President Barack Obama Declares June National LGBT Pride Month

That's really cool. Wish he would get on the ball on the civil unions thingy though. I don't really know what wrestling with the issue is supposed to mean.

Sucks to your civil unions! I'll be feeling an awful lot prouder when I have my big gay wedding. I'm getting ready to go to my third wedding of the year (the sixth in two years!!!)--sheesh, talk about always a bridesmaid, people. I love a wedding but bitterness is starting to set in.

Or when my gay and lesbian friends can serve openly in the US military--despite repealing DADT, the policy is still 100% in place.

A wedding would be nice. Can I come to yours Kitty?

Hang in there Kitty. Canada managed to accept gay marriage everywhere, you'll get there too.

And if you can't stand the wait anymore, you're welcome to come have a big gay wedding over here. <3

He can take his pride month and cram it with walnuts. This is nothing but a pat on the head to keep us quiet while he does jack shit on the QUILTBAG front. AND it's enough to further freak out conservatives and encourage their delusions of a flaming and violent gay agenda. It'll make them vote more aggressively, and we all know what happens then.

Fuck pride month. Give us something to be proud of.

About as meaningful as Clinton's proclamation.

not_HarryS said:

He can take his pride month and cram it with walnuts. This is nothing but a pat on the head to keep us quiet while he does jack shit on the QUILTBAG front. AND it's enough to further freak out conservatives and encourage their delusions of a flaming and violent gay agenda. It'll make them vote more aggressively, and we all know what happens then.

Fuck pride month. Give us something to be proud of.

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QFT

^ I'm with them

not_HarryS said:

He can take his pride month and cram it with walnuts. This is nothing but a pat on the head to keep us quiet while he does jack shit on the QUILTBAG front. AND it's enough to further freak out conservatives and encourage their delusions of a flaming and violent gay agenda. It'll make them vote more aggressively, and we all know what happens then.

Fuck pride month. Give us something to be proud of.

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I couldn't have said it better (though I would have punctuated with more fucking's and such...).

Yep... action talks, BS walks.

I'm seeing a lot of walking, running, sprinting from the Obama administration.

not_HarryS said:

He can take his pride month and cram it with walnuts. This is nothing but a pat on the head to keep us quiet while he does jack shit on the QUILTBAG front. AND it's enough to further freak out conservatives and encourage their delusions of a flaming and violent gay agenda. It'll make them vote more aggressively, and we all know what happens then.

Fuck pride month. Give us something to be proud of.

Click to expand...

QFT!

not_HarryS said:

He can take his pride month and cram it with walnuts. This is nothing but a pat on the head to keep us quiet while he does jack shit on the QUILTBAG front. AND it's enough to further freak out conservatives and encourage their delusions of a flaming and violent gay agenda. It'll make them vote more aggressively, and we all know what happens then.

Fuck pride month. Give us something to be proud of.

Click to expand...

^QFMFT

not_HarryS said:

He can take his pride month and cram it with walnuts. This is nothing but a pat on the head to keep us quiet while he does jack shit on the QUILTBAG front. AND it's enough to further freak out conservatives and encourage their delusions of a flaming and violent gay agenda. It'll make them vote more aggressively, and we all know what happens then.

Fuck pride month. Give us something to be proud of.

Click to expand...

No good deed goes unpunished, huh?

So a President of the United States proclaiming Gay Pride Month is a bad thing because it will only piss off conservatives and make them vote more aggressively?

That sounds more than a little counter-intuitive, but fuck it as long as it gives folks yet another excuse to bash Obama and holler how her's not moving fast enough on the QUILTBAG front.

And here I am with my dumb ass defending comedian Wanda Sykes on the web after she said she's suffered more discrimination as a gay person than a Black person.

I'm not talking about the history of black people, of African Americans. I'm talking about at this point right now ... I don't know of organizations and groups like Focus on the Family and such anti-gay organizations who are putting up so much money -- millions and millions of dollars -- into stopping me from, you know, being black or telling me I can't exercise my blackness. There's no equality. There's no equality for the LGBT community."

That statement prompted a writer at The Root.com to snap back,

...we didn't realize that blacks and gays were competing for the gold medal in the Oppression Olympics.

And we don't think we should be.

Any debate in which two different groups' experiences compete for being "hard" (What does that mean, anyway? Legally? Psychologically? In terms of some other measure related to economic or social outcomes?) is unproductive, not to mention impossible to do without at least partly devaluing the struggles of whichever one is deemed "easier." It also ignores the huge diversity of experiences within each group.

Sykes is absolutely entitled to her opinion, but we're thinking this particular piece of social commentary might translate better in a stand-up routine.

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And that started a running debate on the website where everyone who's ever nursed a hostile thought about the LGBT community could now come out their Hate the Gays Closet and weigh in with their favorite bitch, moan and grope against them.

Y'know the usual shit like, Gays got it better than Blacks. Nobody knows your gay just by looking at you...Here we go again with gays biting off our civil rights struggle...Not everyone believes in the homo lifestyle...

Fueled by my belief I should try an be a good ally to my LGBT peeps I wrote:

Sykes is within her rights to say she has felt more discrimination based upon her sexual orientation than her skin color. That doesn't mean she's minimizing racism. It just means for her, she's found homophobia to be worse. How is that making it "competing for the gold medal in the Oppression Olympics? That's ridiculous.

Some people seem to believe if you're Black that fact overrides all other considerations in your life and for Black folks that are women, gay or both, t'aint always so.

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Then I come here and see how those same peeps are taking a giant dump over Obama's proclamation and it makes me ask myself, "Why should straight folks try to reach out a hand in brotherhood if they are going to be told to stick it where the sun don't shine?"

It's not that I'm expecting any thanks for suggesting human beings deserve to be treated like equals regardless of what makes them different from me. Live and let live, is how I roll.

I get it that the LGBT community doesn't feel it should be grateful or satisfied with crumbs and token gestures. I get it that Obama hasn't moved nearly fast enough, far enough or bold enough on issues of vital importance. There a growing group of Black Americans that would echo those sentiments and say, "Amen to that."

But when I see what seems to be a gesture of sincerity get this kind of back of the hand treatment, it does make me wonder where's the middle ground we can both occupy where we both feel like we are giving and receiving the respect we deserve?

The thing is, Obama ran on a platform where he was going to do specific, concrete things to help the LGBT community. He made promises in exchange for our votes. And then as soon as he won the election, they took those promises off his website and pretty much ignored them publically. He has done a few concrete things to help, but they've all been a lot more minor than he promised.

If this was just an out of the blue gesture of support, it would be awesome. If he hadn't made promises to do other things and already gotten us to uphold our end of the deal by voting for him, it would be fine. But this is like if someone agrees to pay you money to buy your car, takes your car, pays almost nothing of what they said, and then has the nerve to give you a $20 gift certificate to Red Lobster and expect gratitude.

The problem isn't that he did this. (And frankly, I don't care if it agitates conservatives. We shouldn't be afraid of them. They've decided to be as agitated as possible on their own.) This is a nice thing on the face of things. The problem is that he almost certainly thinks he can do this instead of fulfilling any of his campaign promises. Thus far, the only thing he's made a major move on is Don't Ask, Don't Tell, which is the absolute most minor issue and one that doesn't even help transgender people (or any gay person not in the military). And the actual effects of DADT repeal aren't exactly going through very quickly.

The racial discrimination vs. anti-LGBT discrimination issue is an interesting one, and there are certainly some major issues with racism in the white LGBT community and homophobia and transphobia in the black community, but not relevant here. This is an issue that LGBT people have complained about with all Democrats.

EDIT: Despite all that, I will concede that we tend to be highly demanding. That's because we've been burned so many times with betrayals from our self-proclaimed straight white liberal allies. And that's a problem that also confronted the black community for at least a hundred and fifty years, and one that was solved primarily by black people insisting on full rights, not little concessions.

One of my thesis papers was on the local black community staring down racists in the face of "if you support our resistance to desegregation, we'll finally give you decent school buildings, but if you don't, we'll shut down the entire school system and make private schools for whites only." Nobody blinked, there was a unanimous vote to reject the "generous" offer, and the segregationists gave up. And that's what LGBT people have to do in the face of anyone who opposes giving us our full rights for religious or social reasons, even Barack Obama, who is better than the rest but still states he is personally opposed to gay marriage. (Which is hardly our biggest issue, but still something that we should demand.)

It would help if people did more than talk about it. If you guys are waiting for action, you'll be waiting a long time. Obama isn't going to save you, activism is. The reason why the haters are heard is because they dedicate their lives to it. If you want equal rights, you'll have to as well.

I'm not being critical of anyone here, I'm stating a fact. Obama can only do what he can do. The rest is hard work, and I don't see the leaders any more. I don't see the protests. I don't see the boycotts. I don't see much of anything.

When Miller endorsed Jesse Helms we threw Lite beer in the streets and went from bar to bar and made them do the same. They didn't respond, but we sent the message. Most gay bars switched to Bud Lite. When Regan refused to discuss AIDS we Acted Up. I was arrested once.

I'm not saying you have to be extreme. Stuff envelopes, pass out fliers, do something. Volunteer one hour a week to a cause.

You'd be amazed what a bunch of small efforts can do. And even if you fail you'll have the satisfaction of having tried.

I've spent 10 hours today alone spreading the word about Bill HR911 and I got one response. That's a good day

If it does get passed it'll be because we worked hard at it. It already passed in the house and has been shelved for 2 1/2 years. You can't depend on politicians to get the job done

So, if black folks got Black History month first, they should have been fine without civil rights?

We're talking about rights. Basic equality. Rights aren't to be given, they are to be taken. They are rights.

It's still an empty gesture and a far cry from what Obama specifically promised.

But we should be grateful for the scraps we're given. Fuck that.

I'm grateful for nothing. Cause that's what I got.

OT a bit, but for those of you close to the Canadian Border...

Gay Pride Week in Toronto!

I've been quite a few times and it's a wonderful street party/parade/everything - if you're in the area and looking for a fun time, I really recommend it.

We iz too cool in Canada, eh?

Canada is cool cool

Mara said:

EDIT: Despite all that, I will concede that we tend to be highly demanding. That's because we've been burned so many times with betrayals from our self-proclaimed straight white liberal allies.

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Well, that's because in some cases you have an "ally" who agrees with you but is too much of a coward to say so in public. A great many of the people we thought were our allies turned out not to be. And when you're in a place where you're scared for your life and can't tell your parents why, that's a very lonely place to hang out.

So it follows that if people you personally know are untrustworthy, someone you don't personally know is more difficult to trust.

But closer to (my) home, Kansas City pride was last weekend. It sucked. Wynter Gordon did not show up as scheduled on Friday and supposedly sent a video Saturday explaining she was under doctor's orders not to sing or talk. Which I can sort of understand, except the bigger criticism of pride this year is that we got a lot of nobodies, whereas last year, the headliner was La Roux.

I think at the end of the month there'll be a lot of us travelling to St. Louis to see if they can do better.

Diana Hignutt said:

So, if black folks got Black History month first, they should have been fine without civil rights?

We're talking about rights. Basic equality. Rights aren't to be given, they are to be taken. They are rights.

It's still an empty gesture and a far cry from what Obama specifically promised.

But we should be grateful for the scraps we're given. Fuck that.

I'm grateful for nothing. Cause that's what I got.

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Then to quote Jimmy Malone from The Untouchables, "What are you prepared to DO?"

Maybe you prefer to ignore the political realities that Obama is only a President, he's not a king who can simply dictate how things will be, but if you haven't twigged to the fact there is a strong, well-financed and organized resistance to giving the LGBT community a goddamn thing, you haven't paid attention to current events for the last 25-30 years.

You got your complaints and gripes down pat and know your script down pat. Obama sold us out. Obama hasn't done jackshit. Obama won't support gay marriage. So on and so forth into eternity.

Do you really think you're going to get a fairer shake from any of the Republicans looking to replace Obama in 2012? Do you really think someone like Herman Cain, the current Tea Party Flavor of the Month and featured in the New York Times gives a damn when he can say stupid crap like, "I believe homosexuality is a sin," and that's a strategically smart opinion to have among the GOP presidential contenders?

Good luck with that.

Obama is hardly the best friend the LGBT community has ever had. He's weak, contradictory and vacillating at times and you can even say he lacks a certain amount of courage at times. I wouldn't argue that point.

But I can tell you with complete certitude that not ever ally in the fight for civil rights for Blacks was 100 percent down with every aspect of the program. Some wanted faster and more sweeping changes while others preached for moderation and gradual change. It didn't come easy.

EVERYTHING Black people got in the way of the "rights" they were supposed to have they had to sweat blood to get. You think it's going to be any easier for gay folks to get over?

The attitudes of people don't change overnight. They not only have to learn how to be tolerant and open to change, they have to unlearn all the garbage that has filled up their brains as pushed out by churches, authority figures, families and the larger society as a whole.

It's better to have a weak ally that can be taught to be strong is than a implacable sworn enemy who barely acknowledges your humanity.

Whatever you choose or don't choose to do, please consider the words of the late lesbian poet Audre Lorde (and who would know exactly what Wanda Sykes is talking about) when she said, "Your silence will not protect you."

Enjoy the stay on the sidelines.

But why do you think any of us are "silent" or "on the sidelines"? Complaining on an internet forum does not preclude any other form of activism. No one here is saying they wish they had a Republican president, either! And I doubt any of us would. Just because we're stuck with a "lesser of two evils" on this issue doesn't mean we are required to be pleased. The fact is that he's not doing all he could, nor all that he promised. All the proclamations and "It Gets Better" videos in the world don't change that a bit.