[flv:http://vc2.realclearpolitics.com/obama-gay-protestors.flv https://queerty-prodweb.s3.amazonaws.com/wp/docs-null/2010/04/obamaboxer9034.jpg 650 400]
By talking about all the people he was glad to be there with, who helped him “win the presidency in 2008,” the gays of Get Equal could be forgiven for thinking President Obama was actually talking about them. But no, he was addressing the well-moneyed Democrats, at a fundraiser tonight for California’s Sen. Barbara Boxer, of the hetero variety. Because he couldn’t possibly have meant the gay Americans he’s ignoring, who promptly interrupted his speech to donors at the California Science Center.
Arranged by Robin McGehee and Kip Williams’ Get Equal, a group of activist hecklers (around the 5:15 mark) turned his speech into an impromptu rally for the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. And immediately after the incident, Get Equal had a press release at the ready, identifying (with bios) the six individuals responsible for ambushing Obama. No game playing here. This is all for the press coverage blitz.
The activists interrupted Mr. Obama in the middle of his remarks to high-value Democratic donors during a reception at the California Science Center, with one protester shouting from the audience, “What about ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell?'” Mr. Obama yelled back, “We are going to do that.”
He kept talking, increasing his volume to be heard over the protesters as the crowd took up a chant of “Yes, we can,” to drown them out. Another protester later interrupted the president again, shouting, “It’s time for equality for all Americans.”
Expect this incident to go wide, folks. This is something the good folks at the Human Rights Campaign would never try, for they would lose their seat at Obama’s table. But a group of well-intentioned grassroots activists? Something tells us tonight’s events, following Dan Choi’s White House chaining, are only the beginning.
How about we take this to the next level?
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delurker again
ack, more annoying drama queenery. can they chain themselves to skid row or something?
well anyway, he handled them with characteristic aplomb. i love the conservative sources that are gleefully reporting the story.
D'oh, The Magnificent
@delurker again: What fantasy world are you living in? He is now going to feel pressure to do something because of what he said.
D'oh, The Magnificent
This:
“Mr. Obama yelled back, “We are going to do that.””
Is going to come back to haunt him.
Mark Cahill
S T U P I D
tinkerbell
@delurker again: actually, i agree TOTALLY with the protesters. I’m tired of being a second-class citizen and “playing the system.” We are being ignored and it’s past time for us to do the dem.v.repub thing. Both sides hate us, we have no civil equality…the time to act is NOW.
D'oh, The Magnificent
@Mark Cahill: It is interesting how fast the various political organizations for the party are able to post almost number 1 or 2 or any given blog. I commend the online operations. Too bad it is not used for something more fruitful like passing more progressive legislation.
TiredOldQueen@Queerty
I am so proud of my people tonight. Obama: Don’t be pretending to be on our side. Be on our side.
Mark Cahill
“It would make more sense to holler that at the people that oppose it (repeal of DADT).”
Obama put these children in their place. Bitching doesn’t help – it makes us look stupid, like GetEqual continues to do.
justin allen
Bitching helped get Harold Ford and Monserrate out of NYC . Bitching helps A LOT!
delurker again
@D’oh, The Magnificent: how will it come back to haunt him?
and doesn’t he have a point to, um, maybe work on legislators who are undecided or on the fence and who will be actually, you know, be voting on this issue?
Mark Cahill
This crap is from the school of “angry demands.” Demands without some threat are useless. It just makes us look like children.
GetEqual is a small group of misfits that have romanticized “activism.” It is ineffective. It is also embarassing.
D'oh, The Magnificent
@Mark Cahill: I think OFA and HRC are calling you to pick up your check.
Mark Cahill
@justin allen: Harold Ford and Monserrate got THEMSELVES out of New York. Bitching didn’t do it.
TiredOldQueen@Queerty
See, Barack, its like this: back in the 1960’s a large number of Americans (lets call them tea-racists) were dead set against equal rights for blacks. It took COURAGE for the Presidents (Kennedy & Johnson, one elected by a slim margin, one by a landslide, like yours) at that time to stand up for basic human rights, above all else. Above reform this and reform that. Because some things are more basic.
Mark Cahill
I don’t support HRC. They waste a bunch of money lobbying, but they really haven’t made any progress.
GetEqual is a joke. They live in a fantasy world because they believe in David Mixner and other old farts that say you have to “protest” your way to progress. It is stupid. You can’t run around being disruptive and making demands if you have nothing to threaten with.
You can see from the video that Obama called these idiots “stupid.” He said you are attacking the wrong team. This event will make him LESS inclined to support LGBT issues, not more inclined.
It’s just plain stupid.
Michael @ LeonardMatlovich.com
The RAGE in his eyes at being interrupted is as chilling as any I’ve ever seen in the eyes of the Repugs.
D'oh, The Magnificent
@delurker again: If you call playing hot potato a point, then sure, trying to pass the buck is a point. His leadership is required for those people on the fence. Leadership that he uses when it suits him, and his supporters denies he can do when it doesn’t.
It will haunt him because he engaged them and thus just gave a national platform with the president. His people trying to drown out the protesters do not help his case. It sounds like they were trying to shut down dissent.
In other words, I believe this has legs. The question becomes if the protesters can build on the moment into other news cycles to solicit more responses from him and the Democrats?
D'oh, The Magnificent
To answer my own question- if it builds into other cycles, he will be forced to address it even more with the likes of CNN. His best bet was to keep this out of the media.
D'oh, The Magnificent
@Mark Cahill: Actually, Ford was ran off when he embarrased himself after protesters demonstrated how clueless he was and this got a lot of play in the press. So you are either a bad hack or just a lying one.
Mark Cahill
This stupid GetEqual drama is now being used by the media to show how stupid the LGBT community is – a commentator just said “gays and lesbians apparently went to the wrong fundraiser.”
Thank-you GetEqual street urchins. Now we have our very own “Tea Baggers.”
D'oh, The Magnificent
@Mark Cahill: Lord, but you are shilling. Each post you make just reinforces you are either with OFA or some other Obama outfit.
Mark Cahill
@D’oh, The Magnificent: Ford was run off because he lied about his position on “gay marriage.” Plus, everyone is already satisfied with Gillibrand. He was never welcome and he opted not to run.
That’s accurate. The childish Queer Rising in NYC didn’t chase him away. We ALL did. He was a non-starter. Look it up.
Mark Cahill
AP has called GetEqual “Hecklers,” not activists. Good. Childish hecklers would have been even more accurate.
D'oh, The Magnificent
@Mark Cahill: You can post as many shill points as you want, and it will not change the fact that they have just gotten a national stage.
Thus, no matter what, you and other shills just lost a bit of power that you had so long as you kept it invisible.
D'oh, The Magnificent
@Mark Cahill: You didn’t do shit. So when you say we all this is like conservative gays coming in after all the work is done to claim that they were a part of the struggle all along. How do I know you didn’t do shit? Your behavior here tells all.
Mark Cahill
The LGBT Community is being laughed at tonight. That’s progress?
Mark Cahill
@D’oh, The Magnificent: It is easy to make believe complaining helps our community. These misfits are just looking for attention because they have romanticized the idea of being an activist. They think it makes them cool or something.
No, you are correct, I am not going to go yell at the President or tell the world I’m angry or upset because that won’t get us any more support. We need people to support us – tonight they are laughing at us.
D'oh, The Magnificent
@Mark Cahill: No, what you will do is what ever conservagay does. Whine about those who are fighting for your rights, and then once all the work is done, you will show up at a party to congrats yourself for all the hard work that someone else has done, but you are now taking credit for. Like you just did with the FOrd situation. Its pathetic. but it is what it is.
Terance Greene
Fucking Awsome, he asked that we hold him accountable when he spoke at HRC no getequal is. and it shook him, we are here were queer get used to it
delurker again
@Michael @ LeonardMatlovich.com: oh please. he was his usual unflappable self. he does town halls where he handles hecklers, and he made quick work of the entire house republican caucus during the health care debate. it didn’t look these drama queen fazed him at all.
Kieran
Do the right thing Mr. President. Keep your word. Do what you said you would do if elected. Repeal the discriminatory DADT. Justice delayed is justice denied.
delurker again
@D’oh, The Magnificent: They can’t build on their momentum because frankly there are more important issues that affect a wider number of people.
Remember when getequal chained themselves to the white house? no one cared because the House was taking up the health care bill. The focus now is financial regulation. And in the summer it will be immigration reform and the midterms. And the terrible economy is an ever present issue that touches on these other major reforms that will be addressed.
Michael @ LeonardMatlovich.com
@delurker again:
Yeh, this is one of his Looks of Love for the protesters:
[img]http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_1xQeOPE9ePU/S80X-CAvHCI/AAAAAAAAEys/zJPmbA9na18/s400/obamaheckled.jpg[/img]
There aren’t many ObamaRahmbot cockroaches left, but delurker and Mark Cahil still have their six legs in the air for Their Lord & Savior Obama Christ.
delurker again
lol you bitter, bitter queen, you. i hope dadt and doma are never repealed. i’m never joining the military and don’t believe in the institution of marriage, and people like you will continue to choke on your bile. how’s that?
D'oh, The Magnificent
@delurker again: Lord, is that the best you can do?
Every civil rights movement has occurred in periods in which people always claimed there were more important things. At least don’t argue something that has some historical accuracy. I know- next argument- history does not matter.
D'oh, The Magnificent
@delurker again: If you call being happy that someone has placed our issues on the national stage “bitter” then you have a weak grasp of the definitions.
tinkerbell
@Mark Cahill: Honey, we have been laughed at and tormented many times before. We are gay. What we are NOT being laughed at now is for demanding our civil rights before a politician who promised to deliver them.
As for progress…we WILL achieve civil equality, sooner or later.
robert
@Mark Cahill:
i’m ambivalent about huffington post as a news org, but i would like to point out that tonight the headline is “donors heckle obama over gay rights” — which, in my mind, has a much more positive message than “childish hecklers” because it speaks to an institutional schism with the base of the party.
D'oh, The Magnificent
I checked out google news on the subject:
http://news.google.com/news/more?pz=1&cf=all&ned=us&cf=all&ncl=d8LOTvOjfob0q7MZzZeanUuWR4V7M
Most describe the hecklers as “gay rights protesters”
Gay protesters interrupt Obama at California fundraiser for Boxer
Los Angeles Times (blog) – ?54 minutes ago?
After a long day of work in Washington and a long transcontinental flight to Los Angeles, President Obama told a crowd of Democratic donors in Los Angeles …
Gay rights activists heckle Obama
The Press Association – ?1 hour ago?
Opponents of the “don’t ask don’t tell” policy on gay people in the US military interrupted President Barack Obama with heckling at a Los Angeles fundraiser …
Gay rights protesters disrupt Obama event with Boxer
San Francisco Chronicle (blog) – ?1 hour ago?
Gay-rights protesters — angered by President Obama’s failure to repeal the Pentagon policy that bars out-of-the-closet gays from serving in the military …
Obama said, “can I just say again Barbara and I are supportive of repealing ‘don’t ask, don’t tell.'” But protester keeps yelling.
more by Barack Obama – 1 hour ago – San Francisco Chronicle (blog) (2 occurrences)
D'oh, The Magnificent
More on the the google search:
Dear Obama: Go beyond gay partners’ hospital rights
CNN – Lz Granderson – ?2 hours ago?
Like hospital visitation, ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ isn’t a gay rights issue, it’s a human rights issue. This is a little discussed side-effect of the “don’t …
Obama incremental on gay rights San Francisco Chronicle
Revisiting gay rights Minnesota Daily
Obama Orders Hospital Visitation Rights for Gay Partners, Friends of Widows AllGov
Palm Beach Post (blog) – Gay Socialites (blog)
all 1,240 news articles »
Email this story
Gay protesters interrupt Obama at California fundraiser for Boxer
Los Angeles Times (blog) – ?56 minutes ago?
The president’s 29-minute speech was interrupted several times by gay protesters impatient with the lack of progress in repealing the military’s “Don’t …
Gay rights protesters disrupt Obama event with Boxer San Francisco Chronicle (blog)
Gay rights activists heckle Obama The Press Association
Gay rights protesters disrupt Obama fundraiser Washington Times
Dallas Voice – The Hill (blog)
all 1,100 news articles »
Email this story
DEREK WASHINGTON
@Mark Cahill: What’s your damage Heather? The POTUS was forced to say he wants DADT repealed repeatedly. NOW, he needs to do it.
John D
He told us to do this. Sure he did.
During his speech at the HRC dinner, he said it was the gay community’s responsibility to hold his feet to the fire. Presidential shoes, meet heat source.
Now, as for why the HRC didn’t do this, well, they are a lobbying organization. That’s what they were founded as. Yeah, a lot of people think of them more generically as a gay rights organization, but they’re lobbyists. They schmooze politicians.
Sometimes, that’s the right approach. Sometimes, you need the activist groups. And sometimes, you need the legal groups.
The Civil Rights movement had and needed all three. So do we. We still need people who are going to go to friendly politicians and help write laws and help them sell those laws to their constituents. We need legal teams that sue those who violate the laws that are supposed to protect us. And we need the activists to remind the politicians that we’re not a bunch of lobbyists, but an impatient and angry group.
Call the White House. Tell them that we need equality now.
Soakman
Didn’t he just get us hospital visitation rights?
I’m not saying he’s delivered everything, but he’s made WAY more progress than anyone else has even tried to make. Just saying.
adman
I applaud Get Equal, they have forced a promise from the Chief himself in front of his own party. That is an accomplishment in and of itself. I hope it divides the progs from the blue dogs forever more. With the silence on genuine liberal issues, the conservadems in our party get everything; and I’m not OK with that, since it means “shut up and sit down, faggot”.
I know I know, “they’ll run and vote repuke in November, oh noes” we are winning over the right, we progs, because of the overlap between prog issues and libertarian issues. If the Prez himself can’t “focus group” into this way of thinking, then he’ll be a lame duck. THe right wing is winning the hyperbole wars in the media, sure, but people are waiting to see what’s behind the curtain with the dems. If orchestrating the “reveal” during midterms is Obama’s downfall, then he SHOULD have a lame-duck admin, like Bu$h towards the end.
fredo777
I fully support strategic, smart protests but just hope that our LGBT activists don’t start going down the road of Tea Party craziness in an attempt to get our grievances heard. It would just result in our message being dismissed as handily as we dismiss the TeaBaggers.
FunMe
OK this is what went on tonight:
Ok Mark Cahill, you have a major job tonight. You NEED to go all the blogs and keep putting GetEqual down. OK, yeah, the GLBT community is pretty smart. And they know Obama, who they supported with money, votes, & time, has BETRAYED them. But you need to go to many blogs and keep putting them down. And defend President Obama! Yeah, they may be Democrats and his voting base. Yeah, they are pissed. But just keep going to the blogs and defend Obama even though he has not done anything for GLBT equality this year.
You are so transparent!
DON’T ASK … DON’T GIVE!
http://salsa.wiredforchange.com/o/6006/t/5410/petition.jsp?petition_KEY=727
“Until the Democratic Congress passes, and President Obama signs, legislation enacting ENDA, repealing DADT, and repealing DOMA, we ask you to join us in pledging to postpone contributions to the Democratic National Committee, Organizing for America, and the Obama campaign. This temporary (we hope) boycott is sponsored by AMERICAblog, and cosponsored by Daily Kos, Michelangelo Signorile, and Paul Sousa, among others.
This isn’t forever,” the Democrats have it in their power to end this today — all it takes is choosing to keep their promise.
Lanjier
Obama dumps his own soldiers on the street every month, and we are supposed to not be very angry at him for that national disgrace. He thinks WE are the problem? That is how HE treats his soldiers?? His American Veterans??? He needs a wake up call.
christopher di spirito
President Obama quickly learned how political events in my homestate — especially involving the LGBT community, are very different from the well-behaved events sponsored by the champagne queers at the Human Rights Campaign and, to which he’s grown accustomed in Washington DC.
If ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ isn’t repealed in his first term, I think Mr. Obama will have a very hard time making his case for reelection in 2012 to the LGBT community.
doubter
….of course Barbara Boxer never voted on DADT….it was a Presidential Directive to the Defense Department…
ChrisM
Good. It’s the best thing that could happen that his first hecklers are gay rights protesters. Even if he does harbor some animosity towards those people now, at least it will be etched into his mind. He made a promise and he’s been trying to avoid it. We called him out on it, so he knows if he doesn’t go through with it the world will notice now.
Amazing work by these protesters.
leanleft
Can we please stop calling the Get Equal protesters as people who are courageous.
What would be courageous is if they spent the same amount of time that they do chastizing our allies as putting pressure on our adversaries or moderate middle people. Why not try these stunts on Collins, Snowe, Lincoln, Nelson, Voinovich, etc?
Make those who are waffling in the middle feel the heat. Instead you protest Obama at a fundraiser for Boxer who is 100% on our issues.
That is not courage, more folly.
Chitown Kev
@DEREK WASHINGTON:
Yes Derek. THIS. The protestors forced him to say it and now he needs to back it up. OR…Obama is not a man of his word.
D'oh, The Magnificent
@fredo777: THis is a talking point by people who support the president that they are picking up on some sort of web site. You can find it on multiple sites in fact. They are now comparing gay peo fighting for equality to the crazy right. Just so people can identity who people are here.
The Milkman
I appreciate Obama’s executive order regarding hospital visitation. I really do. But y’all know as well as I do that this right will be rescinded the moment a Republican president is sworn in. It’s a hollow gift.
I also appreciate Obama’s support for DADT repeal. However, support isn’t what is needed. Action is needed.
This is a good example of how an executive order (for either issue) is great in the short term, but establishment and solidification of long-term civil rights equality requires much more action on the congressional level than the executive level. This is where the bully pulpit of the White House comes in. Obama can support us all he wants, and I truly appreciate that. But if he’s not willing to use the power of his office to twist arms in Congress and ram some civil rights legislation through it, then his support doesn’t amount to much more than lip service.
Baxter
@Soakman: Well yeah, he’s doing better than our last Democratic president, but that’s not terribly hard considering how many buses Clinton threw the gay community under. At least Obama’s doing nothing, rather than signing new pieces of discrimination into law. Somehow that’s not really enough for me to get excited about, though.
Mike
@DEREK WASHINGTON: You mean like he said in the SOTU??
I love political drama.
Mark Cahill
Even the morning after, GetEqual looks very stupid. The childish publicity stunt didn’t accomplish anything.
Mark
So 5 so-called “activists” yelled at Obama during a speech? Did they just show up at the wrong speech? If these publicity seekers want to make a point they need to show up on ENEMY turf and do their bitching.
Scott LA
It isn’t courageous to try to embarrass our friends. Ever.
Cam
No. 56 · Mark Cahill
Even the morning after, GetEqual looks very stupid. The childish publicity stunt didn’t accomplish anything.
______________
Really? It’s funny you say that because it’s been picked up by all the major news organizations, some of my straight friends were asking “I thought Obama was getting all the gay rights issues taken care of.” So that was a nice “Teaching moment” for me.
This and the Dan Choi event, has kept gay issues in the news. Funny how the “BIG” event put on by your bosses at HRC with Kathy Griffen didn’t make any of the papers or the news shows unless it was a sidenote to the Dan Choi story. So HRC can continue to send in their employees to bitch and complain, but you can see that your posts keep getting hidden because your organization has lost the trust of a large segment of the community. Nobody thinks Joe Solomase is there because he cares about gay rights, he is only there because of the salary, and if Fred Phelps Westborough Baptist church offered him a bigger pay check, he’d probably go work for them.
Jason
Maybe these brilliant activists at GetEqual can tell us how yelling at Obama gets us more votes in the US Senate?
Tea, anyone?
David Ehrenstein
@Scott LA: What makes you think he’s our friend?
All he wants is our money.
Chitown Kev
President Obama is not the gay community’s friend.
He is not our enemy.
He is the President of the United States.
He is now part of the establishment.
And The Establishment never does anything unless they are forced to do so. Period.
Scott LA
@David Ehrenstein: He is as close as we can get to “friend” right now. Why do you want to try to embarrass him? I wouldn’t be surprised if he said “fuck the queers” now.
tjr101
Wouldn’t it be more productive to heckle those who are actually on the fence or AGAINST the repeal of DADT? What about the three NewEngland Republican senators and the conservative Blue dog Democrats in the south? They are the ones that needs to hear our voice not the president that vows to sign it or a senator from a liberal state.
tjr101
I suppose some people expect the president to wave a magic wand and a bill to repeal will appear on his desk. The US senate is the biggest henderance to progress in this country. If you want things done you have to lobby the senators so it gets to the presidents desk.
ChrisM
@Scott LA:
No Scott, as the president he has to be more mature than that. He made this promise to the gay community. He should expect no less pressure from a group that’s being unfairly discriminated against. If all of a sudden he is turned off of gay rights (more than he already is), it’s because he’s a weak person and not because activists did something wrong.
The protesters only asked him to uphold a promise. If he was embarrassed, he should realize it’s because he hasn’t tried his hardest to repeal the law. When it comes to human rights and petty embarrassment, human rights should prevail.
delurker again
@doubter: The ban on gays in the military was codified in National Defense Authorization Act of1994. This is a law passed by congress and is current law.
http://dont.stanford.edu/regulations/pl103-60.pdf (section 571)
delurker again
@D’oh, The Magnificent: My argument was that any momentum they think they will be carrying be blunted by more important issues that congress takes up, and yes financial regulation is more important that gay rights right now.
Dave
We have our own Tea Baggers now. Lucky us.
ossurworld
Obama looks like he just got tea-bagged and not voluntarily.
tjr101
Get equal will not be as effective as the Teabaggers simply because they are going after their own allies. Teabaggers go after those who don’t agree with them or the fence sitters not conservative senators like Demint or Corburn. Get equal needs to go after the fence sitters in the senate.
Cam
No. 63 · Scott LA
@David Ehrenstein: He is as close as we can get to “friend” right now. Why do you want to try to embarrass him? I wouldn’t be surprised if he said “fuck the queers” now.
________________________
Oh Please, That would be like the unions pushing for a jobs bill hard and then having a Dem President say “Fuck the Unions.”. Isn’t it funny that every other group or associating can push as hard as it wants and nobody every says “Hey Banks, don’t push the GOP too hard, they’ll say “Fuck the Banks”. But when you get a bunch of HRC defenders in here they all say “Oh know, the President will abaondon us if we dare to ask him to keep his promise!
Obama was a community organizer…just what do you think community organizers in the South side of Chicago DID to get their points across?! These tactics are part of it.
Troy M
@Mark Cahill: Mark, It was people like Mixner and the like that demanded and got the funding for AIDS research and services. It was people like Mixner and the like that we have to thank because if it were not for them we would be quarantined and treated like Leapers. It is people like Mixner and the like that we have advanced as far as we have.
It is people like you that set our rights back by ignoring what was right in our face the minute Obama decided to run for President. He has consistently slapped us in the face while, at the same time, telling us he is the only one that can save us. So we give him our money and our support and ,still, he slaps us down and calls us “petty” and “far left fringe”.
“Change you can believe in” my ASS.
Cam
No. 71 · tjr101
Get equal will not be as effective as the Teabaggers simply because they are going after their own allies. Teabaggers go after those who don’t agree with them or the fence sitters not conservative senators like Demint or Corburn. Get equal needs to go after the fence sitters in the senate.
________________
No, the teabaggers are going after GOP members like McCain and Crist even though those two are begging the TEa Baggers for their support. They are attacking members of the GOP that they do not see as supporting their views.
D'oh, The Magnificent
@delurker again: THat’s not an argument. It is an untested assertion.
D'oh, The Magnificent
@Cam: Cahill and others- just to let you know are more than likely paid or unpaid political bloggers from OFA and other Obama cheerleading groups posting on various blogs. You can see virtually the same comments on the political blogs, news blogs, gay blogs, etc.
Indeed, the comparison to tea baggers- that’s on a lot of sites too. A lot of times they are the first comments on the blogs when this story was posted. In other words, these are operative monitoring sites like this. I know this may seem like a conspiracy, but it isn’t. THey coordinate. Thus, the exact same talking points. Literally go to any blog, and check out the repetition of certain talking points.
D'oh, The Magnificent
@Scott LA: You are just sad.
D'oh, The Magnificent
@Dave: < another likely hack or paid or unpaid political blogger repeating a talking point. This is appearing on a lot of blogs trying to control the damage to the president.
tjr101
@Troy M: Please clarify, when has Obama slapped us down and called us “petty” and “far left fringe.” Whether you like to admit or not, there has been more progress on gay rights the last 14 months than there has been in the history of this nation because no other president gave a damn about this community which is less than 10 percent of the population.
Troy M
@Soakman: It was a directive that is only as good as the time he has in office. he, or any other president can suspend it at anytime. Repeal Doma, DADT and and pass ENDA and it becomes law. It is a bandage on a gun shot wound. It may stop the bleeding for a while, but it did not fix it.
Troy M
@tjr101: Here is the link:
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-5378885-503544.html
Lets see.. Donnie McClurkin, Rick Warren at the Inauguration, DOJ defense of DOMA and DADT. Shall i go on? Cause i can.
D'oh, The Magnificent
@tjr101: <Another talking point appearing on various blogs and news sites. Again, I amazed I had not noticed this until covering this issue just how many of the comments are exactly the same with tweaks.
Dave
@tjr101: GetEqual isn’t thinking about being effective, it is only about getting attention. They want to be famous, not effective.
tjr101
@D’oh, The Magnificent: Whatever! What I’m saying is that the president is not the one preventing the passage of gay rights legislation. Obama is not an absolute ruler and he has to work with congress to get things done. The democrats weren’t even unified for healthcare reform. If you want things done lobby your senator to get passage. Right now Get Equal is shouting in an echo chamber.
Dave
Apparently, ALL we need to do is yell and tell the world we are “pissed off” and we’ll get our equality. Who knew?
Everybody should begin practicing by yelling at everyone – friends, supporters, strangers and even family members. The more we yell, the closer we get. Onward angry soldiers!
Jason
@Dave: I agree. We stopped yelling at people 25 years ago and we haven’t made any progress. HRC doesn’t hire people to yell at people. GetEqual should hire people that are loud and as obnoxious as possible. Anger is the only thing that will get us our rights.
Gay Rights NOW! Gay Rights NOW! Gay Rights NOW!
Louder, louder, louder.
tjr101
@Troy M: When you’re president of the US or running for office you have to speak and seek support from all possible quarters. Had he not done this he would have still been in the senate. Believe it or not, a lot of religious folks also voted for Obama not just the gay community or others on the left, that’s how you win by a landslide.
I myself was not happy with the defense of DOMA or DADT but it’s the responsibilty of the government to defend laws. These are laws that must be undone through congress. There is also the appearance of a lack of cohesive message between the WH and the justice department but that’s another issue all together.
D'oh, The Magnificent
@tjr101: <hack from some organization representing the president. Paid or unpaid he's using talking points that are being phrased exactly the same as he is posting on various other blogs, news sites, etc.
leanleft
@Jason
I believe Dave was being sarcastic.
Troy M
@tjr101:
Believe it or not, a lot of religious folks also voted for Obama not just the gay community or others on the left, that’s how you win by a landslide.
I myself was not happy with the defense of DOMA or DADT but it’s the responsibilty of the government to defend laws. These are laws that must be undone through congress. There is also the appearance of a lack of cohesive message between the WH and the justice department but that’s another issue all together.
I guarantee you, not one of Rick Warren’s sheeple voted for Obama. As far as the DOJ indefensible defense of DOMA and DADT, they do not have to defend something they believe is unconstitutional. And even if the did, the language, the debunked evidence from a previous administration , and testimony that has since been detracted by those that testified, aka Colin Powell, were inexcusable.
Try again. I got a million of em.
Chitown Kev
@Troy M:
Oh, yes they did.
Granted, Obama didn’t get a larger portion of the evangelical vote…perhaps I should say WHITE evangelical vote (since that’s more precise) than John McCain, Obama did get ~5% more of the white evangelical vote than John Kerry nationally.
Obama would not have won Indiana without the white evangelical vote. He also flipped enough of those votes to win Colorado and North Carolina.
Troy M
@tjr101: Here is the link:
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-50…..03544.html
Lets see.. Donnie McClurkin, Rick Warren at the Inauguration, DOJ defense of DOMA and DADT. Shall i go on? Cause i can.
Thumb up 0 Thumb down 1
LOL. I get a thumbs down when i provide a link to refute what you said? That is F-in Hilarious.
tjr101
@Troy M: Are saying not one of Rick Warren’s million plus congregation voted for Obama. When did you conduct this poll?
The president is a pragmatist and believes in changing things through incremental means. He has to defend the law while using the congress to repeal them.
New Politico
It takes real courage to act like a child. Good for you GetEqual. I like your strategy. We need everyone to yell at each other. That will work.
D'oh, The Magnificent
@New Politico: The courage part is to have to listen toothers call you a child and face imprisonment for fighting for your human rights.
New Politico
We should have been YELLING during the last 40 years.
Silly us.
Chitown Kev
@Troy M:
My source for the election numbers was Chuck Todd’s “How Barack Obama Won in 2008″…I think that’s what it was called.
In Colorado, for example, 13% of white evangelicals voted for Kerry and 23% voted for Obama…the Latino vote alone may have given Colorado to Obama but there was an increased appeal for Obama over Kerry.
In Indiana, 20% of white evangelicals voted for Kerry and 29% voted for Obama. Also, white evangelicals were 38% of the electorate in Indiana in 2008 compared to 36% in 2004.
Also. 7% of the electorate in Indiana was black voters in 2004 AND 2008 and Obama, in fact, got a lesser share of the black vote than Kerry 90-92%….white evangelicals gave Obama Indiana.
In North Carolina, 16% of white evangelicals went for Kerry and 25% of white evangelicals voted for Obama. Also, white evangelicals were 36% of the electorate in 2004 but 44% of the electorate in 2008.
Again, Obama doesn’t win a majority of those white evangelical votes but in 2008, the data shows that he peeled off quite a few.
Chitown Kev
@tjr101:
But the Obama Administration’s Justice Department doesn’t get a pass for using the most bigoted and homophobic arguments (unnecessarily) to defend those laws.
tjr101
@D’oh, The Magnificent: I comment on a variety of topics on this site so to say that I’m here just using talking points posted in some other blog or I’m some Obama hack paid or unpaid is quite laughable and borders on paranoia.
But tell me how does Get Equal heckling the president translates to votes needed to repeal DADT and the implementation of other LGBT legislation in the senate? And no amount of bully pulpit does this without actual pressure on the senators from grassroots voters.
delurker again
@D’oh, The Magnificent: It was already tested in March during the health care debate. Choi et al. chained themselves to the WH and that did not make a ripple because of the HIR debate. They are at it again today but will likely not make any traction aside from the gay blogs because the focus now is financial regulation.
Once again, the momentum is blunted.
fredo777
@ChrisM: “It’s the best thing that could happen that his first hecklers are gay rights protesters”
Uh, wasn’t his first heckler the dude that shouted “You Lie!”? GOP Rep Wilson?
fredo777
@D’oh, The Magnificent: What the hell are you talking about? Yes, I support the President, but I’m not on anyone’s payroll. It is possible, after all, to have a differing opinion from the majority w/o necessarily being a shill. However unpopular, my point stands about not making the gay voice more + more like that of the Tea Party. If you want to be compared to them by acting like them, however, knock yourself out.
Troy M
@Chitown Kev: Thank you for that. I have been proven wrong. See what evidence can do, TJR.
What the evidence also shows is that the evangelical vote broke down along generational lines. While the number of voters under 40ish or so increased, the number over that increased. My question is, how do we count that? Do we count that as the evangelical vote or Youth vote? Does it matter?
D'oh, The Magnificent
None of you need to be anyone’s payroll to repeat talking points from wherever else you and the other supporters congregate online. You just need to be mindless robots like the Bush supporters were.
D'oh, The Magnificent
@delurker again: They were just starting. And again assertion is not an argument. You and other robots don’t get that because you think of branding and speeches as realities so you probably won’t understand here that your just dropping in to assert something is non convincing. You know what’s convincing. The news articles- of which there are now thousands- discussing the issue advocacy in a positive way that the activists wanted. What’s not convincing is you posting here like the rest of the blogbots.
fredo777
@D’oh, The Magnificent: The only one who sounds like they’ve been sent here on a mission to stir up shit is you, what with your conspiracy theories + what-not.
D'oh, The Magnificent
@Chitown Kev:The problem with the premise of relying on the past as prelude with the electorate is that this model for the Democrats is not sustainable. The demographics of the country on LGBT alone is shifting such that we will increasingly affect electoral outcomes by sheer numbers. Were the president (or at least his party since the party has a longer term interest than any given president) they would be thinking about the coming decade rather than the last.
delurker again
@D’oh, The Magnificent: “The demographics of the country on LGBT alone is shifting such that we will increasingly affect electoral outcomes by sheer numbers.”
BS. The gay community always vastly overstates its electoral influence. Obama got 10% less of the gay vote thank John Fucking Kerry, and Obama still won in landslide, whereas Kerry lost to a warmongering inept fool.
Scott LA
The media is referring to Dan Choi as the “Gay’s Martin Luther King” because he said something about another march on Washington.
Scott LA
Choi is going to be on Jay Leno now. Cool. Our equality is near.
Kent
He has already said “fuck the queers” by esentially doing nothing. The Hate crimes act and the crumbs of the hospital visitation rights – which can be rescinded by a Rethugnican are just for show – to keep the queers coming back. Well,I am sick and tired of being taken for granted and a third class citizen in my own country. Enough is enough. Act up for equality. And all of you armchair queers who complain about GetEqual – what the fuck are you doing? Either do something or shut the fuck up! I salute these people. It is difficult to do this type of thing where you risk arrest. These people are courageous and deserve our support and respect.
fredo777
@Scott LA: In all fairness, Dan Choi has not yet done enough to be labeled the “Gays’ Martin Luther King Jr”.
Scott LA
@fredo777: I disagree. I was on a GetEqual conference call and they were referring to Dan Choi as MLK. I think he’s been arrested twice now. People are willing to follow him. We need a Leader, Dan Choi is the guy.
fredo777
@Scott LA: Even if they were referring to him as such, it’s still premature.
Scott LA
@fredo777: Why is it premature? He’s been arrested twice already. He is risking his life for our equality. He might end up spending 27 years in jail like Nelson Mandella. He helped organize a March on Washington. He gives very powerful speeches.
What are you missing?
fredo777
@Scott LA: He’s not Harvey Milk.
delurker again
@Scott LA: whoa. he’s alread been compared to MLK in another post, and now Mandela. The hyperbole is both funny and sad.
delurker again
Do you people know anything about civil rights history, like how savage and lawless Mississippi was in in the early 1960s and how brutally oppressive the the white minority government was in SA? Because the facile comparisons lead me to believe that you don’t.
Philip
@delurker again: Exactly. That’s why we need Dan “MLK” Choi. He’s not taking any prisoners. Just like MLK he knows we need to piss off enough people to get any progress.
Are you risking your life? Choi may go to prison for life because he is fighting for all of us. He could have been shot today.
delurker again
@Philip: This is snark, right? I can’t even tell anymore.
Philip
@delurker again: No, this is called winning. We finally have a strategy to win.
delurker again
I’m not risking my life, but neither is Choi. Are you saying he could have been shot like any one of use could be by random gunfire?
This was an civil disobedience sure, but was this walking the Edmund Pettus bridge on Bloody Sunday (look it up)? No, and the hyperbole is really getting out of hand.
He can be jailed “for life”? Really? For what?
buddhapop
@TiredOldQueen@Queerty: Interesting, but incorrect history. It was the democrats who filibustered the 1964 civil rights act. Just ask Al Gore Sr. and Robert Byrd.
Lincoln Rose
Okay, not that we already don’t have a lot of chattering about this post but here’s my quick two bits:
I’m a white transgender man, and one of the things I’m trying to work out is how my new visible maleness interacts with my white privilege. I want to be able to be as helpful as I can, and understand institutionalized racism, as well as my role in resisting it. (I promise this is relevant.)
One of the first things I learned are sort of bundled up together. Forst, that I cannot claim to be an ally to any group. Status as an ally is GRANTED BY THE OPPRESSED GROUP I AM WORKING WITH. I cannot demand to be recognized as an ally, and if I am granted ally status by the group, the status can also be revoked.
Ally status is not permanent.
The second, which is like the first, is that it is my job to resist oppression. And especially around issues of race, because I am white, I can choose when to resist. People of color cannot, because racism is something they face every day.
And since it is my job, while other groups have to deal because it is something that affects them, I cannot expect to always be rewarded for every little thing I do.
In other words, acting for justice is not like cleaning your room as a child. You don’t get cookies just for doing what you’re supposed to do anyway. 🙂
How is this relevant to what went down? It’s like this:
President Obama is straight. Which means he gets to choose when and where he engages in the struggle against homophobia and heterosexism. The rest of us do not, since it is something we face every day. So, when he does choose to engage, he can’t expect to get cookies or pats on the back every time.
Likewise, he cannot claim the title of ally for himself, it is something we have to grant him. And surprise, the title of ally is often granted to someone based not on one or two actions, but on a consistent pattern of standing in solidarity with an oppressed group.
So when our Prez says he is an ally to us, he is claiming something for himself that he may not actually have a right to claim.
So I had a good chuckle when I watched the video, because what I saw was someone who thought for certain they were an ally having their “card” revoked by this direct action.
And his response told me that he was upset that we were tired of giving him cookies for a pattern of behavior that is turning out to be more random than helpful.
So sorry, Mr. President. GetEqual’s zap may symbolize a temporary revoking of your ally card until your actions become more consistent.
Because granting ally status is the sole right of the community, not the person who wants to be one.
And looks like you’re cut off from your cookies for awhile too.
But as a white guy, I can sympathize. I’ve been cut off from my cookies at times, too. And it can hurt when you think for sure you’re “doing the right things”.