Matthew Shephard’s rolling in his untimely grave. The House Democrats shucked hate crimes legislation from the defense authorization bill. From The Washington Blade:
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev) and Senator Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.)Thursday morning acquiesced to demands by House Democratic leaders to drop a gay and transgender inclusive hate crimes bill from the National Defense Authorization Act, a knowledgeable Capitol Hill source said.
The decision kills the hate crimes bill for this year, but House Democrats, led by gay Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), are calling on the Senate to pass a freestanding hate crimes bill as early as February.
Senate Democrats had hoped to pass the DOD authorization bill with the hate crimes measure in tact, saying it was the best strategy for discouraging President Bush from vetoing the hate crimes measure, which Bush opposes.
Particularly spineless Democrats apparently rallied against the measure because they felt they wouldn’t get the votes.
Rabble-rousing Lane Hudson calls “bullshit”, after the jump…
From The Bilerico Project:
There are a couple problems with this situation. First, it doesn’t even make sense. The House of Representatives was able to pass a fully-inclusive stand alone hate crimes bill this year. It defies logic to tell us now that they don’t have the votes now that it is attached to the Defense Authorization bill. If anything, it should make it significantly easier to pass.
…
This is shaping up to be a complete sell out of any campaign promises that Democrats made to the gay community. Repeatedly, officials within the Democratic Party promised hate crimes legislation and an Employment Non-Discrimination Act. If this report is true, then they are batting zero.
Hudson also takes a swipe at gay non-profits who haven’t used their many millions effectively. Gee, we wonder who he’s talking to…
Gregg
And this is surprising, why?
The Dems are only slightly more gay friendly than the Repugs. They are not really our allies.
Gregoire
Because Democrats know the gay community will never vote Republican, they can afford to continually dick us around. Its just pathetic.
Gregg
Exactly, Gregoire. To all those folks who say “I’ll vote Democratic no matter what,” well, here ya go. Enjoy!
Gregg
Though, of course, this is far better than what the Repugs would do if they were back in legislative power.
WWH
Just to stir things up, I thought I’d mention that 24% of gay men are Republican. At least they know what they’re getting and obviously are not single issue voters.
Jack Jett
So the HRC kicked our transgender friends to the curb and then we all got kicked to the curb.
Karma?
Blacky
Gross invocation of Matthew Shepherd’s name.
kamasutrajones
I so love sweeping generalities like “Repugs” and that no gay man would ever vote Republican…
Thanks WWH for pointing out the real truth of the matter, from a proud, gay, non-Bush friendly, non-single issue Republican voter.
Heather_L_James
This is what happens when a community places their collective faith in an organization committed to “playing by the rules”, especially when they are someone else’s rules. Maybe someone should take Joe Solomonese to Vegas for a weekend so he can see the dynamic of playing by someone else’s rules in real life. More often than not you lose.
And how irrelevant is HRC right now? They love scorecards over there, how do they rank?
Integrity = 0
Accomplishment = 0
Diversity = 0
Right now HRC is doing about as much for LGBT rights as Concerned Women for America.
Jack Jett
Heather…
I think you might have waaay…overscored the HRC….You were being very giving (very Paula Abdulish)in your scores.
Bill Perdue
Steeriiike two!
Transgendered rights and EVERTHING of value was stripped from the Democrats version of ENDA and then the bones were picked clean by Republicans amendments.
Their version of ENDA won’t fly in the courts. It was Frank, Pelosi and the Democrats who abandoned everyone in the LGBT equation to the tender mercies of bosses and managers who practically mint money underpaying us and discriminating against us in hiring and firing.
It’s true that Frank’s obvious contempt for emboldened a few bigots in our ranks but the fight was never between GLB’s and T’s, it’s always been between all of us and the Democrats.
So first we lost ENDA and now we’ve lost the hate crimes bill. Both are desperately needed and now.
We should form campaign committees to demand their passage (with ENDA in its original, workable form). People are getting fired and underpaid everyday. People are getting harassed and abused every day and each year 20 or more of us get lynched and thousands are beaten. That obviously is not a problem for the Congress, so we’ll have to make it a problem for them.
With Democrats like these who needs Republicans. A Republican is a baboon in a people suit with a totalitarian christian attached at the hip and a Democrat is a Republican in drag.
It’s not surprising that a brand new poll by Harvard’s Institute of Politic found that “Only 30% of young people believe that the two major parties do an adequate job of representing the American people, with 37% saying a third party is needed. “
Democrats are people suffering from spousal abuse who refuse to get help.
hisurfer
Jack Jett beat me to it.
And in a sick way I am truly enjoying watching how outraged! some of our brothers are. You all know the ones – those who tried to get the trans to sit back quietly while they were dumped from ENDA, & who argued that it was for the greater public good.
Although this one confuses me. Gays were dumped so that we could continue to fund the war?
Gregg
WWH and kamasutra: Repug is accurate. Dems may be ineffectual, but Repugs actively work AGAINST us. Unless you’re a straight white rich christian male, if you are Republican enjoy lifting up your party while they cover you with shit.
ProfessorVP
Ineffectual because they are lazy-asses, or ineffectual because privately they agree with Repugs, or ineffectual because they read the polls/focus groups? Or a combination plate?
Methinks all three, emphasis on the last.
Matt
Keeping things in perspective is always good (i.e. Gregg). While I agree this is another of the Dems’ baffling, utterly crappy capitulations (crapitulations?) to george (“give me a clean defense authorization bill”) bush, at least with them there’s sometimes the teasing hope of something meaningful, vs. the republicans and the anticonstitutional, inhumane, fundy rightwing horrorshow they’ve been shovelling up for the last 8 years (and will continue to shovel up if they hold the presidency and/or regain Congress); so the choice, and sadly it appears to be the choice, is fairly clear. Since Frank & Co raised the issue of bringing the hate crimes bill up again in February, perhaps we should scream at them from now til then–I personally would vote for a rewarmed bowl of poo before I’d vote for any of the republicans running for president, but that doesn’t necessarily mean my friends have the right to take me for granted and ignore me.
Bill Perdue
Democrat loyalists are in all respects like abused spouses who refuse to get help, sign the arrest warrant or leave big daddy.
The Lone Ranger and Tonto
Love you Greg, dude, right on about WWH and Kama.
I have always loved reading that Canadian bishop and you, Bill Perdue. You both say it better than I do, but I feel the same way, man.
WWH
Greg and Lone: The dems cover you in shit also (to wit, this post). Not all republicans are of the southern variety. Giuliani and Pataki came to mind. D’amato, as well – who was actually endorsed by the HRC.
Matt
Bill Perdue–I understand your analogy, but I don’t think it’s altogether accurate. Unlike abused spouses, there is no reasonable alternative: no shelter, no courts, no family structure to step into the political space occupied by the “abuser”. The republicans are not a rational alternative (with all respect to gay repubs, I get that there are issues other than gay-centered, like tax breaks for the wealthy or waging war on various countries, but I disagree with the gop on those too), and the political reality of the US is that third parties are utterly irrelevant (and yeah, I know that’s a self-fulfilling statement, but we can’t afford to go through several more election cycles letting the posturing gaybashing conservative fundy warmongering republicans win whilst we build a vialble third party). So the alternatives are what? Move to Canada? No thanks, I’ve been, it’s lovely to visit, and miles beyond us politically, but I still don’t want to live there. So tell the “abused spouse” what he should do.
Heather_L_James
Call this conspiracy theory run amok, but is it crazy to think that our agenda items are being pushed back to ensure the Dems get out the queer vote come next November? Think about it; if all this legislation were to pass and then fall to a presidential veto maybe the Dems are worried that the LGBT vote will become complacent and assume these items will get rubber stamped with a Democratic Prez. I know it sounds far fetched but it is really hard for me to take this at face value; that the defense authorization bill has the votes, but not if it includes hate crime protection for LGBTs. In essence isn’t that saying that us queers are more distasteful still to the American public than the most unpopular military action since Vietnam?
Bill Perdue
Matt, ‘crapitulations’ is excellent’. Too bad if you haven’t copyrighted it yet.
The abused spousal analogy is inexact only in the sense that we don’t get to see and smell, close up, how utterly corrupt and debased these politicians are. If we could it’d be all over for them immediately. Otherwise it’s pretty accurate. People who say they support the politicians who beat us up like that are precisely like abused spouses who empower big daddy.
Let me briefly recap. DOMA, DADT, ENDA gutted, hate crimes dropped, DADT not repealed. Add to that genocide in Iraq, union busting, a nose-diving standard of living, environmental disasters, the heartless abandonment of Katrina, a collapsing infrastructure and what seems like a new huge tax break for the rich every other Tuesday and you can see the potential for some powerful political fracturing, maybe even a quake or two.
Our only choice is to mount independent campaigns to fight for equality. Campaigns that are massive with cutting edge demands and campaigns that get, dare I say it, pushy. There are over 3,500 GSA/GLSEN chapters and thousands of GLBT campus groups. You saw the stats in my first post – 30% of them think the Democrats and Republicans are fuckups and 37% think a third party is needed. Unions age gearing up to mount a Labor Party challenge. Black trade unionists want to launch an independent black political party.
I think we’ll be able to build both an independent party and our own militant fighting movement. By the time that happens people will be as ready as they were in 1776 and 1860 for some big changes. If you want to vote for big daddy till that happens be my guest, but keep an open mind. Don’t end up a bitter end supporter of the Democrats.
When the fan gets dirty I guarantee you we are not going to be gentle with bigots, warmongers or union busters. If you can’t join us please don’t stand in our way. And if you want you can join us – think of how much fun it’ll be giving big daddy a black eye, or two, or three.
Kyle Dennan
Bill Perdue:
“Our own militant fighting movement?” Really? How utterly traditional politics of you. The fact is that violence is not an option…period. Did the Black Panthers get things done for the African-American civil rights movement, or did Martin Luther King, Jr.? I believe it was the latter. Gandhi freed India. Susan B. Anthony and other peaceful feminists helped get the vote for women. There are thousands of examples of this…peaceful change is what we should be going for, not radical, violent revolution. It’s simply not how lasting change comes about.
This is a huge disappointment, one of the dumbest things Washington has done recently (granted, that’s like saying that someone is the most closeted homosexual at a Republican party meeting, but still), but the answer is to get LGBT people INVOLVED in politics, because even if the system is corrupt, this is a Republic…politicians have to listen eventually, for votes. The American people are growing more and more sympathetic to the gay rights plight, and the fact is that becoming radical would be the worst, most counter-productive thing anyone could do for this movement.
REMEMBER
“When you fight monsters, take care that you don’t become one yourself.”
~Nietzsche
also, do some reading on the French Revolution’s aftermath, as well as that of the Bolshevik Revolution. I think you’ll find that revolution is almost never the path to civil rights, rather, it generally strips the rights of those it was intended to protect.
You’ve made several valid points, take care, and always remember that quote.
~Kyle
Bill Perdue
Kyle, how utterly silly of you to think that that the struggle for equality only leads to a military contest. Self defense is another question entirely but I use ‘fighting’ as a word to describe a movement that gets pushy, demanding, unrelenting and uses repeated massive demonstrations and other political actions to demand a program of full equality.
The option for peaceful change is always in our best interests but we’re not the culprits. The Bush administration, supported by the Democrats is trying to cripple the constitution with laws like the Paytriot Act. Kyle, wake up and smell the napalm. The owners of the Republic are committing genocide to steal Iraq’s oil. Even some one wearing rose colored classes over rose colored contact lenses should be able to fathom that. All we can do is struggle, i.e., fight, for our rights and defend ourselves if they get rough with us.
Since the period after Lincoln’s murder the only real advances have made by massive fighting movements who’ve coerced the two rightwing parties that administer this country for the rich to codify their demands into law. If you imagine they pay attention to our votes after the election you’re delusional.
Here are some examples of our victories. None of them begged favors – all of them coerced reforms by massive militant actions.
o The socialist/populist surge from 1890 to 1914 that coerced Congress to pass many reforms.
o The rise of a steel hardened trade union movement in the 1930’s and 40’s that won sweeping reforms, including wages and working conditions for scores of million of working people.
o The ‘bring us home’ movement of soldiers, sailors and air crews at the end of World War Two that abruptly terminated their dreams of an American empire.
o The civil rights, feminist, youth and antiwar movements of the radicalizations of the 1960’s and 1970, which coerced several important reforms including the right to abortion, the humiliating defeat of US attempts to control Vietnam, coercing two Presidents out of office and not least of all helped ignite the first growth of our own movement.
Now here are a couple of quotes from my hero, Sam Adams. I hope you read them every day until we’re free.
“If ye love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude greater than the animating contest for freedom, go home from us in peace. We seek not your counsel, nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you; May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen.”
“It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people’s minds.”
Gregg
WWH – It can’t really be said that the Dems “cover us in shit”. To continue the analogy: Picture a traditional cheerleader pyramid, with voters on the bottom and politicians on the top. While supporters are boosting the Dems up, the Dems could be said to be taking away solid ground beneath the supporters, causing them to fall. The Repugs, on the other hand, since they are actively working against us, not only remove solid ground but actually try to smother and obliterate from above.
You can say “not all Republicans” are like that, but contrary to that claim, homophobia is institutional in the Repug party. Just look at the Kerr controversy at the Repug debate.
MauraHennessey
It is time for us to demand, not to beg. The majority of the community may never vote Republican, but we can stop the lapdog acceptance of annointed front runners and vote for the candidates who actually champion the equality of Amercian Citizenship for us rather than the permanent second class status offered as the official party line. Euqlity for the Entire Queer Community, nothing less. And if it takes acts of civil disobedience and disruption so be it. It is time to re-claim our radicalism.
MauraHennessey
Also , to Kyle:
The French Revolution began to strip right as control passed from the people to an entitled few, to the Jacobin lawyers, to the near-aristocrats of the Directory and finally to the return of the aristocracy under the Empire.
Sounds curiously like what happened to the queer uprising that began at Stonewall.
Bill Perdue
Maura Hennessey – I like the sans coulettes best of all. Although practically leaderless except for ’Gracchus’ Babeuf, the Conspiracy of the Equals and a few others the sans-culottes and farmers did what had to be done to behead the power and control of the royalists and aristocrats.
They even, if temporarily, put jesus christ, inc. out of business. Then they went on defend their new society against reactionaries and antidemocratic invaders.
Their greatest problem is that in doing all this they had so many causalities that when Napoleon overthrew the Directory on November 9th, 1799, or 18th Brumaire in an armed coup d’état the sans-culottes had exhausted their organizational and military resources.
The new aristocracy under Napoleon cemented it’s rule and then a real butchery began that made the ‘Terror’ look like a tea party.
Bill Perdue
Kyle Dennan, you’re just wrong about the role of self defense in US history. You ask “Did the Black Panthers get things done for the African-American civil rights movement…â€?
Here’s the real history and it has precious little in common with your ahistorical view. The US is a cesspool of violent bigotry and has been since from colonial times. What will end discrimination and violence is a massive effort to SUPPRESS those who promote it, feed on it and commit it.
We need to build a mass movement to defend ourselves and intimidate the bigots. Like the LCFO/Panthers did. Racist violence is still with us but the number of attacks on Indians and African Americans declined steeply during the last century because the Southern Poverty Law Center almost sued the KKK into oblivion. Just as important was the self defense effort by Indian tribes and groups like the Lowndes County Freedom Organization, the original Black Panthers, led by Stokely Carmichael. Their uses of the basic principles of self defense were copied all across the US from the mid sixties to today.
The LCFO’s example produced a sea change in affairs between bigots and their intended victims as it slowly dawned on them that dressing up in sheets could actually get you hurt. That’s a splendid example for us to follow. It was as much SNCC, the LCFO and SPLC as it was the SCLC, and in truth Malcolm X and MLK had more in common that you imagine starting with the fact they were both murdered by reactionaries.
The long struggle was based on the heroism, the growing power and self-reliance of African American working people. Everyone had a role to play and made valuable contributions, but not at all in the way you’ve described it.
The facts are all in the history books. Here’s a start:
o – We Want Freedom: A Life in the Black Panther Party by Mumia Abu-Jamal
o – Red Power: The Native American Civil Rights Movement by Troy R. Johnson (Author) and Paul C. Rosier (Editor)
o – Custer Died for Your Sins: An Indian Manifesto by Vine Deloria
o – Last Year of Malcolm X: The Evolution of a Revolutionary by George Breitman
o – Groundwork: Local Black Freedom Movements in America by Komozi Woodard (Author), Charles Payne (Author), Jeanne Theoharis (Editor)
o – Freedom North: Black Freedom Struggles Outside the South, 1940-1980 (Paperback)
by Jeanne Theoharis (Editor), Komozi Woodard (Editor)
o – Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and the Civil Rights Struggle of the 1950s and 1960s: A Brief History with Documents by David Howard-Pitney
You’re wrong about Susan B. Anthony too. She admired John Brown, described his murder as a crucifixion and wept bitter tears because of it. Her brother fought with Brown in ‘Bleeding Kansasâ€. She called herself a revolutionary. Women were not allowed to fight in the bluecoat army, the ‘terrible swift sword’ unleashed by John Brown to crush slavery underfoot.
Susan B. Anthony joined Dorothea Dix and Clara Barton in setting up the U.S. Sanitary Commission and organizing over 6,000 volunteers to serve at the front. She was a friend of Fredrick Douglas and took his side on many questions.