Appearing on the Today show to push her liberal America Is Too Fat campaign, Michelle Obama was forced by Matt Lauer to address her irresponsible parenting (raising kids in the White House is basically inviting TMZ’s persecution, lady!) and why everybody hates her husband. “I’m sure that there are some people who don’t like my husband,” says the First Lady. “Any president of the United States. This is a tough job. You’re not going to please everybody all the time. That’s not why you do this job.” Yeah, you do it to make gay people angry.
first lady fun
Harbo
I don’t hate Barack Obama. On the contrary, I LIKE Barack Obama. I worked for him in 2008 and voted for him. I’ll work for him again and vote for him in 2012, Has he done all I wanted him to do? NO. Have I been disappointed at time? YES. But he’s fought terrible, at times racist, odds. He has dome more for the GLBT community than any president before him. When you think we’re bad off, ask yourself where we would be with McCain/Palin in the White House!! Scary, isn’t it?
rodrigo
@Harbo: Amen to all you said. The only thing that bothered me that Michelle said was that her husband “kept all promises he made in the campaign trail”. Which immediately made me think of the immigrant/latino community to which he has broken promises. At least the gay community got dadt going for them!
As for queerty being so hateful and calling her program “america is too fat campaign”, it makes me think that you failed to watch the interview! She mainly said that school lunch quality is improving and that it’s about promoting a healthy lifestyle and WISE food choices, not merely “you can’t have mc donalds ever again and america’s parents are bad so I am going to make the nutritional decisions of your children for you”. It makes me think Sarah Palin wrote that article….
Jim Hlavac
Strangely, counterintuitively, gay folks in general would have been better off with McCain. Sure, DADT would still be the law, but DADT is but one part of this puzzle. However, the Evangelical followers of McCain would have felt emboldened to step up their rhetoric against us. And the more loudly they say looney things like “export” and “execute” is, and “outlaw gay sex” and “spend billions to cure the homosexuals,” well, then, the more the vast numbers of rational Americans will become appalled at this rhetoric. The nation would then be swept up in a far more intense debate about us — thus the faster we’ll get the whole thing. And not some piecemeal dribble as the Democrats do what they can to appease THEIR Evangelical followers as McCain must appease his. Meanwhile, Obama’s Dept. of Justice is going to court every time AGAINST us because they must defend the law as the party in power. If the Democrats were truly FOR us we wouldn’t even be discussing all this for there would have been no DADT to start with, and no DOMA, for our “friends” the Democrats voted for those laws so strongly the votes were lopsided. And oddly, some of our “enemies” the Republicans voted against those laws.
Basically, rights for gays is something which both parties are extremely uncomfortable with. With the Democrats it’s a quiet “not for us” so the president hasn’t had to say much. But with the Republicans it may well be a loud “not for us” and thus a Republican president will have a lot of explaining to do — and the talk will be incessant, and that’s better for us in the long run. Sometimes, your enemies can be quite good friends.
JohnnyTrue
The assumption here is outrageous. I in fact don’t ‘hate’ President Obama – I in fact hate right-wing douche bags that continually attack us and our struggle for rights.
I occassionally will be dissapointed with nearly all elected officials, as I get frustrated with nearly everyone else – but this site has to be living under a rock to assume that we all hate President Obama.
His accomplishments are legion – despite a large ugly well funded opposition – that are 99% our enemies too.
So here is one frequent reader that dissagrees and is dissappointed that you continue to bash our President.
I don’t even have the energy to respond to hvalac.
tjr101
Right! I hate Obama enough to know that I WILL be voting for him come 2012. Do I hate the Republican party enough to never vote for them at the federal level? HELL YES!!!
christopher di spirito
I don’t hate Obama either. I just wish he spent less time kissing the asses of the GOP at the expense of his political base.
I just wish Obama understood, “his friends across the aisle,” led by the de facto leader of the Republican party, the obese pedophile, junkie Rush Limbaugh, are gunnin’ for him to fail and all the pretty speeches and ‘aw shucks’ grinnin’, won’t win these scalawags over to his (and our) side.
kernelt
@Jim Hlavac: you must be knock up to the head…
How many time had they (conservative) defense the GLBT community, none. How many time they have attack us, countless.
The theory that by letting them have power and impose horrible legislation against the GLBT community to see set an outrage among the public is absurd. By then everything would be too late when they are in power…
On the contrary what is wrong with the Democrat proposing bills that those conservative oppose to as they explain to everyone with their ignorant mind why the GLBT community doesn’t deserve those propose rights. Everyone still get to hear their ill and disgust comments while we have the upper hand, which in ways strengthen our cause even further…
ewe
What i hate is her outfit. She looks like Minnie Mouse in that wacky accidental mesh of color mishaps. Black and white pocadots with a thick red belt and YELLOW SHOES? Come on. What is she? A duck?
ewe
@ewe: black and white red and yello. Yikes. Her outfit is an eyesore.
Red Meat
@Jim Hlavac: what a cynical thing to say.
Jeffree
@Jim Hlavac: You’ve forgotten the Supreme Court. The effects of a McCain presidency on the SC would be a disaster to LGBT & civll rights in general.
I’ll let other people lambaste you on your other hypotheses, because I believe they type faster than I do!
Fitz
So I call someone out on their homophobia and fence sitting, and I get called hateful? Sure. Ok. got it.
TheRealAdam
@Fitz: Maybe it’s the fact that the level of criticism aimed at Obama stems from his race? He has been attacked by mostly white gays and lesbians for not moving quick enough to satisfy white gays, as if he owes them something directly and expediently simply because he’s of color and they voted for him.
It is a racist frustration with Obama, if anything, that fuels gays contempt for him. The level of hostility aimed at him from the gay community was not present to this degree during the previous presidents’ administrations.
It just proves that the white gay community is white, first, gay, second, and that’s how they perceive themselves in relation to other minorities, gay or straight.
justiceontherocks
@Jim Hlavac: Were you dropped on your head as a child? If McCain had been elected, you know who would have been Veep. Since the insurance people tell us McCain had less than a 10% chance of surviving even one term, that means you know who would have been President. No one, gay, straight, undetermined or anywhere in between would be better off if that happened.
I understand your point about the vox populi rising up if Draconian laws were passed, but it’s not a good point. Things don’t work that way.
the crustybastard
I don’t think that Barack Obama is either a person or citizen, as contemplated by the Fourteenth Amendment. Further, as to his meretricious relationship with Michelle, I don’t feel that I bear any obligation to respect it as a real “marriage.”
Oh, wait — that’s how Obama feels about gays.
Fuck him. I’m writing in Robert Reich.
ewe
I read she said her husband does not dye his hair. For her to say that means that she is a liar because it is obvious he does. That is a plain ol flat out false statement unless she is dicing words and what she doesn’t say is that it is a henna wash or something.
ewe
@Harbo:Tax paid bailouts fund global mergers.
Harbo
EWE: What planet are you from?
Jeffree
@Ewe: Good observation on the hair! It does seem less gray sometimes. Maybe he uses that stuff my Dad uses that says (used to say?) “Not a dye!” right on the package.
Michelle, like many First Ladies, has much
higher approval ratings than the POTUS. I don’t know whether she dyes her hair or not, but she’s a very good looking person.
Zee
I’m not one of the haters, though I’ve come across some very extreme people who do hate. it’s just a waste of energy…
Join Me on Sodahead, we need more GLBT voices!
http://www.sodahead.com/user/profile/933960/astro-boy/
Shannon1981
Any queer with any sense whatsoever knows we are WAY better off with Obama than we would have been with McCain. Have I been disappointed in him? Yes, many times. But…think of the militant anti gay country we’d be living in by now if McCain and Palin were holding court. Scary thought, isn’t it?
ewe
@Harbo: Earth. why such a stupid question? Would you like to make a point of some sort?
Harbo
EWE “Would you like to make a point of some sort?”
Would you?
ewe
@Jeffree: you think he does his hair himself? I guess it’s possible cause there is no way someone with flair dressed her up like a duck. Did you see those yellow shoes? I know she is speaking on behalf of children but does that mean she has to dress up like Minnie Mouse?
ewe
@Harbo: I already make a point about what happened to billions of tax paid dollars. You just foster the cat and mouse game of the two party duality. Grow up. I am sick and tired of people like you demonizing one for the other. ON OFF. BLACK WHITE. YES NO. THIS THAT. GAY STRAIGHT. LOVE HATE. You and your endless “best of the worst” campaigning is tired and childish. Hence, i get a response from you asking me ” what planet are you from?” Let me check with William Shatner. Does that suit your mindset?
afrolito
@TheRealAdam: Truth.
OrchidIslander
@TheRealAdam: Well said Adam, and I heartily concur with your point of view.
ewe
@TheRealAdam: oh there is no generalizations and stereotypes in your rendition of reality. uh huh. Please go demonize elsewhere. I find it predictably pc.
Lee
@TheRealAdam, you are absolutely right.
FlameoftheWest
She seema like a nice lady.
the crustybastard
@TheRealAdam: Maybe it’s the fact that criticism aimed at Obama stems from the fact that he mostly divides his time vainly attempting to please the Christian theocrats, Teaparty nitwits, and our Corporate Overlords.
“He has been attacked by mostly white gays and lesbians for not moving quick enough to satisfy white gays…It just proves that the white gay community is white, first, gay, second, and that’s how they perceive themselves in relation to other minorities, gay or straight..
So to prove your theory that any criticism of Obama is essentially racist, you boldly make a profoundly racist allegation utterly unsupported by evidence?
Awesome.
SpireaX
I’ve noticed the quality of writing on Queerty articles have gone downhill lately. Cheap shots were always abundant but this one seems especially over-the-top.
TheRealAdam
@ewe: You may find it “predictably PC,” but unfortunately for you, it’s highly accurate.
@the crustybastard: I have observation as my evidence, as do most aware people. Believe it or not, people of color pay close attention to these things that without question fly under the radar of white gays, or are just ignored by them.
And your arguments against Obama because of his appeasement/concessions to corporate America and the Right are basically what every president who has run on a liberal/progressive platform has had to do. Believe it or not, the country is mostly center-right, and one man isn’t going to turn that around over night, no matter how much you think he can or should.
the crustybastard
@TheRealAdam:
So now you argue that higher melanin percentages make a person more observant and/or smarter than a person with lower melanin percentage?
That makes you real-live believer in the absurd “melanin theory!” So not only are you a racist, you’re a pseudoscientific racist. Awesome!
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melanin_theory]
Keep up the good derp.
TheRealAdam
@the crustybastard: You can interpret it however you like :). It won’t change the accuracy of my post and won’t change the fact that several people here completely agreed with what I said.
tjr101
@TheRealAdam: Valid points!
the crustybastard
@TheRealAdam:
In conclusion, you rhetorically rationalize your racist pseudoscience with a logical fallacy? I couldn’t possibly expect less.
Have a super day.
TheRealAdam
@the crustybastard: Again, I encourage you to interpret it however you like :).
Chitown Kev
@the crustybastard:
Well…
While I don;t agree entirely with what TheRealAdam is saying, the flat out truth is that black people (or any ethnic minority group) flat out know white people better than white people know people of other ethnicities, as a general rule.
Because our lives depend on reading YOU.
It’s really unnecessary for white folks to do that type of reading on other ethnic minorities but white folks are sure good at making shit up simply to oppress them.
The analogy works for gay and straight people, too, FWIW.
the crustybastard
@Chitown Kev:
So you also maintain that melanin (a photochemical skin pigment) provides special psychic enhancements? And a want of melanin enhances one’s aptitude for confabulation and oppression?
Your wild racist pseudoscientific theories are as patently absurd and ridiculous as TheRealAdam’s. How about you both go shop that “white devil” shit over at the Nation of Islam? It’s very popular there.
TheRealAdam
@Chitown Kev: Excellent post, Kev.
Chitown Kev
@the crustybastard:
No.
Adapting and evolving through minute observation of the oppresor’s behaviors in order to survive virulent racism and homophobia generation after generation after generation (you left out the homophobia part of my argument) is what I’m talking about and you know it.
And I actually didn’t see the RealAdam saying anything about melanin enhancements and all that crazy shit. That’s white folks shit.
The only “racist pseudoscentific theories” based on skin melanin content that I know of were created by white folks (and yes, there are a very few blacks that basically espouse a blackface version of those theories).
TheRealAdam
@Chitown Kev: Exactly.
Chitown Kev
@the crustybastard:
Educate yourself, sweetie
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_de_Gobineau
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_racism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Jensen
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Lynn
ewe
@TheRealAdam: There is nothing accurate in what you say. You promote racism by leaving out the fact Obama is biracial and is “more white” than a lot of white gays you want to demonize. You just push obvious appearances. There is nothing noble or enlightening about what you are saying. It is just the same as what you claim to be against.
Chitown Kev
@ewe:
Uh, no his skin color (melanin content) ain’t white at all. President Obama is dark enough whereas in certain neighborhoods he’ll get pulled over simply for driving while black.
In terms of his cultural background, why yes, I suppose that would be coded as being “white” by black and white folks alike (and in fact, I’ve been coded as “white” because of that as well).
The problem is to even code his cultural background in that way is a pecuilarly American form of racism.
One good example is white gays bitching that Obama is a fundamentalist Christian.
Honey, I know black fundamentalist Christians…in fact I was raised as one. Barack Obama is no fundamentalist Christian (I do believe that he is a closet agnostic or atheist). The fact that white gay folks choose to label him as one (in spite of the fact that Bill and Hillary Clinton, for example, belonged to denominations that CAN trend in that way) betrays not only passive agressive racism but also an utter ignorance of the variety of religions that black folks do practice.
Now Obama cozying up to fundamentalist Christians…that’s a different (and political) story.
Chitown Kev
But let me ask this.
In the sense that I have outlined, I am saying that racism and homophobia are similar in that a member of the “minority” has to intricately observe the majority culture in order to survive.
In other words, I am ALSO saying that LGBTs know straights better than straights know LGBTs.
Agree or disagree?
TheRealAdam
@ewe: Ahhhn, so now you are playing the biracial card? So predictable. I didn’t “leave out” anything, since he has been treated mostly as a black man. Regardless of if he his biracial, he is still a person of color in the eyes of most white gays. They only like to distinguish him as being half-white when it suits whatever argument their making against him, in order to evade accusations of prejudice and racism. Otherwise, he’s just another Negro.
And no, it’s not the same as what I claim to be against. Observation of the culture of racism in the gay community is not synonymous with hating white gays. You and this bitch who calls himself “TheCrustyBastard” simply appear to have a problem with minority gays stating the obvious. And you know what? White gays have ALWAYS had a problem with that.
TheRealAdam
@Chitown Kev: Yes, I agree. It’s a completely valid analogy.
ewe
@TheRealAdam: I am not playing anything. You are so desperate and fragile that you need to create a scenario that leaves more than half the equation missing. So now you are willing to say “most” white gays. I accomplished what i set out to do. Case closed. You are the one bringing up prejudice and racism. You act like the twisted religious right that lash out and then play victim. Don’t assume just because i disagree and confront your easy out that that means i or anyone else that doesn’t fall in line with your bullshit are white gay men. Time to take a look in front of your mirror and tell yourself what you are telling everyone else. Your problem is that you think you can silence people who disagree with you by bringing up racism like masking tape over a mouth to end discussion. Meanwhile the hate coming out of you is so ok just because….
ewe
@Chitown Kev: You are the one who looks and judges people by the color of their skin. You just said it. You accuse people of wrongdoing when they bring up the true fact Obama is biracial when it is convenient for you? Wrong. Obama is biracial yesterday today and tomorrow. Being from a caucasian background is not a “peculiar american form of racism.” Which white gays are you referring to that accuse Obama of being a fundamentalist christian. If you can name one, be sure to note that they probably don’t feel any comraderie with any fundamentalist christian. HONEY. You got on all your flipped out tangents and you gonna find a different doormat to rub the dirt off your feet.
the crustybastard
@Chitown Kev: “That’s white folks shit.”
That’s a racist statement. Period. I’m not sure why you don’t understand that.
I’m also not sure why you and RealAdam feel compelled to inject race into the issue of Obama’s leadership. Nobody here has or is currently arguing that his race has played a role in his failures. Had anybody taken the position that George Bush’s white skin immunized him from criticism by the black community, I would as quickly condemn that as equally racist, baseless, and ignorant. Further, you don’t actually know the race of anybody who’s laid a criticism against Obama. You guys are just assuming any critics must be white.
You also said,“The only ‘racist pseudoscentific theories’ based on skin melanin content that I know of were created by white folks…”
Really? The best you can do is argue “I don’t know about it so it can’t be true?” LOL.
“Melanin is responsible for the existence of civilization, philosophy, religion, truth, justice, and righteousness. Individuals (whites) containing low levels of Melanin will behave in a barbaric manner. Melanin gives humans the ability to FEEL because it is the absorber of all frequencies of energy. Since whites have the least amount of Melanin, this is why they are perceived by People of Color as generally being rigid, unfeeling (heartless), cold, calculating, mental, and “unspiritual.
— Carol Barnes, Melanin: The Chemical Key to Black Greatness, Vol. 1 (Lushena Books, 2001)
Yep, that’s pretty much your and TheRealAdam’s argument, and it’s pretty much pseudoscientific black supremacist bullshit. But I doubt that any evidence I could present could possibly impeach your belief that you are the authority on all matters racial.
So I’m done. Go ahead and have the last word.
Chitown Kev
@the crustybastard:
Honey, black folks didn’t create that bullshit.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_racism
Chitown Kev
@ewe:
But when you look at Obama what does you (or anyone) see?
I have people in my family much lighter skinned than Obama.
Note that I didn’t say that all criticism of Obama was racist; myself I think that he’s a so-so president and politician just like the previous 43. I don’t find Obama to be imbued with much of anything but him doing what politicians do.
Many (not most) white gays are the ones that seem to imbue his blackness (or biraciality) with so much significance.
Personally, I don’t think that skin melanin is a sufficient basis to make judgments.
But the culture that arose out of racist bullshit is a sufficient basis.
Otherwise, Italians that immigrated to the US would have never felt the need to Anglicize their names.
ewe
@Chitown Kev: When i look at Obama i see the US president. You shoud be careful not to put down people who discuss race when people routinely bring it up about themselves. I have always felt that racism is an institutional disgrace. White gay people are not the enemy and no one is going to feed me that bullshit. I took poly sci and african american studies years ago. All that stuff is like staples on a supermarket shelf.
Right Wingers Are Socioptahs (John From England)
@ewe:
Keep telling yourself that.
ewe
@Right Wingers Are Socioptahs (John From England): great. more baditude.
ewe
@Right Wingers Are Socioptahs (John From England): Is that nose up in the air coming from a Brit? You have no say in anything. Great Britain has scorched this planet with evil for centuries. Keep quiet while you remain in grandiose denial. You may want to attack your little queen you got goin on over there before you debate equality.
TheRealAdam
@ewe: You’re right, case closed. All I see is a lot of “blah blah blah” from you that doesn’t take away the validity of what I stated, and what has been confirmed by several other posters.
And for the record, I’m not trying to silence anyone. You white gays are free to display your racism all you like (and as you frequently do), and you no doubt will. Just note that you will be called on it whether you like it or not. I’d suggest you find a means of coping with that reality.
TheRealAdam
@Right Wingers Are Socioptahs (John From England): She’s full of it and has gone mad.
@Chitown Kev: Is this fool seriously trying to tell people of color that they are “black supremacists” based on a concept of racism developed by and instituted for the benefit of white people? The arrogance of these white gays never ceases to astound…like I said from the beginning: white, first, gay, second.
ewe
@TheRealAdam: I suggest you read my comments. You make an awful lot of assumptions.
TheRealAdam
@ewe: And I’d further suggest that you follow through with your own commitments to cases being apparently closed.
ewe
@TheRealAdam: @ewe: You’re right, case closed.
Thank you. Of course i am right. You never had an argument.
ewe
@TheRealAdam: or any point other than all the commenters here are white gay people. You are a hypocritical Kook.
TheRealAdam
@ewe: You’re right, I never had an argument, because there’s nothing to argue. You are arguing with me, not the other way around.
And it is very unfortunate that you refuse to agree to disagree on this matter, since I have always enjoyed reading your posts and have expressed thanks to you on at least one occasion. But here you are being belligerent.
Chitown Kev
@TheRealAdam:
“like I said from the beginning: white, first, gay, second.”
Hmmm…I wouldn’t quite put it that way.
I mean, they grew up in a predominately white culture (that is a culture that affirmed who they were…black folks existed to entertain them, I suppose) with all of those privileges. How else to you expect white folks to act?
(and, in fact, damn near every LGBT person “grew up” in “straight culture”)