But this quote from Joe Solmonese, leader of the Human Rights Campaign, is just insane:
“I think this is a milestone moment in American history and a milestone moment for the GLBT community,” Solmonese said.What? The election of a Democrat is automatically a "milestone" moment for the GLBT community?
Shouldn't we wait until Obama has actually delivered something for the gay community before declaring victory for our community?
The WashBlade article that quoted Solmonese is rife with swooning statements from other gay rights leaders. Feeling the euphoria, you'd have thought voters defeated the anti-gay initiatives in three states instead of the depressing opposite.
Hey guys -- by declaring victory for gay rights and your love for Obama before he's actually done anything, aren't you taking the pressure off of him to actually do anything? You've not so subtly telegraphed that a democratic victory in and of itself = gay victory. And it ain't necessarily so. Remember Bill Clinton and Don't Ask Don't Tell not to mention DOMA?
We gays have our noses so far up the Dems asses they don't need to stick their neck out for us to retain our votes and our money. After all, where else will we go, right?
Can you name me one Democratic office holder of national prominence who has taken a risky stand for gay marriage when it would matter? If Obama is so eager to help gays, he could have taken a vocal stand against Prop 8, which he was said to be against. It could have made a difference.
So, I'm skeptical. And I would think it'd be smart politics if our so called gay "leaders" would be too, and not wet themselves just because we elected more Democrats to office.
5 comments:
I agree. The Democrats have done nothing for us so far. Neither Obama nor Biden has spoken out for full equality. Biden voted for DOMA and freely uses the rhetoric of the religious right (e.g., "redefine marriage") in making his case for similar -- not equal -- rights.
In January we will have a Democratic White House, Senate, and House of Representatives. If we don't see some rapid and effective movement toward equality, we should walk away from the Democrats.
I already decided years ago never to vote for another Republican. I've got no problem deciding the same about the Democrats. I've been a third-party voter before.
Whoa! Is this the same guy who, four months ago, was assuring me that Obama was the best possible choice for gay rights?
Solomonese is in fact an idiot, and HRC is largely irrelevant. They're more about celebrity ass-kissing and pointless fundraising than they are about actually getting anything done.
The only way Obama is going to be a great gay-rights president is if we keep holding his feet to the fire and force him to do what he ought to want to do simply because it's the right thing. (As witness his wishy-washy support, always prefaced by an insistance that he doesn't favor gay marriage, for the No on H8 campaign.) We've got to start sending the message, loud and clear, that we're not going to be a reliable ATM for the Democratic Party unless we start seeing some real action on our issues. Thus far, all we've gotten has been empty "pie-in-the-sky by-and-by" promises.
time will tell how well he does for the GLBT community.
Actually, Michael, what I think I aruged was that Obama was better than Hillary.
I think HRC is not irrelevant because the gay community thinks of them as a gay rightrs organization when in fact they are a DNC fundraising arm. Thus they are a distraction that drains resources.
We must hold Obama's feet to the fire.
Scott I totally agree with you. We have to be prudent before sounding the Victory Bell for Gay Rights. I hope that Obama will surprise us but the reality is with the economy the way it is; even with all the victories of the democrats it is still a long way before we'll see anything out of this.
We have to keep up the campaign for our freedoms regardless of who is in office we have to continually apply pressure on all politicians regardless of the state representative or federal representative. If we stop then they, the politicians, feel that they no longer have to worry about what the GLBT community.
We gave up once Bill Clinton was elected and that didn't work for us. If anything lets ramp up the fundraisers and really start to do something for GLBT rights.
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