The Big Tent Party

Here you go Log Cabin Republicans. Pat yourselves on the back, GOProud. Please Lt. Dan Choi, continue to rail against President Obama and how he's done nothing for the gay community, and realize that in fighting against Obama, this is what you're fighting for.



The cognitive dissonance is astounding.

Just as I will never understand why any middle class member of a union votes Republican, I will shake my head in amazement at a gay American who flips the lever for any GOP candidate.

And let's be clear about Rick Santorum's idiotic statement:

I would say any type of sexual activity has absolutely no place in the military. The fact they are making a point to include it as a provision within the military that we are going to recognize a group of people and give them a special privilege to, and removing don't ask don’t tell. I think tries to inject social policy into the military. And the military's job is to do one thing: to defend our country...

Yes, it's a real privilege to put your life on the line to defend Rick Santorum and his policies isn't it? But please, Rick, continue.

I would just say that going forward we would reinstitute that policy if Rick Santorum was president. That policy would be re-instituted as far as people in, I would not throw them out because that would be unfair to them because of the policy of this administration. But we would move forward in conformity with what was happening in the past. Which was- sex is not an issue. It should not be an issue. Leave it alone. Keep it to yourself whether you are heterosexual or homosexual.

The repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell is now law. Rick Santorum or any other Republican president (I shudder at the thought) cannot unilaterally reinstitute DADT with the flick of a pen. You can't repeal a law by executive order. That's why it was so important for President Obama to make this a legislative issue as he is doing with the Defense of Marriage Act. Besides the fact that the federal court deemed DADT unconstitutional.

Santorum is right. Sex is not an issue, but by discriminating against gay and lesbian soldiers, he is making it an issue. There is no "exception," no "special privilege" we are bestowing among gay soldiers be the repeal of DADT. So take your own advice, Rick. Leave it alone.

As far as yet another hostile Republican crowd at the debate after the "Let 'em die" Tea Party crowd at the CNN debate, I'm not the least bit surprised by their applause at Santorum's answer, but the boos at a uniformed member of the Armed Forces who is protecting their right to be homophobes and bigots takes it to a new low. Booing a member of the military? They should be ashamed, but they're not.

Gay Republicans, what the hell are you thinking?

Raise Your Hand If You're Sick of Dan Choi

Where does this guy get off?

On a day where there should be celebration after the passage of a same-sex marriage law in the State of New York, Dan Choi instead chose to yet again attack President Obama for perceived slights against him and the LGBT community. Check out this Twitter feed:



As my recent tweets show, I really don't care for Lt. Dan Choi. He came out knowing he would be the face of the gay military and has now shown that the limelight is to his liking. You know, sort of like Sarah Palin and in my opinion, equally annoying.

No one is saying you shouldn't advocate for what you believe in, but to cast blame solely on President Obama as Choi has done is myopic, opportunistic and egotistical, knowing he was going to continue to get attention in this vein. Hitching your wagon up to Jane Hamsher only solidifies my opinion of his ever-evolving narcissism.

Let's take his tweets one at a time, shall we?

1. "...sad that Barack Obama would have voted no."

Really? How could you possibly know that? We all know that personally, President Obama has stated that he is opposed to same-sex marriage. This is a personal choice based either on his religion or it may be purely a political stance. The same stance every other presidential candidate took at the time.  But what else has he said? He is opposed to a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, signed a repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell, and his Justice Department will not fight appeals of the Defense of Marriage Act with the opinion that it's unconstitutional.

2. I wish Gov. Cuomo would run for President with Sen. Gillibrand on an 'equality ticket.'"

Instant new hero, that Andrew Cuomo. I suppose if you're a one issue voter, it doesn't matter that Cuomo has so far been anti-union and that Gillibrand had issues with being pro-gun. But hey, self avowed progressives like Choi don't care about issues like that, do they?  Don't get me wrong, I really don't have much of an issue with Cuomo or Gillibrand, but let's not get carried away with fantasies of a White House ticket.

3. Obama: "I have plenty of gay friends. Some of them work for me. I just feel they are inferior to me, and they don't deserve marriage."

Okay, this is flat out horse shit. This is the kind of drivel that makes me turn completely off to his side of the story, because he's just flat out putting words in the President's mouth that he obviously never said. In fact, he's said the exact opposite.

President Obama at an LGBT Fundraiser in New York (6/23/11): "...Last year, I received a letter from a teenager growing up in a small town, and he told me he was a senior in high school, and that he was proud to be the captain of a club at his school, and that he was gay. And he hadn’t told his parents. He hadn’t come out. He was worried about being mocked or being bullied. He didn’t think it was safe to, in his words, “openly be myself.” But this 17-year-old also looked towards the day when he didn’t have to be afraid; when he didn’t have to worry about walking down the hallway. And he closed his letter by saying, “Everyone else is considered equal in this country. Why shouldn’t we be?”

So, yes, we have more work to do. Yes, we have more progress to make. Yes, I expect continued impatience with me on occasion. But understand this — look, I think of teenagers like the one who wrote me, and they remind me that there should be impatience when it comes to the fight for basic equality. We’ve made enormous advances just in these last two and a half years. But there are still young people out there looking for us to do more, to help build a world in which they never have to feel afraid or alone to be themselves. And we know how important that is to not only tell them that it’s going to get better, but to also do everything in our power to ensure that things actually are better.

I’m confident that we will achieve the equality that this young person deserves. I’m confident that the future is bright for that teenager and others like him, and that he can have the life that he wants and that he imagines.

There will be setbacks along the way. There will be times where things aren’t moving as fast as folks would like. But I know that he’ll look back on his struggles, and the struggles of many in this room, as part of what made change possible; part of what it took to reach the day when every single American, gay or straight or lesbian or bisexual or transgender, was free to live and love as they see fit."

Yeah, that really sounds like a man who believes the LGBT community is inferior and doesn't deserve marriage, huh?

4. "I really appreciate the confidence and strength of NY Gov. Cuomo. He could teach Barack Obama. Or just primary him."

Cuomo's "confidence and strength?" Cuomo signing off on New York's legislation is a no brainer. Show me a bipartisan Congress willing to pass a bill repealing DOMA and I'll show you a President Obama signing the goddamn thing before the ink is dry.

There they go again with the "primary Obama" meme. But here's the thing: if these so called progressives really consider themselves the base, there has to be some kind of support involved. To call yourself Obama's base while not showing one ounce of support for the man and constantly shrieking "Primary Obama!" just shows you to be attention whores uninterested in progressing the discourse. Show me where progressives Jane Hamsher and Dan Choi have supported the president even once. Look for it, because I surely haven't seen anything resembling support from this duo.

And finally let's take a look at the Obama administration's record when it comes to progressing the LGBT agenda.  As has been stated in the past, President Obama has done more for the LGBT community than any other U.S. president, despite the ramblings of the attention seeking Choi.

What may have started as a good intention has now become a Frankenstein monster. Dan Choi comes off as a petulant whiner when chaining himself to the White House fence or ripping up a letter of support for Obama during Netroots Nation, but shows his hypocrisy by attending CPAC and calling GOProud "American heroes." The same GOProud that also opposes ENDA (which President Obama supports), opposes the DOMA repeal and opposes partnership inclusion in UAFA. Those "American heroes?" That's truly a WTF moment.

So can I please stop seeing Dan Choi on my television machine for a while? Or if you insist on putting him on the air, then at least challenge him on his hypocrisy.

UPDATE (11:45pm): It would seem that this post is making it's way around the blogosphere and the immediate reaction from the pro-Choi faction is that A) I have no credibility, B) I am obviously an anti-gay bigot for criticizing Choi and C) I mistook Choi's tweet in which he quotes Obama as a real quote and not satire, therefore I don't know what I'm talking about.

As to 'A', I have yet to find one of these responses refuting the myriad links to Choi's actions and words that helped form my opinion.

In response to 'B', those willing to dismiss my criticisms as the rantings of a homophobe obviously chose to ignore looking at anything else in my blog before reaching that conclusion, including the entry immediate preceding the Choi post in which I praised the passing of New York's same-sex marriage legislation. I suppose that's what gay bashers do, huh? Also by their logic, if I'm anti-gay for criticizing Choi, does that mean Choi is a racist because he's critical of Obama?

And finally, in response to the idea that I didn't understand the "satire" in Choi's tweet where he uses quotation marks for an Obama attribution, that's just silly. To be satirical, the subject matter should at least have a modicum of truth to it, making it all the more ironic. It just doesn't work that well when you're looked to as a leader (as Choi is to many) and you use quotes for something not even remotely close to how President Obama feels about LGBT equality, as shown by the actual quote I used in the post.