Seriously.  I want to ask this question of Republicans.  What, exactly, are gay people to them?

A few weeks ago, The Advocate, a leading GLBT magazine, posted a story about how Michele Bachmann (R-Minnesota) was so ga-ga to meet Chris Colfer, the actor from Glee (he plays Kurt).  She got a photo-op with Darren Criss, a straight man playing a gay teenager, but they couldn’t find Chris, though they desperately wanted to.  Bachmann said:

“We don’t watch TV, generally speaking. But the kids were thrilled. What kids don’t watch Glee?”

Okay, that’s cool.  But wait a minute.  Another headline from Towleroad.com screamed another Bachmann story this afternoon.  What was the headline?  It was “Michele Bachmann Encourages More Inequality“; it was a story about how Michele, a Tea Party favorite, got up in front of a bunch of supporters and said that she thinks “marriage is under fire” from the gays, and she’s glad that there’s going to be a ballot measure in 2012 to try and outlaw marriage equality in Minnesota.

WHAT THE FUCK?

I’m sorry for my profanity, but it’s all I can do to keep from screaming.  Bachmann loves a television show that has gay characters on it that she wants to get pictures with the cast, but in the same breath, demonizes gay people for having the audacity to desire equal rights under the law.  Representative Bachmann: What are we?  Just play things that are here on the Earth to amuse you?  Things that you want to entertain you, but you don’t think should have the same rights as everyone else?  You know what you are, Bachmann?  You’re not only a hypocrite, but you’re a sad, pathetic excuse for a human being.

Chris Colfer did an interview, saying how he doesn’t really mind the hypocrisy, but that he’s doing the photo-ops, etc for GLBT rights.  Here’s the thing Chris: They don’t care about you.  They’ll take your picture and use it for their own messed up being, but turn around and curse you in the name of their religion the first chance they get.  Maybe I’m just old and crotchety, but I wouldn’t be as kind as Colfer; I’d tell them to take a hike.

There is a lead over at AMERICAblog Gay with the headline:

Did the White House really just threaten to cut off the entire gay community?

Now here’s the thing.  The story talks about how Obama’s Chief of Staff Rahm Emanual and Deputy Chief of Staff Jim Messina are PISSED at the LGBT community for actions they have taken on trying to end Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.  You know, actions like bringing it up in the President’s face.  They are pissed that the LGBT community are not just sitting back and being quiet, towing the company line, so according to John Aravosis of AMERICAblog, the LGBT community may be cut off.

This is not a far-flung idea.  After all, it was Emanuel that killed the 70%+ approval rating public option from healthcare legislation, even though we had the votes to pass it.  People are saying Emanuel is a behind-the-scenes king of compromising that waters down legislation to where it becomes meaningless.  You know what?  They are right.

The LGBT community was thrown under the bus under President Clinton.  President Obama promised to be our “fierce advocate”, but we know how that has turned out.  So fine.  Let Emanuel throw a temper tantrum.  We can get what we want out of the Congress, and leave the dillydalliers at the White House in the dust.

Reposted from sister blog BuryingTheLead.com

I cannot believe just how horrific some stories of abuse can turn out to be, especially for the elderly.  All too often, cases of our elders being taken for granted and scammed are in the news, and the actual act of elder abuse is rampant.  Try doubling elder abuse with that of gay elders, and you get the following story.

A gay elderly couple that had been together for quite a while named Clay and Howard lived in Sonoma County, California.  Now you think of Sonoma, and think – this place is just North of San Francisco, and it is known as the wine country.  It has to be progressive.  Well not for Clay and Howard.  You see, Howard (age 88) fell down outside his and Clay’s (age 77) home.  Unable to care for him, Howard was put in a nursing home.  But things took a dramatic turn for the worse.  Clay was forbidden by the County to see Howard.  Clay himself was put in his own nursing home.  The County and the facility declared that Clay and Howard were just “roommates”, and thus Clay had no legal right to either see Howard, nor make any decisions about his care.

This is an excerpt from the article that is most horrific – though I plead with everyone to read the entire thing over at NCLRights.org:

What happened next is even more chilling: without authority, without determining the value of Clay and Harold’s possessions accumulated over the course of their 20 years together or making any effort to determine which items belonged to whom, the county took everything Harold and Clay owned and auctioned off all of their belongings. Adding further insult to grave injury, the county removed Clay from his home and confined him to a nursing home against his will. The county workers then terminated Clay and Harold’s lease and surrendered the home they had shared for many years to the landlord.

This is beyond chilling and horrific.  This is some of the most disgusting treatment of gay elders that I have ever read about.  And I ask you this one question:  Would this have happened to a man and a woman who were married?  No, not at all.  So why would we allow this to occur to a gay couple?

Marriage is about love, and gay and lesbian couples have and express love just like their straight counterparts.  But it is also about protection and civil rights provided by law.  This is why marriage is so very important – gay and straight.

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.

Which of course would be klassy!  And what brings this on?  Well you all know how the Iowa Supreme Court found that “separate but equal” is unjust, and ruled that gays and lesbians deserve the same rights as their heterosexual counterparts?  Well, the religious fundamentalists have found a way to celebrate.

How, you may ask?  By threatening to kill gay Democratic State Senator Matt McCoy.  Okay, so it doesn’t say that it is a religious fundamentalist that is responsible, especially since it is an ongoing investigation.  But do you think it would be someone who was PRO-gay marriage that would threaten him?

Keep it klassy, wingnuts…