UPDATE II: Unless you count incoming Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, (which we don’t), there will be no gay members of the Obama cabinet. Politico reports that President-elect Obama has chosen California Rep. Hilda Solis as Labor secretary.
The post is one of the last to be filled by President-elect Barack Obama, and is proving to be particularly difficult. Early candidates, such as former Rep. David Bonior and Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, have faded, either because they asked not to be considered or ran into other problems. Bonior has championed labor activist Mary Beth Maxwell, who would be the first openly gay cabinet member in history.
But Shaiken has emerged as a candidate with strong backing from unions and high praise from corporate officials, according to people familiar with the selection process.
Here in a nutshell is why gays and lesbians are so upset with Obama today. He’s following the Clinton playbook for dealing with the gay community, a playbook that the Democratic Party has subscribed to ever since. When Barack Obama said that he only supports marriage as being defined as being between a man and a woman, the gay & lesbian community was told, “Don’t worry, we’ve got your back” and LGBT activists let is slide, despite the fact that Obama’s position was used by the Yes on 8 campaign in ads and mailers in their winning campaign. After the huge losses and nation-wide protest marches last month, we had hope Obama would speak up in defense of marriage equality, but he stayed silent. We were told, “Now is not the time.” When The Victory Fund announced it was working with the Obama team to find qualified gays and lesbians for the new Cabinet, we waited. We waited while the list of open positions diminished and now it appears Mr. Hope & Inclusion’s Dream Team won’t have any gay members at all. The one bright spot is that Obama’s Education Secretary nominee Arne Duncan is a champion of gay and lesbian youth.
Is it any wonder that gays and lesbians are upset that they’re being told to welcome and include one of the loudest and most prominent supporters of Prop 8 at the inauguration? In the 80s, Ronald Reagan sat silently while gay men and then peole from every walk of life suffered horrible, painful death due to AIDS. In the 90s, Clinton “felt our pain”, but only added to it by passing the Defense of Marriage Act and instituting Don’t Ask-Don’t Tell. George W. Bush supports a gay-baiting Constitutional Amendment banning gay marriage that only exists as a way for conservatives to flas their bona fides come election time.
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.
Let’s face it: The gay community gets dicked around by the White House regardless of which party is in office. Are LGBT rights the only issue that matters? No. It’s not even the most important one and LGBT Americans, like all Americans, will support our President in a difficult and trying time in our country’s history. But that doesn’t mean that we will roll over when our civil rights are used as political pawns to win over conservatives or to be shelved until some time in the distant future.
The flap over Rev. Warren will fade over time and a few months from now will seem unimportant, but it can and should be, as Mr. Obama himself might say, “a teachable moment.” Not for us, but for the President-Elect.
At today’s press conference, Obama said of the issue:
“It’s part of what my campaign’s been all about — that we’re not going to agree on every single issue, but what we have to do is be able to create an atmosphere where we can disagree without being disagreeable and then focus on those things that we hold in common as Americans,” he said. “There are going to be a wide range of viewpoints that will be represented and that’s how it should be, because that’s what America is about.”
That sounds well and good, but where in the “wide range of viewpoints that will be represented” are gays and lesbians? Are not civil and equal rights something that should be and must be “one of those things that we hold common as Americans”? On the list of group who need more visibility and inclusion in Washington, are we to believe that Obama thinks that the religious right is a more marginalized group than gays and lesbians?
If the gay community is being loud in its criticism of Obama, it’s only because without a voice at the table, it seems he’s unable to hear us.
UPDATE II: The Victory Fund responds to Solis’ nomination:
With the rumored nomination of Rep. Hilda Solis to the post of Labor Secretary, it’s apparent Barack Obama’s cabinet will not include a member of the LGBT community. Chuck Wolfe, president and CEO of the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund and Leadership Institute, expressed the community’s disappointment.
“It’s now clear that President Obama’s top appointees will gather in a Cabinet Room that does not reflect the living rooms, board rooms or rooms of worship across this country. Openly LGBT people are accepted and involved in nearly all aspects of American life, but they still will not have a place at the table at the highest reaches of their government,” Wolfe said.
The LGBT community’s Presidential Appointments Project does not have an express goal of attaining a cabinet-level appointment, but the floating of several names of openly gay and lesbian contenders to head the Labor and Interior Departments stirred hope that Obama would make an historic nomination. Still, Obama will make thousands more appointments in the coming months, and the Project has so far collected some 1,400 applications from openly LGBT at all levels of experience.
“Floating names is not enough. We expect President-elect Obama to live up to his word to appoint a diverse administration,” Wolfe said. “Our community is ready to help lead this country.”
Ben
This is another nonstory. He didn’t promise that the seat would be filled by a LGBT person. I hate to keep saying this but, but I don’t like that you keep posting it like this; this stuff is divisive. Harmful. Needlessly cynical and therefore divisive.
I’m glad we’re questioning our leaders and pushing them. It’s essential. But you’re not even giving him a month to lead yet! Chill out and give it time our else all the fuss is going to drive us all mad.
Trenton
“Are LGBT rights the only issue that matters? No. It’s not even the most important one and LGBT Americans, like all Americans, will support our President in a difficult and trying time in our country’s history.”
I’m glad that you say this. After all, if the country goes bankrupt, having rights to marry will be the least of our worries. And I will also add that not having a gay cabinet member isn’t exactly a slap in the face (the Rick Warren thing was a mean hook to the jaw, though). I am not up on my national politicos, but I can’t think of many prominent LGBT figures who are clearly better for any of the cabinet posts than those people whom Obama has appointed. If someone could give examples of queer figures that could have been fair contenders, then I might be a little more indignant. Otherwise, lalala…
Still, that’s the trouble with the Rick Warren choice. As it is so glaring a folly, it is hard to trust his judgment on these other matters…especially when, truthfully, I couldn’t trust him much to begin with. This election boiled down to choosing the mystery bag over the one that was clearly full of shit. I can only HOPE that I and everyone else chose wisely.
Chris
I can’t agree with that conciliatory approach any longer. No, he didn’t “promise” to put a gay person on his cabinet, but he promised diversity, and when you leave out 10% of the population that’s not diversity.
Rick Warren isn’t just opposed to gay marriage. I might not like that, but reasonable people can disagree. But Rick Warren has repeatedly made public statements comparing gay relationships to pedophilia, incest and polygamy. That’s bigotry, and Obama is not so inclusive as to invite open racists to give prayers at such a symbolic event as the inauguration.
Ben
@Chris:
He’s a powerful person that many people already recogonize. It’s important then to address that Obama has invited him AND Lowery to this event. Among the entire world. You can’t have just the people only you like or else you’d be just as bad as them.
Michael W.
Could it be possible that heterosexuals were the most qualified for the job? Could it be that there aren’t any openly GLBT people available that Obama personally wanted in his cabinet?
His selection may be diverse but they’re all very capable. You’d be hard pressed to argue for example that incoming Energy Secretary Steven Chu was chosen just because he’s Asian.
Who are the gay and lesbian officials that were lined up to fill these positions and how do they measure against those who were selected?
Joe Moag
California U.S. Rep. Hilda Solis has been chosen for Labor, according to MSNBC
Michael
Agreed with most of the other commenters. We are embroiled in two wars, deep in a recession that shows no sign of slowing down, and without many of the other civil liberties we had when George Bush took office. Dare I say that the restoration of habeas corpus is higher on my personal priorities for the Obama administration than our community’s more specific issues?
I think certain factions of the gay community are looking for an enemy that doesn’t exist in attacking Barack Obama. He is, without question, the most pro-gay president this country has ever elected.
Maxwell was not a good choice for secretary of labor. If she would have been selected, it would’ve been to appease us – not because she was the most suitable candidate.
Brian
I agree with the wacko who says the fuss will drive us mad.
I really believe that with so many minorities, it’d be a challenge to appoint one of each minority to a cabinet position… by the time Pres-Elect finished, we’d have strange departments in the federal government like the Department of Fabulousness JUST so that we can have a gay guy in the cabinet.
My question is this…
If we’re fighting like hell to get out of the closet, why are we pissed because we’re not in the cabinet?
Hint
There’s still the possibility of the Secretary of the Navy being an openly gay man. I won’t get my hopes up though….
But thinking about it a bit today, I thought Obama might give us Maxwell to appease the gay community after the Rick Warren fumble, but then, he would be picking someone just because they’re gay. I don’t want my president to just fill quotas to appease certain groups.
I’m going to wait for the actual policy and for him to get into office to start complaining. And even then I realize that gay issues simply aren’t the biggest priority right now. Cleaning up the country as a whole is.
Michael W.
Appointing people to these very important leadership positions because they’re gay is not the change I voted for. I don’t want quotas and cronyism, that’s a dead end.
So how’s about we get down to some specifities rather than waving the pitchforks and torches in anger? Let’s take a look at openly gay and lesbian potential cabinet picks and weigh them against the people who were chosen.
You know, a lot of people are upset that Obama appointed Shaun Donovan, a white guy, to run HUD instead of the usual token black or Hispanic politician. They can’t see how qualified the guy is and what he’s done for urban development in New York, they’re too busy fuming because he’s not black or Hispanic and supposedly can’t understand the plight of minorities who have to deal with housing in economically depressed areas. That’s not how Barack Obama works.
merlin
so where are the KKK, the neo nazi’s and the skin heads in this inclusive world of homophobes for obama? they all got opinions on religion, politics and gays, like warren, no?
when we are told we are into beastiality because we are gay……. what does that tell us about the man that said it (warren), and the man that ignores it obama?
Austin
@Hint: “I don’t want my president to just fill quotas to appease certain groups.”
Exactly! Like Trenton said in Comment #2, if there were gay figures out there that were a glaringly better match for the cabinet positions Obama has filled, then yes, I would be angry. But (and correct me if I’m wrong) I don’t think there are any.
Yes, I agree that it would have been great to have some representation. However, just because we don’t have gays and lesbians there doesn’t mean we don’t have representation. Some of our most vocal allies are straight!
And if we were to take a purely statistical approach, the probability of selecting a gay/lesbian cabinet member is only 10%, which is pretty low. If this were done randomly (which it is not, obviously), then this still falls in line with randomness.
Bottom line: I hope this doesn’t turn into an “affirmative action” issue.
Michael W.
“And if we were to take a purely statistical approach, the probability of selecting a gay/lesbian cabinet member is only 10%, which is pretty low.”
Hell I think it’s lower than that. How many openly gay and lesbian politicians are there? How many openly gay and lesbian public officials, period, who are capable of filling these positions? And how many of those are personally familiar to Barack Obama and his transition team or filled out an application on the change.gov website?
The odds are very slim.
John K.
Ben:
I don’t care if he invites every gay person on the planet to the inaugeration. He would NEVER invite a white supremacits “pastor,” he should NEVER invite an anti-gay pastor.
Michael
Back again – this issue has been all over everything today and is driving me nuts for some new reasons.
1) One of the biggest failures of No on 8 was our inability to connect with persuadable religious people. Obama recognizes that legal recognition of gay rights will have to include religious people, people who formerly opposed them.
2) All the headlines about this matter read, more or less, GAYS FURIOUS. This is obviously not the case – I’m not furious, and almost all of the other commenters on this post aren’t either. It’s the Solomneses, the talking heads of the gay community who have all the righteous anger. You know what good that does? Not a damn bit – other than heightening the disconnect between the gay community and the faith community even more.
RLS
There are some segments of the gay community that are tripping all over themselves to find fault with every move Obama makes, and will continue to do so. Let’s not forget that in this election more gays voted Republican than did in 2004. There is something there. What I think it is is that the mainstream (i.e. white) gay community bends over backwards to see blacks as “the enemy” (note the reaction to the prop 8 passing), and they won’t allow themselves to trust Obama in the same way that they immediately trusted Hillary Clinton. The man has two different pastors who have two different positions on gays, but I guarantee you much more will be made of the antigay one than the pro-gay one.
Paul Raposo
Japhy, don’t waste your ime trying to inform these rubes; they’re still sticky from their Bill Clinton wet dream from the 90’s. In four years when LGBTQ equality has not moved one iota–and I am willing to bet huge sums of money on this assertion–all the angry queers will come out in droves and ask why. And you will be able to link to this post and tell them, “This was why.”
You want to piss off these people, Japhy? Just mention DADTDP and DOMA.
As far as straight people being more qualified for the job–what if no one other than straight people were sought out? How can gay politicos compete, if they aren’t given the chance? We have no idea what Obama’s selection process was, but we do know the outcome–no LGBTQ representation. Yet, every other colour of the rainbow is present including the anti-gay one. Obabma is desperate to attract the right wing base from the Repubs to the Dems even if it means alienating gays
Michael W.
@RLS: Agreed. It almost seems like gays voted for Obama while holding their noses. That helps explain why John McCain was able to secure 27% of the gay vote, the only demographic increase the Republican candidate had from the 2004 election.
I think that’s why the RNC sent out that Nerd Hunk dude who’s been on Queerty twice now, talking up Republicans and gay rights. They sense the same rift and want to exploit it.
Obama has quite an uphill battle. Forces on both sides of the want to destroy him and he has to perform a steady balancing act for the next 4-8 years. Everyone is itching for a chance to say “Fuck Obama.”
merlin
this isn’t about homosexuality, this is about basic rights and how people are respected in america. these guys are playing the religious culture cards on purpose…. these guys are using hate to ratchet up their attendance, they are using hate to keep people from having equal rights. these guys are benefiting from their statements of hatred toward homosexauls. they already won the prop 8 vote with misrepresentation of marriage and how we live.
this is pure racism under another name. put any other group in place of homosexaul in the statements made above in the video by this homophobe and you would have riots against obama for accepting this man as a religious leader.
the question is why don’t we count? why are we the butt end of all this? over and over again?
when people don’t object, when people let those that hate succeed, others around us may not see the hatred that is being spewed, and it will get worse. just as racism itself is not over in america, as we can still witness truck draggings in texas not so long ago.
Michael W.
@Paul Raposo: “As far as straight people being more qualified for the job–what if no one other than straight people were sought out? How can gay politicos compete, if they aren’t given the chance?”
It’s ridiculous to suggest that Obama sought to discriminate against gay and lesbian applicants for these positions. It just goes to show how far you’re reaching to discredit our President-elect.
Has Barack Obama lied to you, Paul? Did he ever take a piss in your coffee? Why wouldn’t you give him the benefit of the doubt at least until he does something to demonstrate that he can’t be trusted?
Paul Raposo
@Michael W.:
It’s ridiculous to suggest that Obama sought to discriminate against gay and lesbian applicants for these positions.
And it’s ridiculous to suggest he did not. As I wrote in my comment, we have no idea what his selection process was, but we know the outcome; which must give one pause.
It just goes to show how far you’re reaching to discredit our President-elect.
And it just goes to show how gullible American queers are when it comes to Dem leaders. Clinton fooled you once; are you going to let Obama fool you twice?
Has Barack Obama lied to you, Paul?
Since being elected pres he has done two very powerful things; brought in anti-gay preachers and staffed his cabinet with nothing but heterosexuals.
Why wouldn’t you give him the benefit of the doubt at least until he does something to demonstrate that he can’t be trusted?
What has he done to be trusted? During the election he was all over gays like a cheap suit. Now, he is sending out dismissive press releases defending the insensible in the form of Warren; talking about openness, while limiting his cabinet to hets; and talked about inclusiveness by having a gay band in his inauguration, while not having any gay speakers.
I don’t do two things: I never allow history to repeat itself because we all know what happens when we do. And I never give people a second chance.
Enjoy that Kool-aid, Mickey, because it won’t be getting sweeter any time soon.
Raphael
I’m more disappointed in Obama than ever. Rick Warren’s inclusion is inexcusable, and a clear message to gays that we won’t be heard by this administration.
However, I will say that Hilda Solis is a fantastic choice. She’s a solid lib in a cabinet with too many “moderates.”
Paul Raposo
@Paul Raposo:
And it just goes to show how gullible American queers are when it comes to Dem leaders. Clinton fooled you once; are you going to let Obama fool you twice?
Excuse me, three powerful things–made it clear he has no plans to move on DADTDP.
Paul Raposo
@Paul Raposo:
^^^should have been this:
Since being elected pres he has done two very powerful things; brought in anti-gay preachers and staffed his cabinet with nothing but heterosexuals.
Excuse me, three powerful things–made it clear he has no plans to move on DADTDP.
Dave
Frankly I think it’s not unreasonable to be concerned about whether or not a pattern is developing – I realize that an apparent pattern does not mean there is a deliberate strategy in play or even that those in positions of decision making are aware of it (though if there not I might have to rethink my vote 😉 ). But let’s face the facts shall we – cause we all know that any of our issues or even an out member in the cabinet would be a political lightning rod for the far right and historically there have been very few Presidents who’ve decided to grab onto a lightning rod issue (excepting Woodrow Wilson with League of Nations & that didn’t really end well). Its also important to note the nominee for education as he’s clearly the nod in our direction but the strategy behind that is part of the problem here – we’re being expected to be silent and not rock the vote which is all well and good up to a point I’m not suggesting that DADT or DOMA need to be repealed within the hour or the year or some such but I am proposing that our President elect should give us a little more then a nod – not something as grandiose as creating a new cabinet position on human rights but certainly support for the French proposal in the UN to condemn the criminalization of homosexuality there are some other things (attending a HRC or comparable national LGBT organization’s event perhaps) he might do which while not necessarily what we want would be acknowledging that our issues ENDA, DADT, and DOMA are not just valid concerns on the campaign trail but are valid concerns of citizens of these United States of a sitting President. If no such gesture is evident in his first 6 months I will be disappointed – I think we all will be – would lack of a gesture necessarily mean something, no of course not, but a gesture like supporting the proposal before the UN would and it wouldn’t cost much in terms of political power to do it – even the far right would have very little room to do other then mimic the Vatican on this and even that point could be circumvented (though it’d give them a new speaking point) if the powers that be wanted to muzzle the far right from making it a marriage issue.
hymen
Obama is a fucking sell-out. A mixed-race man giving a platform for others to oppose marriage rights for all is so rich in irony, I can’t fucking stand it.
merlin
marriage isn’t the issue. it is an excuse for bigotry. rights have nothing to do with marriage, that would be a so called side effect of having rights. this is genuinely about someone else’s opinion of us shaping us and our civil rights, not the law giving us the same rights are others.
what is the christian final solution for gays in america?
The Gay Numbers
Ask same thing I am asking everywhere- what can we do about things going forward on gay issues at grassroot level?
Ben
@Paul Raposo:
…staffed his cabinet with nothing but heterosexuals.
Boo hoo. Yeah, that’s a big step backwards for SURE.
Brian
I’m not saying he’s going to do a good job… because I honestly don’t know yet — but for god-sake… at least give the guy a change to screw us over as much as everybody else has before you crucify him.
michael
Go ahead and intellectualize Obama actions away. If you all stay in your heads then you won’t have to look in your hearts where the real truth is. Maybe it is to painful, to frightening. But the writing continues to be all over the wall. These lessons have been learned before but as gays we think we know better.
“On some positions, Cowardice asks the question, “Is it safe?” Expediency asks the question, “Is it politic?” And Vanity comes along and asks the question, “Is it popular?” But Conscience asks the question “Is it right?” And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he must do it because Conscience tells him it is right”
“We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.”
“You know my friends, there comes a time when people get tired of being trampled by the iron feet of oppression … If we are wrong, the Supreme Court of this nation is wrong. If we are wrong, the Constitution of the United States is wrong. And if we are wrong, God Almighty is wrong. If we are wrong, Jesus of Nazareth was merely a utopian dreamer that never came down to Earth. If we are wrong, justice is a lie, love has no meaning. And we are determined here in Montgomery to work and fight until justice runs down like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
And for those of you who wonder why the United States is in the state it is in, for those who believe bank accounts and economy are more important than human dignity this is for you.
“Don’t let anybody make you think God chose America as his divine messianic force to be a sort of policeman of the whole world. God has a way of standing before the nations with justice and it seems I can hear God saying to America “you are too arrogant, and if you don’t change your ways, I will rise up and break the backbone of your power, and I will place it in the hands of a nation that doesn’t even know my name. Be still and know that I’m God. Men will beat their swords into plowshafts and their spears into pruning hooks, and nations shall not rise up against nations, neither shall they study war anymore.” I don’t know about you, I ain’t going to study war anymore.”
We can stand in silence, we can make excuses for our leaders and justify their behaviours but by doing so we just keep pouring water on top of a sinking ship.
America’s is near bankruptcy because it is spiritually and morally bankrupt and as
long as we as gay people do not rise up we are only contributing to that bankruptcy.
James
Where’s a new Harvey Milk when you need him?
JohnnyTruthful
Whoever the new Harvey Milk is, it clearly won’t be Japhy Grant.
Roy Pyatt
I hereby withdraw my support for Barak Obama.
I shall now return to the back of the bus!
Doug Morrison
I just have to believe that President elect Obama has a plan and is focused on uniting us and moving beyond this GOD DAMNED polarization America and its people have had to endure! I’ll give Obama more time before I let anger or disappointment dictate my judgement on his judgement.
kevin57
I totally agree that Obama, LIKE ANY NEW PRESIDENT, deserves some latitude. One can’t judge too quickly or absolutely.
At the same time, I would like to challenge those who don’t seem the least bothered by any of Obama’s sidestepping of the gay demographic: if McCain had made the EXACT same moves, would YOU not now be screaming righteous indignation of the high heavens?
Just a thought.
audiored
@Michael W.: I won’t totally discount the idea that latent racism in the white gay community has some role in lessening support for Obama.
However, Obama has done a lot to undermine support and raise suspicions about how committed he is to LGBT issues.
If he delivers on something big, that could quickly turn around.
When I first read about the Warren thing yesterday I was genuinely shocked and upset but wasn’t angry until I started reading comments from straights on some of liberal blogs I frequent. It mostly came down to a lot of straights belittling and dismissing those gays that expressed anger and dismay at the choice.
Symbolically it is a big deal to have a filthy bigot like Warren in such a prominent platform as the inauguration. And that seems totally lost on Obama and his staff. And on a lot of straight ‘allies.’
The LGBT community does need to find a way to get its act together and ensure these kinds of slights and insults don’t continue in the future and even more that concrete and fundamental changes to ensure full citizenship rights are achieved.
Being a relatively tiny minority we are unfortunately dependent on the assistance of often unreliable, fair weather allies.
Joel Silverstein
One of the many inherent inconsistencies within liberalism in general and theological revisionism in particular is the self-ascribed vanity, embraced universally amongst the “anointed ones”, that liberals “speak truth to power,” stand up for the poor and impoverished, befriend the outcasts, and work tirelessly on their behalf.
This self-image is zealously guarded and maintained…it seems a psychological necessity–in the face of cold hard facts that belie it–namely that the “poor” are generally quite conservative…especially when it comes to religion. Few things irk the liberal soul more than this glaring truth. They deal with it in a variety of ways. The emphasis on “awareness” and “sensitivity training” among liberals is, I think, one outgrowth of this concern. The problem, they persuade themselves, is not that liberalism/revisionism is bankrupt and unworkable (and therefore unpopular), it is just that people are “uneducated”…they have yet to be enlightened…they still are too ignorant to “get it” but once they do we can take our proper roles as the people’s vanguard.
The thrust of this particular vanity tends to run headlong into just the sort of paternalism, racial and otherwise, that they claim to despise and oppose…bearing in many ways a quite distinct similarity with the infamous “white man’s burden”…
But what happens when those who “stoop low” to help the “uneducated” find that the “ignorant” masses reject the lessons of their betters? What happens when, say, the minority vote makes up a large percentage of the voting electorate that defeated Proposition 8 in California?
Rage. Blinding, ugly, disgusting rage.
Mike
Why are people surprised?
I said again and again: Obama is not a true LGBT supporter. He has avoided gay people, gay magazines and gay parades like the plague all his life.
HILLARY was the only true LGBT supporter we had in the presidential election. But you guys didn’t vote for her.
Bill Perdue
Kissing babies? Parades? Making empty promises in magazines.
Wonderful. Important. Decisive. Politics in action; but only for for children.
Obama did all that too. The fact is that the hope and change Clintons and Hopey Obama have the same bigoted views on same sex marriage – they’re against it because they’re superstition driven bumpkins.
Hillary made it as far as the State Dept, where she’ll to continue the genocide in Iraq begun by Bill Clinton and escalated by Cheney/Rove/Bush. Hillary wants to attack Iran and Hopey’d rather attack nuclear armed Pakistan. Not much sanity at State or the Whate House. LBJ and Nixon are smirking in their graves.
Bill Perdue
The Beltway Boogie – Obama Allemandes Right
Obama has no solution to the key problems of unchecked bigotry, economic collapse and the US genocide from Palestine to Pakistan. In fact he’s going to make it worse. He’s forming a right centrist government.
Hillary Clinton’s appointment as Secretary of State is another sure sign that the war will escalate. Hillary Clinton is a war hawk who’s even further to the right than Obama, the bigot who made sure we lost on Prop 8 by telling all the other bigots that ‘god’s in the mix’ Add a Robert Gates, a few Sam Nunn’s and Colin Powell’s and you’ve got a formula for disaster. Obama plans to continue attacks on the Palestinians, supporting apartheid, stay in Iraq, menace Iran, ramp up the murder of civilians in Afghanistan and continue cross border raids into Pakistan and probably Syria.
We lost in California, Arizona and Florida because Obama, in his non-stop pandering to the christians, galvanized, organized and empowered the bigot vote. His continued insistence that their (and his) bigotry was OK because “god’s in the mix” brought out the Euroamerican bigot vote in explosive numbers. Given that this latest insult with the man who introduced him to the bigots who voted us out and him in isin’t surprising at all.
On the economic front Obama has already sided with the bailout for the rich retards who wrecked the economy, which now totals about $8.5 trillion dollars. Of that not a will go to working people who fell victim to predatory mortgages, car loans and credit cardsharks, to greening the economy or to repair of the infrastructure.
Obama’s White House economic director will be Lawrence Summers. This is very bad news indeed. While Summers ran Harvard he enraged environmentalists and anti-racists by signing a document that said “developed countries ought to export more pollution to developing countries because these countries would incur the lowest cost from… people made ill or killed by the pollution.†Then he said “the economic logic behind dumping a load of toxic waste in the lowest wage country is impeccable.â€
The Bush wing of the rightwing is pleased that the Obama wing of the rightwing will carry on their policies.
“Virtually perfect … “ — Senator Joe Lieberman, former Democrat and John McCain’s top surrogate in the 2008 campaign.
“Reassuring.†– Karl Rove, Bushbrain.
“I am gobsmacked by these appointments, most of which could just as easily have come from a President McCain …†— Max Boot, neocon McCain staffer.
“I see them as being sort of center-right of the Democratic party.†– James Baker, Reagan’s Secretary of State
“Surprising continuity on foreign policy between President Bush’s second term and the incoming administration … certainly nothing that represents a drastic change in how Washington does business. The expectation is that Obama is set to continue the course set by Bush … “ – Michael Goldfarb of the neoconservative Weekly Standard.
“I certainly applaud many of the appointments … †– Senator John McCain
Hillary Clinton will be “outstanding†as Secretary of State — Henry Kissinger, war criminal
“The country will be in good hands.†– Condoleezza Rice, war criminal
Fasten your seat belts… The American economy is going to have a high speed train wreck. The ‘recession’ is now official. The markets are whipsawing but trending down. And the Pentagon announced it’s going to deploy more troops in the US as the situation gets less settled.
Quotes from AlterNet story 109160
Nassif Carfou
The Hadith are a group of passages and rights claimed to be written by Muhammad and are used in teaching Islam.
“When a man mounts another man, the throne of God shakes.â€
“Kill the one who is doing it and also kill the one that it is being done to.â€
Homosexuality is assumed to be a corruptive force to Muslim societies and that humans are not homosexuals by nature. Only by environment do these immoral ideas form. Islam states that the desire for same sex partners is a choice that can easily be controlled. These people deviate from the norm and should be treated like any other criminal who threatens tradition. The practice is also feared because it is associated with AIDS.
“Homosexuality is a moral disorder, a sin and corruption… No person is born homosexual, just like no one is born a thief, a liar or murderer. People acquire these evil habits due to a lack of proper guidance and education… Homosexuality deprives a man of his manhood and a woman of her womanhood and leads to the destruction of family life.†(Dr. Muzammil Siddiqi, Islamic Society of North America)
The penalties for homosexuality range from flogging, imprisonment, or execution by throwing the criminal off a cliff or pushing a stone wall onto them. There is no leniency or forgiveness as shown in the 4,000 homosexuals which have been killed in Iran since 1979.
hyhybt
A group as small as the cabinet will not be perfectly balanced demographically if its members are chosen based on who will do the job best. It just doesn’t happen. I don’t claim to know why Obama has picked exactly who he has, but the fact that a group isn’t represented, without seeing the administration actually at work, is meaningless even if it happens to be the group we’re a part of. You could take it to mean that Obama intends to do nothing for us, but you could at least as easily say that, given his claims of support, he’d have chosen a token gay if he weren’t serious.
As for Rick Warren, the most obvious explanation to me would be that he got this essentially meaningless bit part in the inauguration simply because of that forum during the campaign. Or maybe it’s a friendship thing. Or maybe Obama really *does* think like Jeremiah Wright and this is the closest he’ll admit to right now. Or maybe the rest of the committee picked Warren and he has more important stuff to worry about than nitpicking their selections.
Or any of a dozen other possibilities. But the proof of a president is in what they do once they take office: what bills and executive orders they sign and so forth. Which since he won’t even take office for another month has been exactly nothing. Why do so many want to not only assume the worst, but insist on it as if it were proven true?
And to whoever said they never give anyone a second chance: I’d like to meet some perfect people myself. Where did you find them?
Michael W.
@hyhybt: “But the proof of a president is in what they do once they take office: what bills and executive orders they sign and so forth. Which since he won’t even take office for another month has been exactly nothing.”
That would be the case if we were talking about President-elect Hillary. But it’s not. The gay community never really liked Obama in the first place and couldn’t wait for a chance to kick him in his ass. That’s why John McCain secured more of the gay vote (27%) than any Republican candidate in history.
And if Barack Obama doesn’t repeal Don’t Ask Don’t Tell and get rid of DOMA in his first term, the Republican candidate in 2012 will have an even higher percentage. Cause they don’t trust that boy and he has to prove himself.
Wayne
Obama being black had NOTHING to do with him receiving less gay support than any other Democratic Presidential candidate! The fact that Obama chose a virulent anti-gay bigot named Donnie McClurkin to shill for Obama’s “Faith Tours” in the South Carolina primary (a bigot that Obama refused to remove from the tour even after activists made it clear to Obama that McClurkin had a long history of preaching hateful bigotry against gays). Obama’s support of bigots was the reason gays turned away from the Obama campaign. The color of his skin had nothing to do with it.
And Obama’s actions prove we were right. Obama craves the approval of bigots. It’s an old habit of his, one he refuses to CHANGE.
Michael W.
Yeah, right. How many people knew about that Donnie McClurkin bullshit? You ask your average person, gay or straight, and they don’t even know who the fuck he was.
You’re in your little queer internet activist blogosphere box. Step outside of it sometime and see the rest of the world. Your average gay person didn’t give a fuck about Donnie McClurkin.
And for fuck’s sake, how the fuck is that a reason to vote for JOHN MCCAIN of all people?! LMAO!! You want me to run down the list of some of his friends and supporters? They make McClurkin look like Harvey Fierstein.
Get the fuck out of my face.
Nick
Well what a lively debate.
My conclusion is that no main stream American politician or party is really interested in our rights. A point that is made over and over again here and elsewhere is that with all the shit going down now our rights seem to not even make the top 10 list of most important things to address right at the moment. Fine, I get that, but do we have to be so gratuitously insulted while we wait? We did give Mr. Obama our money, our time, our vote (save the racist 27% of log cabinet wingnuts) would it have been so wrong for just one day to have let his base actually celebrate a new way of doing things? I know you cerebral types have this all down to inclusion and smart politics, but in reality it doesn’t feel that way. Not to me anyway. So what do you do with that feeling?
Well, I quit all the political organizations I have been supporting for years, the DNC, Move On, True Majority. I registered as an independent, because in the clear light of history I understand that in this country, unlike France, Canada or the Netherlands, human rights aren’t important and my human rights are insignificant.
Even though for years I was sucked into believing the Dems where my team I see very clearly now they hate the fags just as much as every one else. It’s the fag haters you need to get on your side in this country ultimately, because as every one knows, fags are easy. Promise them the world give them nothing and they’ll still vote for you!
So fine, it’s time American diversified. We need three if not 4 parties here with a larger, more diverse representation of the actual political spectrum in this country.
It’s not going to happen, but it makes me feel better to know I have finally woken up to the reality that neither existing political party gives a flying fuck about me unless it’s to use me as a wedge issue.
America is, much to my chagrin, a deeply religious, bigoted, conservative, country and we are not going to change that any time soon. People hate us. The DNC hates us for making so much noise, so now they are turning the play book around on us and making our cries seem unwarranted and selfish. I hear over and over again here and elsewhere “look at the bigger picture” and you know what I do and I don’t see myself in the bigger picture not now not in a year not in 8 years, because I’m just not important. It’s why Regan let us die.
It’s why Bush flew over the Quilt in a helicopter on his way out of town on the day it was unfurled.
Because they could get away with it. And they continue to do so Mr. Obama being the newest one to carry along the tradition.
The only time the lgbt community has ever gotten anything was to take to the streets (Stonewall, ACT-UP)
Obama says:”I’m the biggest supporter of the LGBT community” and others, here have reiterated it.
Please all you enlightened people here would you do me a favor?
Would you tell me in concrete terms, maybe a list of say 3 things Obama has ever done for the LGBT community?
I can’t seem to find anything.
And for those inevitable comments about how silly and emotional this may all seem to you, I think you miss the point. I am a gay man living in America, I wanted to share in the hope. As of yesterday that possibility ended.
Say what you will but this is how I feel. Stupid really for to have gotten my hopes up for some change I could believe in.
Oh yeah as for his cabinet not so concerned about the lgbt content but it would be nice if maybe he wouldn’t do things like appoint agribusiness toady Vilsack to run the already overwhelming agribusiness staffed dept. of agriculture. Yeah I think that’s a GREAT idea let the agribusinesses regulate themselves while collecting a salary from the federal government!
What a lying sack of shit.
Peter Pan
Serves all the Queerties right who voted for obama. They will still get many opportunities to rue that they voted for him. Where is his birth certificate. Who is O? Maybe FREDO777 knows?
sparkle obama
@Wayne:
trash like you forced obama to leave his pro-gay church of 20 years.
w*yne, you stink of color-conscious bigotry.
you suffer from the sin of pride.
Wayne
Sparkle Obama you really are deluded. Wright and his bigot church hated White people so much that they accused Whites of creating AIDS to murder Black people! And you are praising them? They used the fear of AIDS to justify their own warped hatred of white people. Wright and Warren are birds of a feather.
ps. being called trash by an evil twisted old tranny like you, is a compliment.
Happy Holidays!
BrianPrince
Seriously?
We’re adults… presumably educated adults — and we’re mudslinging?
My momma used to say, “If you haven’t got anything nice to say, shut-up.”
Get along… or get going.
Cold Finger
@ No. 50 · Wayne – In the interest of truth:
http://www.originofaids.com/articles/early.htm
Wayne
Cold Finger. That is a ridiculous conspiracy theory. It’s shocking that people still buy into that drivel. HIV was is an animal borne (specifically primate/chimp) disease that “Jumped” to the human species in Africa over 150 years ago. Much the same as today’s “Bird Flu” in which scientists fear the disease will eventually infect humans.
Try doing some research with reputable sources.
Wayne
ps. Cold Finger, did you notice that your own article/link states “the mainstream media and most respected medical journals” have no respect for the credibility of this theory? Why do you think the most respected medical journals in the county think this theory of a man made origin of AIDS is bunk? And giving that the over whelming majority of the scientific community think it’s drivel, why do you believe it’s credible?
Wayne
(typo) I meant to say: the most respected medical journals in the country… not county.
Dexpat Mike
Nick – you are right. Sad, but right.
The Realist
@Dave:
Once is a mistake. Twice is a coincidence. Three times is a pattern.
chuck
@Nassif Carfou:
Are you merely acting in the capacity of informant…
or passing along your personal proscription?
If it is the latter, it is heinous and has no place on this thread, on this site, or in this country.
Go back to Iran.
Do not pass go.
Do not collect $200.
Cold Finger
@ No. 55 · Wayne – Try this!
http://www.rense.com/general71/gaycancer.htm
Eric
What a find amazing is NO ONE saying anything about the fact that there are TWO ministers saying a prayer, and that the other is a LIberal Civil rights icon who supports GAY MARRIAGE, Rev. Joseph Lowery. There are LGBT people in his Administration (ok so it’s NOT the Cabinet but it is the Director of Domestic Policy for crying out loud everyone knows Melody is a lesbian), and there is a GAY marching band at the inauguration.
Yeah, Barack Obama doesn’t like gay people.
Buck
I think the LGBT folks who continually support public anti-gay statements and actions as Obama has made recently are much like dogs who are beaten. No matter how many times their master whips them they come whimpering back to get another taste of the strap.
Is it possible to have gay “Uncle Toms”? I guess it is.
Rento
No. 60 · Eric.
We want to see Obama’s birth certificate, NOW! We also want to know his current citizenship, NOW!
The US does not need an usurper puppet, complete with his own Obama youth, to cause unimaginable mayhem in the US or world as a whole. Obama is not ellegible to become president. So all the babble about a GAY band taking part in his illegal inauguration is just babble! Obama is a crook and more.
Raymond Sawyersmith
Personally, I do not care about the psychosexual orientation of a SECNAV or SECLAB. This has nothing to do with our civil rights.
Let’s get real. Barack Hussein Obama II was raised by his white mother, S. Ann Dunham and her parents. The culture that they inculcated, his speech, and his intellectual and career pursuits, all of it comes from Caucasians. That bi-racial reality is lost because of Dred Scott and Chief Justice Roger B. Taney.
Remember the comment,” Is he black enough?” Of course not. What he knows about AA culture at upper middle class professionals, is what he learned from Michelle Robinson Obama.
Barack understands AA culture and especially the phenomenom called the “down low”. He knows the antipathy within the AA secular AND evangelical community (right wing) that is anti-gay, this despite Coretta Scott King’s words. Heck, her daughter, Bernice, is an evangelical anti-gay mouthpiece. Her two brothers and late sister agreed with their parents.
So, if Obama listened to Bill “DOMA/DADT” Clinton, he needed a Sister Solja moment to punk his LGBT base, and found it. Rick Warren also stopped the 24/7 Rod BLAGOJEVICH controversy too.
Britney Gaylord
after i read all what was written above i feelt so hurt cause im not used to be tricked off the way that elected president did i thought he would be the one to get into the history by giving us our rights im not sure he wont keep his promise and i still have hope maybe if he doesnt keep his promise other one will do and i can tell u all that oneday we will have our rights in every single piece of this planet and we will see someday a male president with his husband living in the white house
GAY FOREVER
GAY WITH PRIDE
we are the gay people and we are not blind and not silent but we respect ur decessiond but we wont let u keep us on the floor forever
corey
Well. as I see it, the Dems are already planning for the 2012 election and cannot get to comfy with the gays or they will not win…so they think.
The Dems will lose because the Repubs are so good at destroying them.
If the Dems want my respect, they’s act more Repub-like when dealing with the Repubs; conquer and destroy.
Sure it is great Obama and the country seems tire of all the games that the Repubs have been playing, but guess what, they will keep playing them and gaining power when they are the minority.
The problem is, the people forget how the Repubs treated B. Clinton and how Newt Gingritch was sooo good, along with all his friends, at looking good, while accusing Clinton of the same immorals he was practicing.
The games will change in poltics in one or two of the following ways:
1. all the old white men die off
2. a third party is allowed to run and be elected
This may take many decades.
Brian Miller
Are LGBT rights the only issue that matters? No. It’s not even the most important one and LGBT Americans, like all Americans, will support our President in a difficult and trying time in our country’s history.
People weren’t saying this in 2002 to George W. Bush. People wouldn’t be saying this now, if McCain had won the election instead of Obama.
I vomit at the double-standard here. ALL homophobia should be smacked down vigorously, and without conciliatory excuses to Democrats that wouldn’t be made to Republicans.
Well. as I see it, the Dems are already planning for the 2012 election and cannot get to comfy with the gays or they will not win…so they think.
If every LGBT Democrat voter had stayed home in November, McCain would have won and Obama would have lost.
If every LGBT Democrat voter had voted third party, McCain would have won and Obama would have lost.
If every LGBT Democrat voter had voted Republican, McCain would have won handily and Obama would have lost decisively.
Gay Democrats should consider their options in the next election cycle to send the Democrats a message. The administration is operating no differently on LGBT issues than McCain would have — heck, I doubt McCain would have been nasty enough to invite a ranting homophobe to the inauguration, frankly.
Brian Miller
There are LGBT people in his Administration (ok so it’s NOT the Cabinet but it is the Director of Domestic Policy for crying out loud everyone knows Melody is a lesbian)
Yeah, and Log Cabin Republicans were pointing out all the queer employees of the McCain campaign too, and saying that McCain Loved The Gays.
This sort of rhetoric, quoted above, only underscores that on gay issues — as with so many others, there’s not a thin penny’s difference between the Demopublicans and the Republicrats on LGBT issues IN PRACTCE.
Oh sure, the rhetoric varies, but at the end of the day, “liberals” like Joe Biden vote for DOMA, and throw gays under the bus just like Mitt Romney, Pat Buchanan and Dubya. The only difference is that at least the Republican bigots are honest about their opinions and don’t lie to gay people to get their money and votes.
Mrs Trellis from North Wales
When will we ever learn? There is no accommodation that can be made with straight society. To allow this slight to remain unanswered is to be instrumental in our own subjugation. If we do not protest we hand the keys to our gaolers. If we do not defend we become the agents of our own oppression. Don’t let Obama forget; justice is indivisible.