Earlier this week Equality Matters, The Courage Campaign, and GLAAD spearheaded the DropFox campaign and asked people to petition companies such as Orbitz—a travel company with a gay web portal and gay-friendly ads—to pull all their advertising from the rabidly anti-gay FOX News Channel. But the Log Cabin Republicans say the campaign is a bad idea because we shouldn’t antagonize our corporate supporters like Orbitz. So who’s right?
Here’s the petition’s gist:
These campaigns of misinformation, smears, and flat-out lies — which are propagated throughout Fox News’ programming, including its so-called news shows — do real damage to our families and communities. They also call attention to the fact that by supporting Fox News, Orbitz is supporting an organization committed to advancing an agenda that demeans many of your customers and advocates limiting their civil rights. It also undermines Orbitz’s laudable support for the LGBT community.
Orbitz released a statement defending its advertising on FOX News adding that it would not take sides in a political battle between George Soros’ Media Matters and Rupert Murdoch’s FOX News. Conservative meat puppet Bill O’Reilly mentioned the Orbitz statement on his show and said that he considered Orbitz patriotic for standing by their business decisions in light of harsh criticism.
Then the fellow gay bloggers at Unicorn Booty wrote a letter asking Orbitz “WTF?” and Orbitz responded:
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.
Dozens of brands advertise on Fox News Channel, from American Airlines to Intel to Walgreens, many of which have as long a history supporting the LGBT community as Orbitz (if not longer!). But the organizers of this political grassroots organization – instead of choosing to engage in productive dialogue – chose to launch a sneak attack and smear campaign against just us at Orbitz right out of the gate. They want to discredit our work within the LGBT community, try to embarrass and shame our employees and we won’t stand for such bullying tactics that care more about using our brand to get headlines and fundraise than they do about fighting for the equal rights of all peoples. That is why HRC didn’t join their campaign…and it is why GLAAD (concerned with the tactics of this group…not their message) also dropped out of the DropFox campaign…
I would tell our customers in the LGBT community that I hope Mr. O’Reilly still thinks we are patriots when we refuse to bow to the next boycott that attempts to get us to stop advertising within the LGBT media – from LOGO to the Advocate to GayTravel.com – or with someone on the liberal side of TV dial who gets vocal against those with Elephants on their key chains. That said, we have customers from all corners of the globe, and we intend to promote our brand in a way that is as diverse as our customer base.
Weirdly, we can find no indication that GLAAD dropped out of the DropFox campaign nor any proof to the claim that the HRC refused to join out of tactical disagreements. Is DropFox talking out of its ass?
R. Clarke Cooper, Executive Director of the LGBT GOP group the Log Cabin Republicans, issued a statement against the DropFox campaign saying, “…our advocacy organizations are attacking long-time corporate allies for advertising on FOX News? It’s not only a bad tactic, it’s going to do more long-term harm than anything else.”
We’re actually against Orbitz on this one. Orbitz can pat itself on the back for not bowing to partisan pressure, but FOX News is pretty scummy and advertising there does help keep their signal broadcasting. And though the LGBT community shouldn’t expect an otherwise gay-friendly company to conform to its expectations every time we want, the DropFOX campaign doesn’t just focus on FOX’s anti-gay smears; it also focuses on their distortions of climate change science and their operation as a 24-hour Republican propaganda machine with no interest in objective, fair or balanced news reporting.
FOX does untold damage with its work and while Orbitz may not wholeheartedly endorse the network’s every word, one must question whether Orbitz’s commitment to their “diverse customer base” really amounts to more than a just desire to gain anyone’s business, no matter who they have to support.
Sincerity FAIL!
Why are you in such a hurry to discredit the station that puts on the funniest gay friendly cartoons? For YEARS three other networks have been allowed to be anti-gay with little blowback from LGBT’s, but suddenly FOX is the big bad monster and needs to be punished? I’m soooooo not an apologist for FOX, but I’m not freakin’ stupid either, and the intentions behind this crap are painfully obvious. Consistency, GET SOME!
You GayInc pimps make me sick, so sick in fact, you better hope the GOP nomination isn’t whoever you fear the most, I won’t be voting for the scumbag exploiters of LGBTs nest year, and you can thank your rabid shrill ninnieness for my vote.
Patti Smith Eddie Vedder 2012……or whoever it is the DNC fears most! #SuckOnThat
BMcGNYC
@Sincerity FAIL!: You’re confusing the FOX TV Network with FOX News.
asswipe
Cam
this is the same B.S. that HRC pulled that got us nowhere.
Remember, don’t ask the DEMS to push for DOMA, DADT repeal etc… it will upset them.
The funny thing is, apparently it’s ok, for Lobbyists to go to Congress and apply massive pressure, threaten to cut off funding etc… and they are all still good buddies, but SOMEHOW, if we ask a company that claims to support gay rights, to stop doing business with a company that hates us, they will suddenly become bigots and turn on us.
If a women’s group asked Orbitz to stop advertising on a channell that advocated for women to lose the right to vote, would Orbitz turn around and say “Well we USED to support women’s rights, but since you’ve asked us to do this, we now hate you.”?
of COURSE they wouldn’t. THAT is the problem with groups like Log Cabin and HRC, they feel that their job is to manage the gay community and keeps us off their friends backs, and NOT to advocate for our rights. The head of Log cabin, Clark Cooper, if you look at the site, goes ON AND ON about all the work in the GOP he’s done, and yet doesn’t talk AT ALL about anything he’s done for the gay community. he sees himself as a GOPer that happens to be gay and needed a job.
JAW
@Sincerity FAIL!:
I think you are talking about the wrong Fox… Fox News channel is different from your local Fox outlet. Fox news specializes in far right wing nuts. All news all the time.
Eric
Fox also airs the most gay affirming show on television. Fox isn’t a giant evil corporation ruled by a Sith lord, this issue is more complicated than black and white; Fox is evil, all the other giant evil corporations are okay though.
Cam
@Eric: said…
“Fox also airs the most gay affirming show on television. Fox isn’t a giant evil corporation ruled by a Sith lord, this issue is more complicated than black and white; Fox is evil, all the other giant evil corporations are okay though.”
___________________________
You do realize that FOX News is run by a completely different chain of command than FOX TV don’t you?
Politically Incorrect Thug
@Sincerity FAIL!: Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Roger Rabbit
Fox News and ALL OF Fox Inc are BOTH owned by anti-gay Rupert Murdoch. The ONLY reason that Fox TV doesn’t ditch GLEE is because it is a cash cow. AND it’s most likely why the creator of GLEE keeps his scripts under wraps to avoid corporate intervention (as is what happened when the Rocky Horror script was leaked).
ORBITZ has had a solid record of putting gays directly into their broadcast advertising. They have a solid history of putting gays in the face of the Fox viewers and stood up to anyone trying to tell them to boycott gays.
Living in a conservative area, I have to do business with anti-gay people every day. AND by being out there and them seeing me, minds and hearts are changing.
Let’s not hurt our friends. Let’s focus on hurting our frenemies, those people that say they are our friends and yet continue to clearly FUND anti-gay movements. Companies such as Mobil/Exxon who pulled gay rights, or Target who is our friend only long enough to get us to shop there.
Mark
@Eric:
You don’t seem to understand there this the Fox Television Network and Fox News. They are two separate organizations owned by News Corp.
Fox News is anti-gay, racist, and the GOP’s version of Pravda.
Elloreigh
Let me see if I have this right…
Orbitz is basically saying it doesn’t do politics, so it should be able to advertise wherever it likes.
If only corporations really were apolitical entities, maybe we wouldn’t have the Koch brothers running the state of Wisconsin, for example.
The bottom line is this: Orbitz can continue to pursue its “diverse customer base”, and individuals within our community can decide for themselves whether or not they want to be a part of that.
RomanHans
Sincerity FAIL!, what a whiner you are. Fox News is a problem. We’re addressing problems. Only an idiot is going to sit there and go, “Why aren’t you punishing [xxx]? They started it!”
As for Orbitz not doing politics, well, when you fund a political organization, you’re doing politics.
Roger Rabbit
And Murdoch is even making the local fox news stations tow the Fox News bs. There’s NO separating them
Kmid
I am actually prone to agree with Orbitz on this one. The dividing lines are drawn way too thickly lately. Remember this, though they initially pay the network to advertise on them, those advertisements gain the brand business and the $ from that gained business is what funds that brands pro-lgbt affiliation. I agree with Roger Rabbit’s comments. Lets stay on their stations, make money off of them, let them see us! If we only put commercials of LGBT friendly places on “our” networks, those that hate us can go on pretending we don’t exist.
Proform_MGC
The corporate parent of FOX Network and Fox News is the same money. They make the gays laugh with their entertainment while making the them scapegoats with their news.
Seems like either way, they have us right where they want us. We give them our money and our rights and then they laugh all the way to the banks.
Maybe the writers and producers of the Fox network shows should find another outlet, or we stop watching the crap we think is supporting us, but really just pandering us for the spend we happily give their advertisers.
jcparodi
Gay Republicans are a JOKE, when are they going to realize, The GOP wins election from throwing them under the bus, YET, it’s like a kid with abusive parents, I guess they don’t know better, any one can be naive to FAUX’s brainwashing propaganda.
David Henderson
It’s bad journalism to ask a question in the headline that the article doesn’t answer. And since the answer is present in the press release that the article quotes from, the bias of the author is obvious.
“If these armchair activists ever actually watched FOX News, they would know that there is a vibrant debate on the issue of LGBT equality occurring, with conservative champions like regular commentator Margaret Hoover speaking out in favor of freedom for all. FOX News’s legal analyst, Judge Andrew Napolitano, has argued against DOMA and ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.’ Even Glenn Beck, speaking on The O’Reilly Factor, expressed his opinion that gay marriage was not any sort of threat to American values. These tactics are short-sighted, uninformed, and unfair to corporations who have stood by our community through thick and thin. Our friends deserve better than to be condemned for simply doing what is best for their businesses by advertising on some of the most watched media available.”
Source: http://www.logcabin.org/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=nsKSL7PMLpF&b=6420733&ct=10848387
Aaron
I think this ban does more harm than good. It alienates conservatives and libertarians who do support gay rights. I watch both CNN and Fox News regularly and don’t find one to be particularly more anti-gay than the other. I’ve seen both Judge Napolitano and Glenn Beck actually make some very supportive statements, such as:
YouTube clip of Judge Andrew Napolitano supporting marriage equality on his Fox show “Freedom Watch” on 9/12/10: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4053MLDCxQ
[Condemning anti-gay attacks in the Bronx]: “Who are we and who are we becoming?…This is a whole new level of evil…This is not only anti-gay, it is anti-human. It is bigotry for sport.” – Glenn Beck, Fox News, 10/13/10
[Responding to the question of whether or not he believes gay marriage is a threat to the nation] “A threat to the country?…No…I believe that Thomas Jefferson said, ‘If it neither breaks my leg or picks my pocket, what difference is it to me?'” – Glenn Beck on “The O’Reilly Factor,” Fox News, 8/10/10
Bob Dinitto
Appeasement has never gotten us anywhere. Corporations want our money but are they willing to commit to our cause of equal civil rights for all? If not they are only exploiting us and don’t deserve our business.
Adman
They want to discredit our work within the LGBT community, try to embarrass and shame our Orbitz employees and we won’t stand for such bullying tactics that care more about Orbitz politicizing their lives, while attempting to keep our own brand profitable, while buying politicians to fuck these people fair and square. We’re more about using our brand to get headlines and fundraise than they are about using their brand to sell cheap airline travel.
What does this do about fighting for the equal rights of all peoples? We’re Orbitz, we’re corporate dumbshits, and we suck at putting your lives on the voting block while keeping our doings above board. Please call in or email with your ideas about what we must do now, as we haven’t got a fucking clue.
Derek in DC
However it plays out, even if it means losing Orbitz’s support as a sponsor of LGBT events, I think it’s fair to ask the company, “Do you really support us, or do you just want our money?”
Matt_miami
let me ask you, what company in there right mind would come out and support the GLBT community? All your teaching corporations to do is stay neutral on GLBT issues. It’s safer not to even get involved.
here’s an idea, Let’s boycott pepsi/frito-lay because they don’t actively support the GLBT agenda, than when they do start to, we’ll boycott because they don’t support us enough. Then when pepsi sponsors a NASCAR team or some other right wing cause, we can boycott them again because they have become anti-gay. Do you think Coke would want to get involved after seeing what happened to Pepsi?
Corp. don’t need to pick sides in the GLBT debate, they can do nothing for you and no one here will make an issue of there lack of support. Orbitz has done more for you than priceline.com or kayak.com, yet you want to punish Orbitz. Doesn’t seem like a winning strategy to me.
Rbayse
The log cabin is on the side that apposes LGBT issues. So what ever it is that that want is of no consequence. They are the “uncle Tom” of the gay community.
Rbayse
To that Obitz employee. I was in a discussion on your Facebook about this same issue. There were some very hot headed conservatives that may as well sign up with the Westboro Baptist Church. One woman begged me to move to Iran so that their government could deal with me. (in other words, she wanted me to be hanged) I was removed from the thread and blocked. The real offended individuals were not. Their insulting nags were still posted after I was nocked off. It was the Orbitz Facebook administer that chose to do that.
Now explain why you want the hatters there but you expel the oppressed. What kind of message is that?
Aaron
@Rbayse: You’re absolutely right. Any organization that sacrifices tons of cash and volunteer hours to stand alone in suing the Bush administration, then winning the ONLY successful lawsuit against “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” in American history is CLEARLY anti-gay. And what’s worse…they donate money to politicians who support ENDA, marriage equality, and DOMA and DADT repeal while calling publicly for the resignation of Republicans who utter anti-gay slurs. And if that weren’t evil enough, they have the GALL to establish a not-for-profit organization that publishes research on the development of sexual orientation and on how support for equality is consistent with conservative constitutionalism. Oh, the brutal homophobia!!! How Uncle Tomish of them!!!
Rbayse
@Aaron: I was there when Reagan refused to acknowledge even a question about HIV or AIDS. I was there when Bush senior responded to the question by saying, “those people are getting exactly what they deserve”. I watched close friends and community members die painfully because a republican controlled government didn’t think a human life was worth saving. The gay conservatives I know admit that they believe there are more important things than human life. I remember when the Log Cabin came out, it was like a slap in the face to the rest of us. They sided with the people that not only care nothing for us, they preach against us, vote against us, make death threats to us, and if left unchecked would bring back life imprisonment and death penalties, not only to LGBT people but to anyone that was not the same a them and or refused to be subjugated. Extreme conservatism leads to fascism and Aaron, if you work hard enough you will get your way, and then the party you are so loyal to will drag you to the ovens with the rest of us.
Matt_miami
@Rbayse: The Reagan Adminstration started funding HIV/Aids research in 1982. Reagan also wasn’t a president that thought everything should be controlled by the Federal Gov’t. He believed the states should handle as much as possible. He left much of the HIV/Aids issues to the surgeon general Ed Koch.
http://www.thebody.com/content/art10329.html
But all of this is in the very distant past. If the republicans are such evil bastards, than why didn’t obama leagalize same sex marriage. The Democrats controlled both houses and even had a super majority in the Senate. They barely dealt with DODT in the final days. here is your choice: support the Republicans who will promise you nothing and give you something, or support the Democrats who will promise you everything and give you nothing.
Rbayse
@Matt_miami: Just because a few people were assigned to look into something doesn’t mean they were trying to help anyone. My guess is they were working to protect their own collective asses. Reagan never mentioned HIV or AIDS in public until 1997.
http://www.avert.org/aids-history-america.htm
Do you read everything in an article or just the parts you want to believe? The website you mentioned; the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force’s Executive Director Matt Foreman is quoted, “even on this day I’m not able to set aside the shaking anger I feel over Reagan’s non-response to the AIDS epidemic or for the continuing anti-gay legacy of his administration.”
http://www.thebody.com/content/art10329.html
Think a president of this country can wave his magic pen and pass laws that so many conservatives threaten fire and brimstone violence over? Get real, Obama is one man and his administration is only one third of the federal government.
I have never said republicans were evil basters, but I have referred to them as heartless. Republicans today are more Fascists then simple conservatives. They care noting about human rights. They campaign by spreading fear based propaganda. THEY LIE. And if you really believe democrats do nothing, then you are not paying attention to the whole story.
How many republicans do you know that have made an “It Gets Better” video?
http://youtu.be/geyAFbSDPVk
Funny how glory grabbing conservatives like to take credit that is not rightfully theres. I suppose in a few years they’ll be saying Bush himself shot Osama in the eye right after he landed the jet on the USS Lincoln. You should really spend more time getting a rounded education.
GO GET A CLUE!!!!
Rbayse
Evil Bastards!!!! (Matt_miami’s words, not mine) 🙂
http://www.queerty.com/montana-republican-wants-gays-deported-says-kkk-naacp-is-not-so-different-from-other-republicans-20110602/
Aaron
@Rbayse: I get your point, but perhaps your anger sometimes blinds you from recognizing pro-gay actions and positions on the part of Conservatives. First off, national poll data pretty consistently demonstrates that a slight majority of rank-and-file Republicans support gay marriage and/or civil unions, including half of GOP delegates in 2008. A significant majority of rank-and-file Republicans oppose employment discrimination and the ban on gay servicemembers in the U.S. military. And the stats show a clear trend since the early 90s of increasing support on gay rights issues with time among Republicans. Log Cabin Republicans sued Donald Rumsfeld and the Bush Administration and recently won their lawsuit against “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” The famous decision against the California ban on gay marriage was fought by a Republican attorney named Ted Olson, decided on by a conservative libertarian federal Judge named Vaughn Walker who was appointed by Reagan and by Bush, Sr. Dick Cheney publicly opposed Bush’s Marriage Protection Amendment while still in office as VP and to the present day. The first openly gay presidential candidate, Fred Karger, is a Republican, and 2 other GOP presidential candidates (Gary Johnson and Ron Paul) are on the record opposing government bans on gay marriage and civil unions. Gov. Schwarzeneger publicly supported marriage equality and opposed Prop 8, and many key Republicans formed the Republicans Against Prop 8 Coalition. Glenn Beck publicy condemned anti-gay gang members in the Bronx for their homophobia and publcly opposed Bill O’Reilly on national TV, declaring that gay marriage is not a threat to the nation. Judge Andrew Napolitano publicy opposed federal efforts to ban gay marriage on his Fox Business show “Freedom Watch.” CPAC invited GOProud, a gay conservative group, despite protest from some social conservatives. Laura Bush, Cindy McCain, and one of Bush’s daughters (I forget which one) have all publcily come out in support of gay marriage, and Cindy McCain has even participated in the No H8 campaign. In may area, the Vice President and 2 founders of the local Tea Party publicly support Log Cabin Republicans, sometimes attending meetings at gay bars and clubs. Several pro-equality candidates accross the nation that were endorsed by Log Cabin were elected into office, and several Republican senators and representatives have voted against the party lines on equality issues. These are all examples of indicators that constituional conservatives and libertarians are gaining momentun in the GOP. And since the data reflects that young conservatives are for more pro-LGBT than old conservatives, I am convinced that the future of the GOP in terms of LGBT equality is bright. In the meantime, I encourage you to embrace your pro-equality conservative allies instead of condemn them.
Matt_miami
@Rbayse: You can try you slight of hand magic on most of the posters here but you can’t on me. You are factually inaccurate on most of what you post.
Reagan’s first speech on AIDS was in May 1988. Funding for AIDS started in 1982.
Stop making excuses for Obama not doing anything. Nancy Pelosi did nothing for the gay community as did Harry Reid.
Maybe you need a little history lesson on racism in the Democrat party.
1865- KKK was formed to punish freed slaves and reconstructionist Republicans from the north.
1876-Jim Crow laws start to be passed by White Democrats in the south, segregating blacks in public buildings.
1912 Pres. Woodrow Wilson(D) segregates all Federal buildings and the army. This is the first time the army has been segregated since 1863.
1918-Pres. Woodrow Wilson(D) puts 100,000 german Americans in interment/concentration camps.
1941-1945 Pres. F.D.Roosevelt(D) puts 300,000 Japanese/German Americans in interment/concentration camps.
1957-Sen. Lindon B. Johnson blocks the civil rights act that he will later be forced to sign as President in 1963.
If you want to take history, The Democrats are the party of racial divide in this nation. They have been since Andrew Jackson(D) in the 1830. remember the trail of tears.
To the point of right wing religion, the bible belt is all Democrats. Georgia has not a Rep. Governor in 90+ years. The fact that some southern stares are going Republican is because the Democrats are going Socialist/Communist. Dems are just as or more religous as the Rep.
IT GETS BETTER was started last year, so don’t give Obama credit for being the first to make a video. He is the only Pres. in office since it started.
Rbayse
@Aaron: My anger? You like to make assumptions, you don’t know me.
Conservatives have a history of taking things out of context, spreading rhetoric and propaganda, and rewriting history. I proved it in my last entry if you follow up on the sources you will see that for yourself. Only a small part of what you have stated in your last post holds any truth.
One thing is for certain, the work you “young” (age discrimination, so typical) conservatives have done is support LGBT issues inside that hateful party. I believe it has helped fraction the republicans and is helping the party of no find a path to their end and I do like watching that.
Thank you.
Aaron
@Rbayse: Yes, you are correct that I was making an inference about your anger. It was a theory, as evidenced by my verbiage “perhaps,” not a fact. It was a theory based on what appears to me to be your use of hyperbole (e.g. “drag you off to the ovens”) and your use of capitalized lettering and absolutist phrasing (e.g.”THEY LIE;” “GO GET A CLUE!!!”-which infers that I have not a singlee iota of a clue, whereas typically when people are not angry, they will acknowledge that I have at least a shred of a clue), etc. As for your assertion that “Only a small part of what you have stated in your last post holds any truth,” I invite you to list a specific fact that I gave you that you woule like to contest, so that I can provide you with detailed references. For example, I have available direct quotes from the agove political figures and specific poll data if you would like to examine them.
Rbayse
@Aaron: uumm, Aaron you are quoting what I said to Matt_miami as if I said it to you.
You want me to spend my time looking up and researching your information? That is a very conservative approach, (put all the work on the little guy and pay him a slaves wage). My experience has shown it to be a waist of time. Look at post 26 and 27. If you want to back you words up with a few citations I’d be glad to go over them, but I am not going to do the raw research on all of your statements. I do that kind of research and I am good at it, I even have a power point titled “Tax The Rich”, but that is not about Log Cabin -vs- The Traditional Fighters for Gay Rights, so it wouldn’t fit this forum.
Aaron
@Rbayse: I am not asking you to do any research. I have already done it all. You alleged that, “Only a small part of what you have stated in your last post holds any truth.” I am merely asking you to identify which of the facts I have given you are false. I will then provide you with the specific reference that supports the facts I gave you. For example, if you alleged that I was incorrect in my statement that Glenn Beck disagrees with O’Reilly on gay marriage, then I would respond by providing you with the exact quote verbatim and in quotation marks, the date it aired, the show it aired on, etc. (Again, you would not be researching this; I would.) You alleged that most of what I have said is false, and that is a very general accusation. I am asking you to specify which of my claims are false. If you are unable to specifically identify a false claim I have made, then I will assume that you are interested in generalized consevative-bashing and not in a civil exchange of facts and ideas.
Aaron
@Rbayse:
OH, crap. Yes, I screwed up and thought that you were talking to me instead of Matt. I feel stupid 🙂
Matt_miami
@Rbayse: I honestly don’t think you are good at research, if you are than you are not good at reporting the truth.
in an earlier post(#27) you said “Republicans today are more Fascists then simple conservatives.” This is an easy statement to make and a complicated statement to prove. European fascism is neither left or right, but a combination of both. Most scholars but fascism “on the right” or on the conservative side. But this is the difference between Europe and America. In Europe conservatives want to maintain dictatorship style of gov’t where the more left in Europe want to representative styles of gov’t. European Conservatives of the 1920’s and 1930’s are not the same as American conservatives of the 1980’s.
Also with fascism, the gov’t controls what private business produce, how much they produce and how much they can charge. The only president who has taken over a private company has been obama with General Motors. so you could say obama is a fascists.
Rbayse when you make a false statement I have to do the research to prove you wrong. Your typical liberal attitude is to make statements that you cannot prove and then have your opponents waste their time trying to prove you wrong. All the while you bury them under a mountain of false information.
Aaron
@Matt_miami: I understand Fascism to be a political idealogy promoting a totalitarian government state. To me, classical liberalism, which is essentially constitutionalist conservatism, is the antithesis of Fasicsm, given its emphasis on limited government, individual liberty, individual responsibility, and free trade, whereas contemporary American liberalism promotes an expanded role of government in the lives of its citizens-a government that is more involved not less involved-i.e. closer to Fascism than conservatism. The problem is that socially conservative Republicans are only conservative in terms of fiscal policy (if even that), but make a fascist exception when it comes to increased government regulation over social liberties. In that regard, they are not true conservatives.
Matt_miami
@Aaron: I would agree with that Aaron. The Progressives stole the liberal moniker from libertarians when they could no longer get elected as Progressives.
Both polictical parties have been sliding to the left. The republicans of today have the same platform as the Democrats of the 70′ & 80’s. In 15-20 years the republicans will have the platform that the democrats have today.
My point is people throw around harmful labels without understanding the truth or history of the label. The is no connection between the KKK and the republican party, yet posters all the time like to make the link.
calling republicans fascist is all not possible without throwing in Obama, pelosi and Reid. It makes a good sound bit but not accurate.
Lets try to have some truth on these boards. Lets support the republicans that support Gay rights, lets hold the Democrats that use this community, to get votes and money and then do nothing to earn your money or vote. This blind slavish devotion to the democrat party will get you no where. Clinton signed DODT and DOMA. The republicans opposed the repeal of DODT because they wanted the congress to spend the time passing a budget.
both parties are out of control, both parties need to be held responsible.
Rbayse
@Matt_miami: If you are a republican you may not be a member of the KKK, but if you are a member of the KKK you are defiantly a republican.
But I digress, I’d like to give you Arron and Matt credit. You are exemplary examples of the party you represent. You are incredibly awesome at following the path laid before you. You are completely capable at spreading rhetorical propaganda. But no matter how much you choose to believe something different, or how hard you work at dispelling what is real, you can not actually change the truth. You can give new definitions to words, but that does not change the truth. You can pretend haters of the LGBT people are lovers of their cause, but you can not change the truth.
If there was a place where I could bet money that you two guys were plants placed here by the religious right to drive a wedge into the LGBT community, I’d bet big and hard. But no matter. In the history of our world there is nothing on the conservative side that even comes close to a politician that speaks so candidly and proudly with such high regard as my beloved president Obama as he has proclaimed, “NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim June 2011 as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month. I call upon the people of the United States to eliminate prejudice everywhere it exists, and to celebrate the great diversity of the American people.”http://www.washingtonblade.com/2011/05/31/obama-issues-pride-proclamation-for-2011/
Aaron
@Rbayse: Its pointless to reply to generalized slander. I’m more of a facts kind of guy, so all I can say is if you’d like to contest facts, then let me know which one you’d like to discuss. As for me, I am curious about something. Does it bother you in the slightest that Obama, who campaigned on a promise to he a “fierce advocate” for LGBTs, also campaigned on a promise to continue opposing marriage equality, and to this day does not support marriage equality? Meanwhile, GOP presidential candidate Gary johnson publicly supports marriage equality. Food for thought…
Rbayse
@Aaron: My point exactly!! Why bother talking to someone that refuses to see what is real? You and Matt don’t back anything up. The one source that was used by Matt was completely taken out of context. You both refuse to comment on the fact that I totally debunked it. When I state a fact I also site my source for it. You guys don’t. And them Matt has the nerve to state that I am not good at research, but you guys just make stuff up.
As far as “generalized slander” goes, the KKK information is from an article right here on this site. It can not be possible that you guys are real LGBT members, if you are you are seriously laking any kind of brotherly moral values.
There has never been a conservative politician that has initiated any kind of law that would give LGBT people 100% equality. At least with my references I can show exactly where they come form and I post links to them. You guys are worthless when it comes to actual facts. OBAMA has publicly admitted that he is all for marriage equality. I can find NOTHING on any of your rethuglicans friends saying anything in support of rights for LGBT anywhere. And as much as they claim to be standing up for American rights, it is only for the rich.
Just because you say something does not make it true. You two are real tools!
Rbayse
And here is proof to where the Obama administration stand on gay marriage
http://articles.latimes.com/2011/feb/23/nation/la-na-obama-gay-marriage-20110224
Aaron
@Rbayse: I would like to have a discourse with you, but I would prefer a respectful discourse that avoids name-calling “e.g. “You guys are teal tools.”) I can commit to you that I will conduct my dialogue with a tone of respect for you and your perspective. On post#29, I provided you with a large number of facts. I can offer you my genuine empathy and ask that you attempt to return the favor. On 2 subsequent posts, I invited you to let me know which facts you would like to contest so that I can provide you with references and sources. Since you have not yet questioned a specific fact, I will assume you would like me to provide you with references for every single fact I mentioned, so I will commit to you that I will provide all references when I get home tonight (I am at the gym right now). I feel misjudged by you, as at several points you have stated that I “support” people who oppose equality. U am frustrated by this accusation because since coming out at the age of 24, I have never once votes for, promoted, or financially supported an anti-gay candidate, and I have vowed to never do so in the future. This means that I typically vote for a 3rd party candidate, such as a libertarian. I am a registered Republican and a c
Aaron
Conservative, and I have passionately advocated for equality for the last 6 years, financially supporting advocacy organizations, lecturing publicly on the unethical practice of reparative therapists, offering pro Bono services to low income LGBTs who are struggling with coming out, educating human service professionals on best practices for LGBTS in an effort to reduce inequality within the begavioral health sustem, and educating young conservatives as a volunteer on the importance of equality, yet simply because I am a conservative, you have asserted that it is impossible that I could have any “brotherly morals” for LGBTs.
Aaron
@Rbayse: OK, so I will start with references to back-up my claims in post #29 of conservatives voicing support for LGBTS on several equality issues.
Current GOP Presidential Candidate Gary Johnson (R-NM):
“I support gay unions. I think the government ought to get out of the marriage business.” – 2012 GOP Presidential Candidate, Gary Johnson, 4/22/11 http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2011/04/22/2012_gop_candidate_gary_johnson_i_support_gay_unions.html
“Let’s get rid of don’t ask, don’t tell…We have young men and women in the service that are gay and can’t express that, who are putting their lives on the line.” – GOP NM Governor Gary Johnson, February 2011 http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20031653-503544.html
Gary Johnson campaign ad: Imagine…an administration for whom LGBT is not a 4-lettered word.” http://www.queerty.com/if-a-gop-presidential-candidate-supports-gay-rights-does-it-make-a-sound-2011051
Bob Barr:
“What many so-called conservatives fail to realize also is that defending traditional notions of morality (if consistency is to be a component also of our political philosophy) ought to include keeping the government as much out of our personal lives as possible and limiting its power as much as possible. And, speaking of morality, using the collective power of the state to do what individuals cannot do – impose the will of one group of people on another set of people – is truly immoral. We each were endowed by our Creator with one life and we should be free to live it as we see fit, so long as we do not harm another.” – Former GOP Senator & Libertarian Presidential Candidate Bob Barr, LCR National Convention, 4/30/11, Dallas, TX http://www.logcabin.org/site/c.nsKSL7PMLpF/b.6763473/k.D756/Bob_Barrs_Remarks_April_30_2011.htm
“I believe it is a very Republican principle to have freedom and liberty in your economic life as well as in your personal life.” -Allan Kittleman, Maryland GOP Senator, in support of gay marriage, 2/11. http://somd.com/news/headlines/2011/13223.shtml
[Condemning anti-gay attacks in the Bronx]: “Who are we and who are we becoming?…This is a whole new level of evil…This is not only anti-gay, it is anti-human. It is bigotry for sport.” – Glenn Beck, Fox News, 10/13/10 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/14/glenn-beck-condemns-antig_n_762375.html
“The fact of the matter is, we live in a free society and freedom means freedom for everybody. We don’t get to choose, and shouldn’t be able to choose, and say, ‘You get to live free, but you don’t.’ And I think that means that people should be free to enter into any kind of relationship they want to enter into. It’s really no one else’s business in terms of trying to regulate or prohibit behavior in that regard.” -Dick Cheney in support of gay marriage, 10/5/00, Vice Presidential Debate, Danbury, KY http://www.thegully.com/essays/gaymundo/001009transcript_q.html
“Many of my fellow conservatives have an almost knee-jerk hostility toward gay marriage. This does not make sense, because same-sex unions promote the values conservatives prize. Marriage is one of the basic building blocks of our neighborhoods and our nation. At its best, it is a stable bond between two individuals who work to create a loving household and a social and economic partnership…The fact that individuals who happen to be gay want to share in this vital social institution is evidence that conservative ideals enjoy widespread acceptance. Conservatives should celebrate this, rather than lament it.” – Ted Olson, “The Conservative Case for Gay Marriage,” 1/9/10 http://www.newsweek.com/2010/01/08/the-conservative-case-for-gay-marriage.html
[Responding to the question of whether or not he believes gay marriage is a threat to the nation] “A threat to the country?…No…I believe that Thomas Jefferson said, ‘If it neither breaks my leg or picks my pocket, what difference is it to me?'” – Glenn Beck on “The O’Reilly Factor,” Fox News, 8/10/10 http://tpmlivewiretalkingpointsmemo.com/2010/08/glenn-beck-to-bill-oreilly-gay-marriage-is-not-a-threat-to-the-country-video.php
Reagan opposed the Briggs Initiative in CA in 1978, which would have banned gay teachers from public schools: “Whatever else it is, homosexuality is not a contagious disease like the measles. Prevailing scientific opinion is that an individual’s sexuality is determined at a very early age…” -Ronald Reagan, 11/1/78, Editorial, San Francisco Chronicle.
Barry Goldwater, R-AZ:
“Everyone knows that gays have served honorably in the military since at least the time of Julius Caesar…You don’t have to be straight to serve in the military; you just have to shoot straight.” -Barry Goldwater” – http://www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs/user/scotts/bulgarians/barry-goldwater.html Interestingly, Goldwater was publicly opposing Clinton’s DADT legislation with these comments.
Arnold opposing Prop 8: http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/11/10/schwarzenegger_proposition_8_fight_isnt_over/
Laura Bush supports gay marriage: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/laura-bush-supports-gay-marriage-abortion/story?id=10629213
Cindy McCain & Meghan McCain support gay marriage: http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/01/21/cindy-mccain-poses-for-ad-supporting-gay-marriage/
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/01/21/politics/main6123175.shtml
Log Cabin Republicans win lawsuit against DADT: http://www.logcabin.org/site/c.nsKSL7PMLpF/b.6417439/k.82ED/Log_Cabin_Republicans_v_US.htm
Fred Karger, first gay presidential candidate in U.S. history, is a Republican: http://www.ocweekly.com/2011-06-02/news/fred-karger-gay-republican/
Current GOP presidential candidate Ron Paul supports gay marriage: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGaBAb_oS84
Barbara bush supports gay marriage: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0111/48560.html
Vaughn Walker decides in favor of marriage equality: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/06/vaughn-walker-prop-8-judg_n_673015.html
Aaron
@Rbayse: FYI… I posted a rather lengthy list of links backing my statements, but it is awaiting moderation…probably because there are so many links.
Aaron
@Rbayse:
Obama has publicly declared he is against gay marriage: http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2008/11/obama-on-mtv-i.html
It’s GREAT that the Obama administration has announced it will no longer oppose DOMA repeal. While his administration has FINALLY announced they will not support DOMA, that is not the same as Obama saying he supports gay marriage. He has yet to come on the record and state that he supports it. DOMA basically prevented states from legalizing gay marriage–repealing it doesn’t mean gays will get marriage.
Aaron
@Rbayse: Ok, so now I will back up my stats about Republicans and LGBT equality issues:
2008 National Poll http://www.fabmac.com/7-07%20Elephant%20Looks%20in%20the%20Mirror.pdf
49% Republicans supports gays in military
42% oppose
53% Rs think GOP should stop the fight against gay marriage and focus on fiscal policy.
42% disagree.
77% Rs think employees should not be able to be terminated because of their sexual orientation. Only 18% disagree.
PPP Poll May 2011 http://equalitymatters.org/blog/201105050002
51% Rs support gay marriage or civil unions; 48% oppose
Source: http://www.pollingreport.com/civil.htm
CBS Poll June 2008 46% Rs support gay marriage/civil unions; 50% oppose. (Notice that from 2008 to 2011, Rs supporting gay marriage/civil unions increased to a majority.
Pew Research Center: % Rs supporting gay rights increases from 90s to 2006, reflecting a trend of increased support in the GOP: http://people-press.org/report/273/less-opposition-to-gay-marriage-adoption-and-military-service
Gallup 5/2010 http://www.gallup.com/poll/145130/support-repealing-dont-ask-dont-tell.aspx
47% Rs would vote for a law allowing gays to openly serve in military; 48% oppose
Matt_miami
@Rbayse: I’m not a republican, I’m a libertarian. I cannot honestly remember the last time I went to church, maybe 23 yrs ago. I wish someone was paying me to post here. if you have read some of my other post I am against the liberal first, gay second agenda I see on this site. I support the facts when accurately presented and try to correct them when they are not. truth be known had I been in the U.S. during the last election I would have voted against McCain, and for Obama. Since his election he has done little of what he campaigned on, so I question why people here slavishly support someone who gives good speeches and does nothing.
10% of the country is pro gay rights, 10% is anti-gay and the other 80% is trying to pay the bills and raise a family. The majority of America leans to the right. The gay community needs the right to pass gay equality. So openly attacking the very same people you need to pass your laws is fool hearty.
If you are truly for gay equality than drop your slavish left-wing following and support those that support gay equality. regardless of what political party they belong to. It is that simple.
to spend time trying to teach you the history of the KKK to show you that it is a democrat institution for 146+ years and then have you make a stupid statement like “MATT If you are a republican you may not be a member of the KKK, but if you are a member of the KKK you are defiantly a republican.” It is just a waste of time. look up Strom Thurmond and Robert Byrd. Both racist democrats with definite KKK connections. Both set records for longest serving racist democrats to serve in congress. Who was voting for them for 50 years, not republicans.
Rbayse
@Matt_miami: I have already discredited you as a viable resource for any kind of factual information. See your statement in No. 26, and then read my retort in No. 27.
Now lets look at what you said in No. 21, “let me ask you, what company in there right mind would come out and support the GLBT community? All your teaching corporations to do is stay neutral on GLBT issues. It’s safer not to even get involved.”
All public community colleges, and public universities in my home state include protections of LGBT people. I single handedly launched a successful campaign to correct discrimination against transgender people in the community college system in my home state. The rules changed and now transgender people have the right to shower in correct locker room for there gender specific identity after working out in the school gym. No thanks necessary.
Again in your comments in No. 21, “Corp. don’t need to pick sides in the GLBT debate, they can do nothing for you and no one here will make an issue of there lack of support. Orbitz has done more for you than priceline.com or kayak.com, yet you want to punish Orbitz. Doesn’t seem like a winning strategy to me.” A defeatist attitude that you have bought and are trying to sale.
Fact 1- corporations are responsible for the pace our government has taken in LGBT protections. Corporations started extending “partner benefits” 20+years ago. Starbucks was one of the first, that I am aware of, that placed sexual orientation in their anti-discrimination clause. Nordstrom is the first that I know of that included partner benefits including insurance to LGBTs
Fact 2- we struck out at Target for exactly the same reasons. Currently they have apologized and promised that they would be more careful with their campaign contributions. Target had gay support in place for communities they reside in, it helps keep the money coming in and the gay employes working for cheap.
So you think we shouldn’t stand up for ourselves against these huge monster corporations that would take our money and give it to people that hate us. But here is the deal; if large companies want LGBT people’s money so they can give it to politicians that do not support us, then we have every right to let them know that they will not receive any more of our money while they practice supporting those that make laws against us. And we will continue to do so. We are going to take them on one at a time until our collective voices are heard. They will change one way or another. Historically LGBT people have more spending power and it is our RIGHT to speak out against injustice.
The strategy is working! You can be part of the solution, or you can be part of the problem. But change WILL come.
Silence = death
Aaron
@Rbayse: Your comment to Matt: “I have already discredited you as a viable resource for any kind of factual information.” Isn’t that a bit of an overstatement? ANY KIND of factual information? This literally would mean that Matt is incapable of providing a single fact. Is that rational? It sounds to me like a rather absolutistic generalization. Matt, has in fact, provided some well-established facts. For example, he pointed out the KKK’s historical relationship with the Democractic Party. This is well-established, as the KKK targetd Republican politicians in the 1800s and the early 1900s because of the GOP’s foundign platfrom of abolition of slavery. He also correctly named 2 Democratic politicians in the 20th century with a well-documented connection with the KKK. So it appears that your perspective that have have discredited him as a viable resoruce for any kind of factual infomration is, itself, a fallacy. You certainly can question teh relevance of his facts, but they are facts nonetheless. I believe civil disalogue is best facilitated when we acknowledge that each side has a semblance of a valid perspective.
Rbayse
There are people in our country today that are working to rewrite history. The last reported attempt was an attack on wikipedia. Supporters of Sara Palin tried to change the historical facts about Paul Revere to mach the idiocies of Sara Palin’s misinformation.
There are certain institutions that are dedicated in preserving what is real and true, even on the internet. Then you have websites where people can make a Youtube video, or make their every own website and say whatever they want. It is important for individuals to discern what is real and what is pseudo. It is becoming necessary to be vigilant in our quest for the truth, there are so many people out there that want to spread un-truth so they can manipulate our minds.
There is a idealogical map on a prominent libertarian website, if you go through and answer some questions, it puts you on the map. It is all about you and your own personal ideas about politics and where that places you on the map. This maps make clear divisional lines between liberalism and conservatism amongst others. It also shows the extremity of conservative side to the complete right as being fascist. Matt claims to be a libertarian but he has no clue what the difference is between an extremist right wing conservative and a progressive liberal.
Aaron had the chance to prove his claims where he insinuates that Dick Cheney and Glen Beck are some sort of heros for the gay community. Instead he posted several links of out dated information about the democratic party along with bogus republican polls, that he claims, means the republicans are better allies of the gay community. In those polls those polls the republicans are dead last of all the party counts.
Arron said I should embrace the Log Cabin. I have and I’ll say it again. Thank you for driving a wedge into the republican party. It has helped to polarize them. United they stand, divided they fall. And by that same token, shouldn’t it be the Log Cabin that is responsible to reach over and embrace us? They are the ones that drew the line in the gay community over fighting for our rights by moving to the right.
Rbayse
So you think we shouldn’t stand up for ourselves against these huge monster corporations that would take our money and give it to people that hate us. But here is the deal; if large companies want LGBT people’s money so they can give it to politicians that do not support us, then we have every right to let them know that they will not receive any more of our money while they practice supporting those that make laws against us. And we will continue to do so. We are going to take them on one at a time until our collective voices are heard. They will change one way or another. Historically LGBT people have more spending power and it is our RIGHT to speak out against injustice.
The strategy is working! You can be part of the solution, or you can be part of the problem. But change WILL come.
Silence = death
Aaron
@Rbayse: I am confused about where you got the idea that I “claim…the republicans are better allies of the gay community.” At no point did I allege this. In fact, I readily admit that a greater percentage of Republicans oppose LGBT equality than Democrats-this is crystal clear to me given the data. So instead of rebutting what I did NOT say, I’d encoruage you to return to what I DID say: “national poll data pretty consistently demonstrates that a slight majority of rank-and-file Republicans support gay marriage and/or civil unions, including half of GOP delegates in 2008. A significant majority of rank-and-file Republicans oppose employment discrimination and the ban on gay servicemembers in the U.S. military. And the stats show a clear trend since the early 90s of increasing support on gay rights issues with time among Republicans.” I believe I have pretty clearly substantiated this claim. You appear to dismiss this data as “bogus,” but that’s the equivalent of saying, “I disagree wtih virtually every major national poll or study on this topic from the 1990s to the present, regardless of the source, including Gallup, Rasmussen, CNN, ABC, CBS, Pew Resarch Center, Public Policy Polling, etc.” with a lack of evidence to suggest that this research is, in fact, “bogus.” I can undersand being skeptical of 1 or 2 polls, but I have yet to find a poll that does not fall in line with this trend! If you disagree, I invite you to show me 1 national poll that suggests that the percentage of people supporting equality in the GOP is shrinking with time. I have yet to find it. This leads me to wonder why you do not wish to accept that Republicans are gradually becoming more supportive with time in spite of the evidence. The fact is that you have allies and advocates for equality on the Right, such as myself, which I would think would be wonderful news to any genuine LGBT advocate who is more interested in equality and collaboration than in partisan politics. I encourage you to embrace us and focus your efforts on the true problem-those on both the Right and the Left, who oppose equality.
As an FYI…I score a true Libertarian on virtually every political orientation test I have ever taken. I scrore very high on both economic and social freedom, unlike Obama and FDR, who would be moderate to high in social freedom but lower on the economic freedom scale. I am, essentiall, the antithesis of Stalin. I score not too far from Gandhi in terms of social freedom, but close to Milton Friedman, Abaraham Lincoln, and Reagan due to my high economic freedom scale. Many of my gay “liberal” friends have been surprised to find that they actually score more conservative on these tests sometimes than they anticipated.
Rbayse
OH how fucking rude! After all my boasting about what a good job we did with Target, they went and jacked us up again!!!! http://unicornbooty.com/2011/06/target-lands-in-political-donations-hot-water-again/
Rbayse
@Aaron: Oh really Arron. Are you going to go on a hunger strike?
Rbayse
lol
David Henderson
@Rbayse: I read the Unicorn Booty page, and it looks like they’re saying Target is “in hot water” not because of anything that they did or didn’t do, but because some activists don’t like the wording of a rule they wrote. Oh no, a rule isn’t written the way that Mike Dean wants! The corporation must be punished until they see things Mike’s way!
Of course, the article doesn’t actually seem to give any facts, such as the previous and current wording of the rule, or how Mike wanted the rule to read. It’s written to inflame, not to inform.
Rbayse
@David Henderson: aaww you didn’t like my unicorn booty link? I think those boys at Unicorn Booty are awesome. They know there stuff, but I know facts are annoying little things. Right? 🙂 Well here is a much better representation of a hardcore truth. http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11160/1152414-28-0.stm
silence = death
Rbayse
Latest Fox LGBT Attack: Hannity Panel Argues Sesame Street Creates Male Prom Queens, Assaults U.S. Moral Foundation
June 02, 2011 4:40 pm ET by Christine Schwen
Last night, Sean Hannity devoted a segment of his show to a discussion of how Sesame Street is guilty of liberal indoctrination. Conservative columnist and talk show host Ben Shapiro joked that he would like to “cap” Elmo and decried the show’s supposed liberal bias, including its advocacy of letting boys play with dolls and girls play with fire trucks. Former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell then jumped in, saying that allowing children to play with different toys “set[s] up a problem” in that it can lead to boys being crowned prom queen later in life. No, really:
http://dropfox.com/blog/201106020027
Shannon1981
@Rbayse: OMFG. These people are insane. Like, how does one make it through life being that simple minded and idiotic? Boys playing with dolls makes them into Prom Queens later in life?
Rbayse
@Shannon1981: yes, it is completely ridiculous. I was never awarded prom queen! But keep you head up, the tag teaming duo are back. They are not here to be pretty, they just want to be right.
Rbayse
@Rbayse: BTW they make up stuff, especially the one called matt.
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