i've been remiss...

(and no, that's not a new drag name).

husbear and i have been in the living hell known as a remodel of the love shack on cinder blocks.

ok, enough "don't cry for me blogentina"...what motivated me to post today was a BLISTERING (in a hella-good way) post from John Aravosis over at AMERICAblog.gay in response to Andrew Tobias ("aunt tomasina", h/t commenter "fritzrth")

i won't excerpt it here, you must go HERE and read the full delicious (and well-deserved) beyotch slap response to "tomasina" tobias (oh, fritzrth, you bring out the claws in me).

what i will post in full is this most excellent comment from GRIDLOCK (my new blog-commenter mancrush), who said:

Jesus, what a basketful of fail. Not a nice basket either.. one of those cheap dollar store easter kinds with the bits of plastic sticking out and that weird chemical smell.

Where to start?

I don't want to see Nancy Pelosi have to hand her gavel to John Boehner, or Barney Frank have to hand his to the gentleman from Alabama. I expect your readers don't, either.

I don't give a rat's ass what you want to see or not. If they have to hand their gavels over because they suck at their jobs, then too fucking bad. Listen closely Tobias: We do not care anymore if the GOP wins if the Dems are just as bad as they are. Get it? Party loyalty is fucking OVER. It's done. It's passé. People want and care about RESULTS, they do NOT care if the person has an R or a D beside their name because that crap is interchangeable.

Merely voting for someone, who has done and continues to do nothing for us, simply because they have a specific letter beside their name has gone the way of the dinosaurs. If you are unaware of this, perhaps you better consign yourself to the dustbin of history right alongside because you're just as outmoded and useless.

So even as we push for our rights - as we absolutely should - I'd urge John and others not to demonize our allies and, in so doing, discourage our community from acting in its own self-interest by failing to fight like mad to keep the right wing from gaining more power.

Demonize our allies? What allies are those, exactly? The same allies who demonize US in court, defending the indefensible DADT and DOMA even though they are NOT required to do so? Demonizing us with hideous language equating our relationships to incestuous pedophiles? Demonizing us by saying we are not deserving of full citizenship? Tobias, you giant squishy pantload, allies actually HELP YOU. They push for you. They accomplish things for you. They don't merely mouth platitudes and then turn their backs on you in your hour of need.

The Dems have done that for DECADES, Tobias. We have given our money, time, votes, blood, sweat, and many many tears and what the fuck have we gotten in return? Absolutely nothing but a knife in the back and our bodies thrown under the bus.

Right now, the Dems are just as bad as the GOP. See, you're again showing how much of an obsolete dinosaur you are.. you're still stuck on this "My team good even though they don't do anything for me, their team bad" mentality. You're an airheaded cheerleader hoping the captain of the football team marries you, but the most he's gonna do is fuck you in the back of a Camaro and then dump your pregnant ass on the curb.


And if we don't form TOO tight a circular firing squad, we will make a lot more.

How about this, Tobias:

We'll make headway on LGBT rights when the Democrats actually stand for something, grow a spine,push for legislation and don't view us as a moneypot, locked in voting demographic, or LIABILITY after the election.

Got it?

that's not just going to leave a mark...methinks it will leave a SCAR. good.

in closing, gridlock, you are SO lucky i'm a "stand by my man" kinda man!

Urvashi Vaid has a new fan...ME!

incredible address at the NEM where Ms. Vaid takes on O, the right wing, the religious right, et. al., and closes with "marching orders".

Organizers of the National Equality March Close the Day with Passion

...so, where ARE our leaders?

...we're ready to fight the good fight, but we lack a cohesive strategy that can only come from a leader of the glbt civil rights movement. this is the subject of a very good, albeit long, article in The Advocate.

buried in the 3rd page of the article, larry kramer speaks up and tells us what we need to hear: that we need to follow the strategy employed by Act Up that was so effective in the early days of the HIV/AIDS awareness fight.

from the article, emphasis added:

History offers an uncomfortable answer. At the start of the 1990s, when Bill Clinton had a vision for America and we were part of it, gay people were intoxicated with excitement and a sense of opportunity. By decade’s end, the president had signed DOMA and “don’t ask, don’t tell.” “The movement was not honest enough with itself about our own failures,” Guerriero says. “The president caved to Congress because we didn’t show up and provide the air cover he needed with smart, strategic, robust activism.”

That’s because, on the federal level, “we don’t have an organization that fights for us with sufficient teeth in their arsenal,” says novelist, playwright, and gay rights pioneer Larry Kramer. “I’m sick of saying it, and everyone thinks I’m nothing but a curmudgeon. But I am approaching closer and closer to death, to my death, without being able to marry my lover, without being able to leave my estate to my lover without it being taxed into oblivion.”

Kramer’s tone isn’t curmudgeonly. It’s weary, almost shell-shocked. Gay activists in Washington are feckless, he argues, because they are enchanted by a false idea of power. “We are not here to make friends,” he says. “We are here to get our rights. And these two statements do not join together to blend into one happy halo.”

The national gay rights movement is trapped between activism and politics, between anger and ambition. We are trapped between wanting equal rights and wanting to get invited to parties at the White House. Even Joe Solmonese, the president of HRC, who according to Kramer represents the movement at its most complacent, suggests that to become real players we are going to have to start acting a little more like heroes: “One of the things our movement does not give enough appreciation and reverence to is ACT UP. Their rage. Their anger. But always with an endgame, always with a strategic center,” he says.

Kramer, who cofounded ACT UP in 1987 to address the AIDS crisis, says the group worked on very simple principles. “We all, hundreds of us, got ourselves in a room, and we planned very specific points of attack, and we divided the various plans into segments, each of which was taken over by one or another of our committees and put into operation. You go after the things that you want. Marriage, inheritance, adoption, ‘don’t ask, don’t tell,’ repeal of DOMA. And then you start doing public demonstrations about each of them. Passing out detailed literature explaining the action. Naming names of the people who are preventing progress on these actions. You are merciless in confronting [those people], day after day. Consistency is so important. You have to be an activist every day, seven days a week, until you reach your goal. It’s not rocket science, any of this. You want something that somebody won’t give you? You find out how to get it.”

The gay movement today, he contends, lacks leaders with the level of commitment that animated ACT UP -- people who are willing to employ the shaming techniques that ACT UP used, and people who are willing to identify as gay first and foremost.

Kramer’s right on both points. Yet the problem is intractable. Shy of another dozen equally well-publicized Matthew Shepards or a new plague, it’s hard to see how a critical mass of gay people might be moved to experience themselves as “gay first and foremost,” how we might be moved to choose the radically separatist identity that has been, in our own history, our best weapon. Is it possible that the enemy has changed? If so, is it possible that different techniques are called for?

“I do not see a different enemy,” Kramer says. “The enemy is the enemy. We are hated too much by too many. And we are afraid to acknowledge this and to look it in its face for what it really is, hate, and to stare it down and fight it back. And become, as we did in ACT UP, our own heroes."

brilliant speech, mr. bond...

you are to be commended for your words to the Human Rights Campaign.

this should be required viewing for all humanity: gay and straight, black-white-brown-yellow-red, jew-christian-muslim-agnostic-atheist, democrat and republican.

if you read this posting, i exhort you to invest 25 minutes of your time to listen to these powerful words, delivered with great eloquence.





my only concern, mr. bond, is that it's very easy to give this type of speech in front of the HRC. i would like to see you give this same speech, word-for-word, next year at the 101st anniversary of the NAACP.

h/t to Raymond Leon Roker's HuffPost article where I saw this video.

note to "fierce advocate": if we want a party, we'll throw it when we have equal rights

from the hill:
(emphasis added)

President Obama, under fire from some gay and lesbian groups for what they see as slow movement on two of their most important issues, is taking steps to keep that voting bloc in his column.

This week, the president will host an event at the White House "recognizing and celebrating the accomplishments" of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans. The event comes just days after Vice President Biden was dispatched to extend an olive branch to the gay community.

dear fierce advocate,

nobody likes a party more than the glbt community. actually, a large segment of our community makes their living throwing parties...event planners, caterers, florists, designers...you know, all the "stereotype" types.

the dnc party last week and tonight's party are not what we're looking for. what we're looking for is RESPECT and DIGNITY. to be treated equally with our straight tax-paying counterparts.

john aravosis is my hero...and howard dean discovers a "scheduling conflict"

h/t Americablog

i am absolutely convinced if john hadn't been a bull in a china closet on steroids over this asinine, panderfest, it would have gone off without a hitch. this just goes to show us...ALL of US...that we have a voice. john has proven he can be a one-man wrecking crew.

here are some great examples of great blogger journalism/activism:

http://www.americablog.com/2009/06/howard-dean-pulls-out-of-dnc-gay.html?dsq=11686656#comment-11686656

http://www.americablog.com/2009/06/sldn-invited-lt-col-victor-fehrenbach.html

http://www.americablog.com/2009/06/best-letter-to-obama-on-gay-issues.html

http://www.americablog.com/2009/06/obama-wont-use-executive-power-to-end.html

http://www.americablog.com/2009/06/former-riaa-head-hilary-rosen-wont.html

http://www.americablog.com/2009/06/jennifer-chrisler-and-family-equality.html

http://www.americablog.com/2009/06/white-house-gay-call-participant-what.html

http://www.americablog.com/2009/06/while-white-house-holds-secret-gay.html

http://www.americablog.com/2009/06/sldn-to-join-protesters-outside-dnc-gay.html

http://www.americablog.com/2009/06/white-house-prepares-to-talk-to-gay.html

http://www.americablog.com/2009/06/protest-at-second-dnc-gay-fundraiser.html




awesome. just awesome.

wow. the day before "teh big gay dnc fundraiser", former head of the dnc, howard dean, discovers a "conflict".

was it:
a.) time to have the prius serviced?
b.) laundry day?
c.) mow the lawn day?
d.) clean out the fridge day?
e.) pick up the dry cleaning day?
f.) shampoo day?

whatever the reason (and i think we all know the real reason), good for you dr. dean!!!

pam spaulding of pam's house blend and joe over at joe.my.god are also to be commended for keeping this issue in "prime real estate" on their blogs, as well.

kudos for a job well done.

the undelivered speech seen through rose-colored glasses:

the "fierce advocate" in his own words:

"These issues affect not only the LGBT community, but also our entire Nation. As long as the promise of equality for all remains unfulfilled, all Americans are affected. If we can work together to advance the principles upon which our Nation was founded, every American will benefit. During LGBT Pride Month, I call upon the LGBT community, the Congress, and the American people to work together to promote equal rights for all, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.

http://citizenchris.typepad.com/citizenchris/2009/06/obamas-major-speech-on-lgbt-rights.html

yeah, when monkeys fly out of my a$$.

Another Day, Another Addition To the Sidebar Regarding GLBT Equality

h/t to Pam Spaulding @ Pam's House Blend.

pam is one of my favorite glbt-centric bloggers and she's all over this issue like a duck on a june bug!

so, what are "The Dallas Principles"? i thought you would never ask:

The following eight guiding principles underlie our call to action.

In order to achieve full civil rights now, we avow:

1.Full civil rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals must be enacted now. Delay and excuses are no longer acceptable.

2.We will not leave any part of our community behind.

3.Separate is never equal.

4.Religious beliefs are not a basis upon which to affirm or deny civil rights.

5.The establishment and guardianship of full civil rights is a non-partisan issue.

6.Individual involvement and grassroots action are paramount to success and must be encouraged.

7.Success is measured by the civil rights we all achieve, not by words, access or money raised.

8.Those who seek our support are expected to commit to these principles.