted.
If people find my opinion to be anti-NEM then so be it. We had a golden opportunity to positively affect opinion and we may have blown it.
schlukitz
We had a golden opportunity to positively affect opinion and we may have blown it.
That’s simply your opinion. It’s not chiseled in stone and coming down off any mount.
And, you know what they say about opinions, don’t you?
InExile
The march was quite a success. Our community received lots of media attention which you cannot put a price on. The march brought our issues front and center in the media where they should be. A new generation of activists have been energized.
I salute the people who organized and participated in the march, you made a big difference.
It is such a shame that the nay sayers did have a negative impact on the turnout, shame on you! The turnout has been reported at around 200,000 not 10,000 like the nay sayers predicted. But one has to wonder how many more people would have participated if the nay sayers would have given the event support or at least not thrown cold water on it.
Carl Sagan
There weren’t even close to 200,000 people there, as these photos make clear. Actual attendance at the lawn party was 10,000 to 20,000, tops.
As for political influence, the Human Rights Campaign drew the president of the United States to its dinner, while the Equality march bagged a city councilman from Los Angeles.
DanW
Schlukitz–ah yes, but mine have barrels of ink behind them.
Andrew
So, how many “minds” do the NEMers think they changed? That’s the only score you can keep. It’s all that really matters. Unless we change minds – we’ll never be equal.
DanW
My point exactly, Andrew