esrosedotblog

Especially if it is your own family member.

But it is a key provision that this gay family member is out and proud.

GOP Establishment Seeking To Tweak Party's 2016 Anti-gay Marriage Platform With Senator Rob Portman's Help

I am deeply skeptical about the GOP results but I know that once you know a gay person you are never the same again. So, more data to indicate we need to come out.

Labels: gay politics, GOP

LOOK OUT

Labels: gay politics

EVERYBODY

Labels: gay culture, gay life, gay politics, gay rights, gay scouts

OUT AND ABOUT

There is nothing better for gay rights than to have people actually know a gay person.

Hence, in Congress, things are going to get a lot more open to gay people. Seven of their own members are living right there next to them.

Openly Gay, and Openly Welcomed in Congress

Progress is our most important product.

This is Mark Takano, the new rep from the next over Congressional District in Riverside.

Labels: gay culture, gay identity, gay liberation, gay life, gay politics, gay rights

MORE

What is most angering with the "gay is a choice" rhetoric is that it sets the stage for discrimination and bullying.

Whether there is a new bullying epidemic or whether we just, now, hear about it and raise hell over it. the fact remains that kids and some adults are bullied because it is thought they choose to be gay.

To be "different".

Combine that with the age old hate generator of explicit sex talk or acts, often labeled "blatant" or "flaunting". "I don't care what they do I just wish they wouldn't talk about it". HomoSEXuality brings ancient heterosexual fears and insecurities to the surface. We remind them of what they most want to suppress.

So yes. It is angering and hurtful to hear this shit from the mouths of public figures. The pandering to hate, prejudice and fear.

But understanding all of this does not mitigate the damage of such talk.

Now that it is OK for gay people to call them out even in the crudest ways, there is a way to retaliate. We have won enough of our rights to feel secure in fighting back.

Labels: gay identity, gay politics, gay rights

INGRATES

After listing a whole catalog of Obama Administration actions on behalf of the LGBT community, Steve Benen reflects on some gay leaders' intransigent disappointment that they have not gotten what they want soon enough, big enough, loud enough and probably not enough enough.

I realize there are still a sizable number of people in the LGBT community who are unsatisfied with the pace of change, and consider President Obama someone who has ignored, and even betrayed, their interests. Some have even vowed not to lift a finger to help with the president’s re-election effort.

I suspect many social-conservative activists, furious with the steps Obama has already taken to advance civil rights for the LGBT community, must find this inexplicable.

This was connected with Obama's enthusiastic support for the "Respect for Marriage Act" today which essentially repeals DOMA. One of the prime LGBT goals.

Here is a list Benen makes of the other considerable Obama actions.

This comes the same year as the Obama administration’s decision to stop trying to defend DOMA against federal court challenges.

What’s more, it’s a heartening piece that fits into a larger mosaic. After two-and-a-half years, President Obama has successfully repealed the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law; expanded federal benefits for the same-sex partners of executive-branch employees; signed the Hate Crimes Prevention Act into law; cleared the way for hospital-visitation rights for same-sex couples; lifted the travel/immigration ban on those with HIV/AIDS; ordered the Federal Housing Authority to no longer consider the sexual orientation of applicants on loans; expanded the Census to include the number of people who report being in a same-sex relationship; and hired more openly gay officials than any administration in history.

There have also been more symbolic gestures, including the White House hosting an event to honor the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall riots, announcing the first-ever transgender presidential appointee, nominating the first openly-gay man to serve on the federal judiciary, honoring same-sex couples in his Mother’s Day and Father’s Day proclamations, recording a video for the “It Gets Better” Project, and hosting Gay and Lesbian Pride Month events at the White House.

And today, the president has offered his well-timed endorsement of the Respect For Marriage Act.

Stupid, ungrateful bastards.

Labels: Administration Obama, gay politics

OPEN LETTER

Larry Kramer has been our gadfly. Our trouble maker. The shit stirrer for the gay community. Sometimes, our conscience.

This has been fitting because he is truly an angry man. A man with an immense capacity for good but, at the same time, a great capacity for hurtfulness through his invective.

In short, a prick.

His latest rants are turned toward our young. The future of gay liberation. It is a bit like taking your kids to task, but true to form, Kramer comes in for the kill.

At least one younger gay has had enough.

History: An Open Letter to Larry Kramer

I like the "shut the fuck up" part.

I have never much liked Kramer's style or rhetoric. I am glad that someone has spoken out.

Labels: gay history, gay liberation, gay politics

RIPPLES

It didn't take long. About four hours, I think.

Fighting Prop 8: Lawyers Ask Court To Lift Stay On Gay Marriage Ban

This is, of course, a natural outcome of the Obama's refusal to argue for DOMA any longer. Saying that they believe it to be unconstitutional.

How this will play in the courts and how soon are questions that might be resolved by this particular action. Or others.

Things are moving fast.

An aside>

I read today that the opponents of gay rights have been calling Obama the "first gay president".

Wow. What an accolade. Clinton was the first black President and then we got a real one within a decade. Perhaps in another decade we will get the first open gay President. We already had one but not for public consumption. (James Buchanan, at least).

Labels: gay marriage, gay politics, gay rights

HOMOSTATIC

Seven gays, lesbians now in California Legislature -- a record

Give "the gays" an inch and they'll take a mile.

Labels: California, gay history, gay politics

THE RACE IS ON

Will The Congress or The Federal Judiciary be responsible for the demise of DADT?

Margaret Witt, Air Force Major Discharged Under 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell,' Ordered Reinstated

"Today you have won a victory in that struggle, the depth and duration of which will be determined by other judicial officers and hopefully soon the political branches of government," the judge told her, choking up as he recalled Witt's dramatic testimony about her struggles.

Further that the policy itself violates first amendment rights as well as others.

Why it has taken so long for these suits to churn through the system is a mystery. One thing is that it takes money and guts to take this as far as it needs to be taken.

Another is that the judicial path had to be found that would break through the barriers constructed originally by Congress.

it has been a long, hard and rewarding road.

Labels: gay military, gay politics, gay rights

RIGHT WING HATE

I thought this was settled law.

But hate is never settled.

Bastards.

Montana GOP Policy: Make Homosexuality Illegal

This would bring back laws that were struck down 12 years ago.

But there it is.

And in Brokeback territory too. Of course that film was a tragedy of homo-hate and violence.

Labels: gay history, gay politics, gay rights

ACCOUNTABLE

Dan Choi, former officer in the US Army is one of the most outspoken gay men working for the repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell.

Harry Reid is the Majority Leader of the US Senate.

This tape was made at the recent Netroots Nation convention of progressive bloggers and their supporters.

Labels: gay history, gay liberation, gay military, gay politics, gay rights

STONEWALL

Today is the 41st Anniversary of the Stonewall Riots.

All gay rights do not stem from this day.

Many people worked many years to get to the tipping point of Stonewall.

As we have continued to work.

But the "girls" of Stonewall had enough that day. They were our Rosa Parks.

God bless them all.

Dave Von Ronk was one of those arrested. He is still around. Pudgy, bearded. A bear.

Here's to you Dave.

Labels: gay history, gay liberation, gay life, gay politics, gay rights

MORE LIKE JUST FOLKS

I don't know if this is a good or bad thing for our taxes but I think good. Lower brackets.

The main thing is that we are being treated (almost) the same as married, heterosexual couples.

I sent it to my accountant.

Thanks to Towle Road the website with gay tendencies.

IRS WILL RECOGNIZE GAY COUPLES IN CALIFORNIA FOR TAX PURPOSES

This is a major first. The IRS will tax start to recognize gay couples as a pair for tax purposes in California. The San Francisco Chronicle reports:

"In a significant move for same-sex couples, the Internal Revenue Service has decided to recognize California's community property law and treat the income earned by California registered domestic partners as community property income for federal income tax purposes."

"The decision, which was issued in a private-letter ruling on Friday, reverses a position the IRS took in 2006, when it said California's registered domestic partners should each report on their own federal tax return only the income they personally earned, not one-half of their community income."

"The new decision does not require or even allow California's registered domestic partners to file their federal tax return as married filing jointly or married filing separately, as they must do with their state tax returns. They must each still file a single federal return, but each should now report one-half of their community income."

The gay whiners and complainers should take note. It is in these incremental steps that rights are delivered. The grand gestures are usually empty.

Note that this is not just for "married" gay couples. It is for any and all declared domestic partners. All one needs is an application to the California Secretary of State to show common living and shared incomes.

We are both married and CDPs.

Labels: Administration Obama, gay life, gay marriage, gay politics

THE SOUTHERN CLOSET

This week, a tea bagger used the rumor that Lindsey Graham is gay for a little pandering and demagoguery.

That resurrected my own slight interest in the subject.

My own general take on Graham is that he is a good guy who is a Republican and does a pretty good job.

He does vote against the gay side on various issues but he is ambiguous about repeal of DADT.

"'Don't ask, don't tell' is a policy I think has served the country well," said South Carolina Republican Lindsey Graham, a prosecutor in the Air Force Reserve. "Why should we change it? I'm not going to be persuaded to change military policy by a bunch of political activists. If the military leadership tells me that 'don't ask, don't tell' needs to be changed, I'll certainly be open-minded to that."

As for the gay thing? Well, he does set off my gaydar.

He is the quintessential "southern sissy".

This article goes to some detail on the subject although they do not use the term.

Is Lindsey Graham gay? --Seven Minutes in Gay Hell: Is Lindsey Graham in S.C.'s airtight closet?

The funny thing is that this article was written in 2007!

So the seven minutes of gay hell is repeating itself.

The "southern sissy" is an institution. In the south, each town has a town drunk and a town fairy. Often more than one. Sometimes they are the same guys.

They play the piano in the motel lounge out on the town line. They are the choir director. They are sometimes hairdressers but that is more a northern and metrosexual thing. Most hairdressers are straight as an arrow.

The south treats "sissies" as it does its "coloreds". They are tolerated as long as they stay in their place and allow the occasional white woman or man to make a close friend of them in the way that someone has an imaginary friend or, perhaps, a doll.

You have to see it to believe it.

The old maid and the bachelor are long time roles played by gay volunteers. They serve a social purpose. Librarians. Teachers. Dedicated people with no distracting home life.

This is the other end of the spectrum from lynching. Someone who has not known their place. Who stepped over the line. There is no middle for a lot of these people.

Oddly, there are more closeted gays who are Republicans than Democrats. Well, not odd. The Demos are the party of equality and openness. How can you be out when your party has put anti-gay stuff on the party platform?

One might ask why a gay man or woman would be a Republican but, in the south, this begs the question. If one has political aspirations, a rightward lean is essential. To go all the way and be a GOoPer secures the deal. It is like a gay man or woman getting married to the opposite gender.

Sometimes you have a more courageous type who chooses not to be married for cover or otherwise. As a life long bachelor, if he is gay, we cannot call Graham a hypocrite on that score.

It is an interesting situation.

I am not for outing except for those who harm the cause. One could argue that any closeted behavior is harming the cause.

I don't.

I am all for the Larry Craigs to be outed.

I would probably leave Lindsey alone.

The same thing, incidentally, follows with Democrats who choose to be single and devote their lives to a career in politics. Janet Napolitano is having her own particular set of rumors and speculation. I don't think she is gay and, if she is, I don't think that she needs to come out.

One other thought.

There is a prevailing notion that a lot of people who are in the closet are in denial about their sexuality and that coming out is good for them. We are only doing them a favor by gossiping.

What a crock of shit that is.

Even if it might be true, it is none of our business.

None.

Labels: gay life, gay politics, Republicans

NOT THERE YET

Obama's order to Sibelius is a start but there are many hurdles to same gender couples in the ER and admitting rooms of the nation's hospitals.

For Same-Sex Couples, Equality in the Hospital

We live in an enlightened town and would have no trouble.

This is not true of other couples, paperwork or not, wedding bands or not. Or, if we travel to Bakersfield, not us either.

It is fucking scary.

Labels: gay marriage, gay politics, gay rights

SHORT FORM

The Census Questionnaire came today.

I have already filled it out.

It took five minutes.

It is the short form.

As usual, we are not in there. We do not fit any of the categories of domestic situation.

Now, tell me. 10% of the population? I will give you five. And many in live-in relationships? And there is not a category?

I have to hand it to them. They have tried. But there are no "domestic partners", no husbands.

There are not even any POSLQs. Persons of Same Sex Living Together. But maybe there never were. They just added it up and had two males in one house.

I did not mark room mates or house mates. I put other and wrote in "husbands-California".

We are invisible.

Let them work it out. It is their problem not mine.

I suppose no human will see the form. I did try to overwrite the "hus-" part on the x block.

Always causing trouble if I can.

They have my phone number if it rejects and then I can give someone an earful. A poor lowly bureaucrat who has absolutely nothing to do with the design of the main form. I will keep it impersonal.

Remember when there was all the fuss about race? Wait until you see all the blocks they have for that. It will really piss the white right people off. They even start with a sorting question about whether you are Hispanic or not. The old one used to be white or "colored" or something.

Those goddam Latinos. They are taking over.

Actually, they have taken over out here, just like the faggots.

And you know what?

We are all doing fine.

The races got the mentions now it is time for the pervs.

Labels: gay politics

STAY THE COURSE

Tony Kushner has some wise words for the LGBT community and the left.

This is a rational state of mind that I am not hearing often enough from gay leaders.

He points out that going it slow on DADT is important because he cannot trust the politicians and military who say they support repeal but will not be there at the critical time. I have always believed this. Clinton's mistake almost entirely.

I also spent another day disgusted at the whining and bedwetting of the blogoleft.

I dropped one site and am poised to drop another one or two if it keeps on going on. I can read the New York Times and make up my own mind.

I have not always liked Tony Kushner very much but his elder statesmen demeanor is desperately needed at this time of frothing mouths.

Labels: Administration Obama, gay politics, politics

DOWNER

It wasn't the best post election morning but there were glimmers of hope.

The true fact is that the Democrats have some hacks among them and the two governors who got dethroned, well one governor was on the throne and the other wanted to be, were not the best raw material of the party.

Never mind all the analysis about how this is a blow to Obama and all. Headline fodder.

The victory of the Democrat in northern New York in an extremely conservative district did not get trumpeted nor the victory of our own democratic Lt. Governor John Garamendi who will matriculate to the House of Representatives. He won by a landslide in a liberal district.

The bigger disappointment is the loss of gay marriage in Maine.

There is not much to be said about it. On some issues hate and fear trump all else. Outside money. It is Prop 8 all over again.

Time to get moving on the next step. Another ballot. Some work on the judiciary. We will see.

For the time being, I am philosophical about it. Nothing good and new and threatening comes easy or quickly.

Labels: election, gay marriage, gay politics

MORE GAY LEADERS

This today.

At German Chancellor’s Side, a New Political Power Broker Emerges

And they don't mention the gay part until three quarters down the page. It is an afterthought. Sort of.

Guido Westerwelle, started bringing his partner to public affairs in 2004. Not that he had been in, but bringing the partner to a high visibility affair is way out.

The thing that is remarkable about this is that there is nothing remarkable about this. And high time.

This could make Westerwelle the highest level gay political leader in the world. Well, the highest level known gay political leader.

Pretty good. Glad to see it. I hope that he is not a right winger! Well, he is conservative enough to link up with Merkel.

Labels: gay history, gay life, gay politics