After years, we finally succumbed and put ads up (the upper right hand side of the page). Here’s the thing. They should be contextual – but either way, politically. We had a “Nation for Marriage” ad that was up against New Hampshire Governor Lynch, chiding him for – among other things – signing the gay marriage bill in his state. Ads cost money. And if it’s one thing I’d love to do, it’s draining money from bigots and haters.

So if you see an ad – particularly one for a Republican, against a Democrat or Progressive, or especially against gay marriage or other progressive causes – CLICK IT. It costs them money. Every click times thousands of ads will drain their coffers.

Wow… On the West Coast, there really are a few cities that you look towards for GLBT leadership.  Those cities are San Francisco, Seattle, Los Angeles, and Portland (probably in that order – at least in my mind).  We have leadership in those cities that not only welcome the GLBT community, but help fight the ignorance and hate from those on the right.  But what’s going on in Seattle right now is scary as hell.

The City of Seattle has various groups that employees of the city can join.  One of those groups is the GLBTQF (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgendered, Questioning, and Friends) Club.  The city gives each of the groups $1,000 per year and allows employees to work on behalf of their group for two hours per month.  That’s all fine and dandy.  And then along comes Seattle City employee Philip Irvin.  He wanted to join the GLBTQF Club, but he was not allowed.  Why?  Because Philip is a fundamentalist who does not think that gays should be allowed to exist, much less have a club.  Obviously the GLBTQF Club is within their rights to refuse him entry.  After all – would you want to bring someone into your home that’s just going to yell at you endlessly?  No – that’s why we all moved out of our families homes!

Well Philip would not let it sit.  To “get even” with the group, he is suing the city and is asking to force the names of everyone in the GLBTQF Club to be named publicly.  He wants the names of ALL GLBTQ Seattle employees to be published so that everyone knows who they are and the City of Seattle almost went along with it, until a temporary injunction could be put into place.  If the names are released what are you going to do, Mr. Irvin?  Will these employees end up like Dr. George Tiller?  Haunted constantly, and then some whackjob goes and tries to assassinate them, too?

Think I’m a little out there?  Think again.  The rate of hate crimes – specifically murder – against GLBTQ folks is rising at an alarming rate.  Yeah. This is 2009, and people are still being racist, homophobic, murdering bastards.  So excuse me for NOT wanting to give out the names of the GLBTQF Club employees!

People are up in arms over the big DOMA flap, and rightly so.  Yes, there are the apologists, but it really appears that we have numbers on our side; the side that says the President and his DOJ is wrong for citing incest and child marriage in trying to fight against gay marriage.

Many people are trying to figure out what to do.  Yes, we have to vote with our pocketbooks; no more money for the DNC until a true apology comes.  Yes, the President made many of us feel somewhat better when he granted some limited rights to some LGBT government employees.  Even I was willing to give him a little bit of a break – until I re-read the brief and get angry again.  Still – what to do?

Dan Savage has come up with the BEST plan ever, and it won’t involve a million people on the Washington Mall this coming October.  No, actually it involves just 730 people per year.  You see, Savage’s idea is that every day, a GLBT couple goes to the White House and asks to talk to the President about DOMA.  Every day they are told they cannot meet with the President.  And every day they refuse to leave and are arrested and forcibly removed from the premises.  It would not take all that long to get someone’s attention with that kind of tactic!  The White House Press Corps would see couples arrested day in and day out – different couples every day, some everyday folks, some celebrities – and start hounding Press Secretary Robert Gibbs on DOMA.  And start hounding the President on DOMA.

That’s how you get things done.

That’s basically the question that I read into a post over at AmericaBlog.com.  Specifically, John Aravosis wrote:

Joe and I got an email the other day from a well-connected gay friend, and he said he was hearing rumors that the Obama administration, in an effort to woo back the gays, was thinking of possibly announcing the following this month:

1. Something on Hate Crimes.
2. Federal benefits for partners of gay federal employees.
3. A gay ambassador.

First of all, I would really like to tell the DOJ to drink a nice big cup of STFU.  I mean, trying to buy our silence and let the calls of incest, child rape, and child marriage stand? Not only is the White House insulting, it seems to be actively working at making sure the reprehensable DOJ brief stands, without any apology or explanation.

For some reason, this reminds me of the very first episode of The West Wing when religious leaders storm the White House and, besides demanding the firing of a staffer, come out with “What do we get? School prayer, pornography, condoms. What’s it going to be?”.  Except in this case, it’s the Obama Administration offering to hand us a trinket, and the GLBT community tell him to get his fat ass out of our White House.

Here’s the original clip; it’s powerful.

The West Wing – Religious Smackdown

My partner and I stopped shopping at Wal-Mart years ago.  Remember when Sam Walton was alive, and every single Wal-Mart commercial was about “Proudly American” and aimed to display products “Proudly Made in Ameria”?  Well of course all that died with Sam.  His heirs greatly expanded the company and said “Screw you, America!” when they started pushing for Chinese made products.  Our trade deficit?  A full 10% of it is one company trading with China.  Yeah, that would be Wal-Mart.  We see no reason to continue to give Wal-Mart money, while they send it overseas.

But the latest kicker is the CEO of Wal-Mart, and what he has done.  In Arkansas, where Wal-Mart is headquartered, and where they are petitioning to send gays and lesbians back a few decades by taking their children away, and preventing them from raising children, Wal-Mart CEO Mike Duke has signed on as a petitioner.  Yes, that means that every dime you spend at Wal-Mart not only goes to China, but also pays the salary of a biggot.

Don’t get me wrong.  Mr. Duke certainly has every right to his freedom of expression, and can sign or petition anything.  I just don’t think the GLBTQ community needs to give the man, or his company, one more cent.

What if they were doing a gay bashing experiment in the bar that you frequented, and you didn’t know?  ABC did this (click here), and in some ways the findings were surprising.  In others, let’s just say I’ve heard it myself when out on the town…