The GetEQUALizers are in a Don’t Ask Don’t Tell fervor this week, kicking things off this morning at the grave of homosexual Vietnam War vet Sgt. Leonard Matlovich. Then they went to Sen. Harry Reid’s office to see what his waiting room looks like. Something about getting the Senate majority leader to bring DADT repeal to a vote by keeping it attached to the 2011 National Defense Authorization Act? Funny, because some fellow grassroots gays have abandoned that strategy.
OutServe (for active duty gay troops) and Knights Out (for openly gay West Point types that Dan Choi, who’s working with GetEQUAL today, was a part of when he came out) are announcing today they want Congress to pass the budget bill “whether or not the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell is included,” though the groups “will continue to fight for our integrity as gay and lesbian service members and we hope that legislative action in Congress can be taken in 2010 to lift the ban.” The Palm Center also issued a statement supporting this strategy.
So that sounds like it not the same goal at all! This is going to be a blast.
UPDATE: Now the GetEQUALizers have chained themselves to the White House fence, like old times!
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
UPDATE: And now they’re arrested. Like old times!
reason
Repeal should be kept in the budget bill, the reason the democrats put it in there was to force the GOP to make the hard choice of denying the military funding or issuing GBLT soldiers the rights they deserve. Let the GOP make the choice, if discriminating is more important then funding our troops to them it is time they let the world know. If discriminating is more important than the word of the people, it is time they let the world to know. If discriminating is more important than the will of the president, the secretary of defense, and the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff it is time they let the world know. Let McCain go on the record and be remembered in the annals of history with the likes of George Wallace, unlike Wallace I doubt McCain will have a chance to renounce his views before he moves on.
Cam
So the other groups have been bought off, or been given promises that somebody with a big name will show up to their next years fundraiser. I hope they are getting some value for selling out.
Danny
Politicians should stop violating the human rights of millions upon millions of people. If government does not serve all the people, rather than just majority groups, then it is pointless.
Sabrina
Using someone’s grave to promote your organization? Yikes!!
I saw an earlier picture tweeted of Dan using Clorox wipes to clean the grave marker; from the picture above, he appears to have ruined the finish.
And why did GetEqual go to Reid’s office today–the day after a long election break–to ask about when the NDAA vote will come up? They know what the answer is, it’s not scheduled yet. Reid has to meet with McConnell first, and that hasn’t happened yet.
It seems like they only want opportunities to to make themselves look strong and elected officials look weak instead of getting real change. GetEqual should have been protecting the judges in Iowa and politicians like Patrick Murphy. They were too distracted with their street theater.
Cam
@Sabrina:
Sabrina….what a phony HRC troll post. Typical of the group, a little attack on Choi, not dealing with the issues, and trying to say that Get Equal only cares about themselves.
When they start charging $1000.oo for a black tie gala then I’ll believe that.
But as it is, why shouldn’t they be using the grave of a gay soldier who died in the line of duty to show that gays have served valiently? Or were you so busy trying to find a way to attack that that never occured to you. Shame on you.
Jeffree
@Sabrina #4:
You forgot the part of your post where you mention what you suggest GetEqual and OutServe do to help get DADT repealed. You must be new here.
jason
OutServe and KnightsOut need to understand that there is no room for compromise in the fight for DADT repeal. We don’t want lily-livered ex-soldiers making limp-wristed statements that effectively help the right-wing enemy. Go away, KnightsOut.
Jennifer Q
Stupid, childish behavior. These self-important activists think we can simply irritate people into submission. All they are doing is forcing people to avoid us. GetEQUAL has spent the last year (and $700,000) making the LGBT Community look stupid. They should GetLOST before we run out of friends.
Cam
@Jennifer Q:
wow, HRC keeps sending people in with the same Mantra.
Give it a rest Jennifer, HRC was giving the Dems a pass and we were getting nothing, both the White House and our “Friends” in Congress had said there would be no movement on Gay Rights, however, Get Equal does a few sit in’s in Pelosi’s office and suddenly the House is voting on a DADT repeal.
So please explain to me why the NRA, the Sierra Club, the Black Community, the Unions, in fact why EVERYBODY else can hold their politicians feet to the fire, and yet the gays are supposed to sit back and be terrified of “Upsetting” anybody.
If these politicians supposedly believe in rights, then they wouldn’t get “Upset” that we were asking for them.
And if people are only our “Friends” if we never bother them, then
1. They don’t believe in equal rights, so fuck them
2. They aren’t our friends.
DADT Victim
I like how anyone who says anything negative about Dan Choi is automatically call an HRC troll.
Dan Choi is an idiot attention whore, and he ought to be arrested for impersonating a member of the military since he gets off on disgracing the uniform by engaging in political activity while wearing it. Guess what Dan, you are no longer authorized to wear the uniform any more than I am or the rest of us former servicemembers are.
These jackasses have done more to harm our cause than the Republicans because they insist on grandstanding while doing stupid non-productive shit like this. If you need an example, just watch the replay of Hardball where Dan Choi starts yelling at Chris Matthews because he has absolutely no clue how the political landscape affects DADT. He doesn’t want to know, as long as he can get in front of a camera, and his response to the tough questions is to yell and berate the questioner. It’s almost like watching a teabagger meltdown.
And I thought it was dangerous to get between Sheila Jackson Lee and a camera – Dan Choi has outdone her.
True!
So let me get this straight… Choi calls Reid a bleeding pussy, then he goes to his office for a sit down!? Shame on you. Shame on GetEqual!
Jennifer Q
GetEQUAL hasn’t accomplished anything this past year except getting people to avoid us. These publicity stunts are just lunacy. Now, they’re using a grave site to get attention. Don’t let these misfits get any weapons.
Jennifer Q
@Cam: Acting like a fool for attention doesn’t “hold any politicians feet to the fire,” it just makes us look like ignorant losers. We are looking more and more like Westboro Baptist Thugs.
MickW
That’s right gay people keep fighting for your rights to kill and mane people in senseless wars.
Jeffree
Jennifer Q must be writing from the same script AndrewW uses: same vocabulary, expressions, syntax and “logic.” You’d almost think they were the same person.
Yet, somehow all they do is criticize and never offer better ideas.
Cam
@Jennifer Q:
You are a liar, HRC has been raising 50 million a year for ages now. They bought a big fancy office, they told gays for the last two years to shut up. Get Equal appears and we get a DADT repeal voted on that year.
Make up stories and lie all you want but you can’t change facts.
It is obvious that you both are HRC trolls, because the people that just dissagree with Choi or with Get Equal say it. The HRC trolls have a massive amount of anger at both of them and they come in here screaming insults because they are offended that somebody dares to differ from their opinions.
whatever
@MickW: Here, here!
J. Clarence
@reason: I can see why OutServe and Knights Out might have shifted their position on the issue, because the writing seems to be on the wall that the administration is willing to cave on this issue in light of Republican obstruction (not really a surprise at this point) and the lame duck session has a lot of crap to do–which affects more people–so holding up a lot of time for something that might bomb anyway doesn’t make much sense. And of course, you always run the chance of being accused of trying to jam something through during the lame duck.
However, at the same time, we all know what’s over the hill: a Republican controlled House, a weaker Democratically controlled Senate, and an administration so confused and wobbly about it stands for it makes the bi-curious girls of Girls Gone Wild look like bunch of Catholic Nuns.
If its not passed in the coming weeks, it won’t (likely) get passed for the next two years (and no guarantee after that, because Obama could loose his re-election and then we might have a Republican president for four years), at which point in 2012 we will be having the exact same discussion we are having now. Which is worse for the administration in particular, because I have no idea how they will be able to spin their record on this during the 2012 campaign when they had all of the votes to pass it but lacked the political will to actually push it through.
The weird thing about it is this isn’t an issue that would hurt any politician significantly. Even regular church goers are in favor of lifting the ban, only the most extreme hard-liners are against it, so say if the few conservative Democrats and one moderate Republican vote for it, there wouldn’t be a significant push back in their state against it.
Cam
@J. Clarence:
Well said.
Brutus
Jeff Sheng’s photography is a more powerful and effective statement against DADT than anything GetEQUAL has done.
http://www.jeffsheng.com/
Cam
@Brutus: Except for the fact that no straight people really see it and Choi and the Get Equal crew manage to get air time on all the shows.
CNN and the other networks are constantly interviewing Choi, and they get much more airtime than anybody from the other groups.
AndrewW
Just more childish publicity stunts from GetEQUAL. This latest stunt won’t change any Senators mind or create any public support for our equality. This childish idea that we can “embarrass, humiliate or irritate people into submission” is delusional. Protest and civil disobedience are for problems the pubic ISN’T aware of. 98% of America knows about our struggle. If we keep up this childish behavior we will lose more support.
This small band of paid activists is really just trying to get attention so they can raise money. They have salaries of $90,000 per year and have already wasted $700,000. For most of these “actions” they fly people in from other cities. They have never attracted more than 4 or 5 participants for their 11 stunts.
This latest stunt was ignored by the mainstream media and most of the LGBT media. People have figured out these childish stunts don’t help our community and only enrich a few self-described “activists.”
Casey
The house n*ggers of OutServe and KnightsOut and beyond pathetic.
They would be better off organising a National Coming Out day for active service military personnel to force the disgusting bigots to deal with massive volumes of homophobic dismissals at once.
The US Army is a force for tremendous evil in the world – it excuses grotesque bigotry (not the mention the hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians murdered across the world under the order of the commander in chief over the past 10 years.
jason
AT least Get Equal are out there doing something. In contrast, many of you are sitting at home whining on the internet. You’re lazy and ineffective. If the previous generations had been as lazy and indifferent as you lot, we would never have had Stonewall and we’d still be waiting for the repeal of sodomy laws.
As for OutServe and KnightsOut, they’re pathetic. They don’t represent me as a gay person. OutServe and KnightsOut need to lead, not surrender. If they can’t lead, they ought to get out of the fucking way.
jason
Keep in mind that Fraud-bama and the Demo-frauds will do anything to get us to give up our fight for DADT repeal. The lying, fraudulent Obama and his minions may even go so far as to pay certain organizations. Don’t put anything beyond them. Obama and his cronies are the epitome of sleaze.
Obama now realizes that he has painted himself into a corner on the DADT repeal issue and has nowhere to go. If DADT isn’t repealed, the anger in the gay community will be so great that it will cause a chain-reaction of disgust that will eventually drive him from office.
Cam
@AndrewW: said..
“This small band of paid activists is really just trying to get attention so they can raise money. They have salaries of $90,000 per year and have already wasted $700,000.”
______________________
Really? Thats a little better than HRC’s Joe Solomnase being paid over $300,000 a year and that organization wasting 50 million dollars a year and accomplishing nothing.
Casey
Voting for the Democrats is a waste of time.
Time to engage in direct action; social and civil unrest and greater use of the court system to gain our rights.
Vote Green. Voting Green is not a wasted vote, any more than voting Democrat or Republican. A Green candidate will NEVER be elected in the US, thanks to the undemocratic 2 party electoral system which functions to keep the Democrats and Republicans in power forever.
A vote for the Democrat or Republican Party is a wasted vote. They owe their primary loyalty to big business and lobbies. Neither party gives a shit about the schmucks who vote for them.
Lyndon Evans
Dishonoring a gay veteran’s gravsite for a photo op.
http://focusontherainbowopine.outloudblogs.com/2010/11/15/getequal-lt-dan-choi-and-others-use-sgt-leonard-matlovichs-gravesite-for-photo-op/
AndrewW
@Cam: I didn’t say Solmonese was worth $300,000 a year. HRC is as ineffective as the GetEQUAL clowns. Neither should receive our support.
Patrick
Stupid. All of them. I won’t contribute to GetEqual until they have some participants. 12 people is not significant. It’s easy to pay people to show up. If they get any followers, I may donate.
Cam
@Lyndon Evans:
Actually they are honoring the sacrifice that that veteran made. Don’t try to pretend that the vet would have rather been a second class citizen. But I realize that the memo and talking points that HRC sent out mentioned trying to make it seem as if if twas disrespectful to try to pull attention off the real issue, civil rights.
Patrick
@Cam: Why is it that anyone that believes GetEqual is a scam has to be from HRC? I hate HRC, but GetEqual is no better. These actions are to raise money, that’s all. They have held a half dozen “rallies” this year and nobody shows up – that must tell you something.
Caryn
I WISH GETEQUAL WOULD HURRY UP AND RUN OUT OF MONEY!! THIS GETS MORE AND MORE EMBARRASSING. MAKE IT STOP!!!!!!!