Remember when Roseanne got raked over the coals by those of us in the âgay communityâ for saying gays are selfish?
âNever once in my 54 years have I ever once heard a gay or lesbian person whoâs politically active say one thing about anything that was not about them. They donât care about minimum wage, they donât care about any other group other than their own self because you know, some people say being gay and lesbian is a totally narcissistic thing and sometimes I wonder,â she said in April on a radio show she co-hosts.
Sheâs got a point, I think. And itâs not a new one, but one that, to me, was illuminated for two hours last night.
I watched the HRC/Logo Democratic presidential debate and truly listened to each candidate. Iâve watched other debates before, and confess Iâd often get bored and tune out. They all have stock answers and I could read the summary in the newspaper the next day anyway.
But last nightâs frank discussion of gay issues, issues that directly affect me, was exciting. Some tough questions â on marriage equality, "Donât Ask, Donât Tell," hate crimes and job protections â were asked. I think we were treated to some new insight into not only these peopleâs stances on gay issues, but also into their characters and personalities.
The candidates each had their âgayâ message planned and delivered it regardless of the question, like any other debate. But there were also some very revealing truths unveiled.
Didnât you just cringe when New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson essentially said being gay is a choice? Ouch. But, yes, he does have a strong track record for fighting for us as he quickly pointed out. And, you know, for some of us, it is a choice.
Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois plugging himself talking to black ministers about homophobia in the black church, and how this needs to be overcome as one way to stem the tide of the high number of AIDS cases among African Americans, was interesting and powerful.
I knew Rep. Dennis Kucinich, from the heartland of Ohio, was the perfect candidate because, like Washington Post editorial writer Jonathan Capehart noted, thereâs nothing we could ask for that he wouldnât support. His going on about love and interconnectedness of the nation was nice to hear and see, if not a bit goofy and over the top. It would be fascinating to have him as the person in charge of this country.
Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York taking on Melissa Etheridgeâs question about gays being thrown âunder the busâ during her husbandâs administration made for a good TV moment. But Hillary Clinton held her own and even faced a couple of tough questions about gay marriage from HRC President Joe Solmonese, although some say Clinton is his top pick to be the Democratic presidential candidate.
Former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, well, he really did look uncomfortable around gay people (although his hair was perfect), even after denying he ever said such a thing. I wish him well on his "journey." We all have to take them. Donât think his will end at the White House, though.
Former Alaska Sen. Mike Gravel got his 15 minutes, and that was fair. His attacks on the other candidates brought some drama.
But it was during the post-debate discussion where I heard the most interesting question. How come nobody talked about the war in Iraq, the most pressing issue facing our entire country, whether you are gay or straight?
The only person who brought the hot mess of a war up in any serious way was Kucinich, who noted how he opposed the war years ago when nobody agreed with him. And now the majority of the country is on his side.
Each candidate said they support ending DADT, which, in some ways, impacts the war in Iraq. The firing of gay Arabic linguists is the most notable.
But I wonder: If we as LGBT people, a marginalized group, canât incorporate even a couple questions into this âhistoricâ debate that touch other issues facing the marginalized within our own community â the poor, the elderly, the youth â how can we expect to be considered real team players in the fight for equality for everyone?
Truth is, we canât.
Others will argue that last nightâs debate was simply to talk about LGBT topics. We can hear about what the candidates think on the war, the economy, poverty, education, gas prices, stem cell research, etc., during the other mainstream debates. Yes, this is true. But itâs true all these topics are also queer.
Health care for all was brought up, thankfully, because this is an issue that not only affects people living with HIV and AIDS, but everyone. The discussions on medicinal marijuana were also informative to me.
Last night we had a national forum to try to erase the stereotype â however true or false it may be â that all we care about is ourselves and are focused on just gay marriage or DADT.
Transgender issues were touched on, which definitely needed to be â but would this have happened if Susan Stanton hadnât made national headlines after being fired as the city manager of Largo, Fla., for being transgender?
I know plenty of queer people who work on issues facing us other than gay marriage and ENDA, although these issues are important. But even they say those in charge of the âgay movementâ are narrowly focused, and they distance themselves from such groups as the HRC. This is just one area of division within this thing we dub the gay community.
I believe we all took a step forward last night. We all learned a lot. We may even have a better idea who we want to vote for based on how the candidates stand on issues that directly affect us as gay Americans.
But as we gain more political clout, letâs use that clout to raise the many other issues that face us as queers and speak to the interconnectedness that Kucinich so cheerfully, and eloquently, spoke about.
Heâs a dreamer. But if thereâs anything I know about gay people, and this may be a stereotype, too â we like to dream. And dream big.
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The mainstream news sources played the debate with straightforward accounts. Bill Richardson’s remarks that homosexuality is a choice received straightforward but in-depth reporting from most sources.
The use of quotes in the stories shows that yes, everyone supports civil unions and everyone wants to get rid of ‘don’t ask, don’t tell.’
Most reports noticed that the evening’s swoons were aimed at Dennis Kucinich, with the Washington Post calling the evening ‘a love fest’ for him.
The stories varied in the gay activists whom they quoted in articles. David Mixner addressed the forum in the Post and Matt Foreman of the Task Force was quoted in the LA Times.
Mainstream news sources:
‘’ - USA Today
- Time
‘ - CNN
‘ - Washington Post
‘’ (with audio) - NPR
‘’ - Los Angeles Times
‘’ - BBC News
‘’ - New York Times
‘’ - The Huffington Post
Joe.My.God does an amazing job of calling out the ‘dodgeballs’ of the night in his liveblogging. Lin Farley gives a heart-wrenching account of how hurt she is by the vague answers given. Pam Spaulding thinks that Clinton knows that deciding marriage at the state-level doesn’t work. Log Cabin Gay Patriot liked Richardson the best. The reactions are mixed, so check them out for yourself.
Blogger reactions:
Lin Farley: ‘’ - The Huffington Post
‘’ - Pam’s House Blend
Lane Hudson and Katharine Zaleski: ‘’ - The Huffington Post
‘’ - Towleroad
‘’ - The Politico
‘’ - Joe.My.God.
‘’ - GayPatriot
‘’ - Keith Boykin
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“American Idol’s” Paula Abdul better watch her back, because lesbian rocker Melissa Etheridge appeared to be gunning for her job during the HRC/Logo presidential candidates forum Thursday night.
Six of the eight Democratic candidates turned out to answer questions from Etheridge, HRC President Joe Solmonese and Washington Post editorial writer Jonathan Capehart in a forum moderated by straight journalist Margaret Carlson and broadcast on Logo.
There didn’t appear to be a clear winner, as most candidates stuck to their scripts about supporting civil unions over marriage equality. There were, however, a few notable gaffes.
New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who boasts a strong record on gay rights issues and is arguably the most experienced of the lot, drew audible gasps from the small studio audience when he fumbled a question from Etheridge about whether homosexuality is a choice.
Initially, Richardson responded, “It’s a choice.” Etheridge interrupted him, assuming he hadn’t understood her question, but he continued, “I’m not a scientist. … I don’t like to answer definitions like that.”
The confusing reply seemed to indicate that Richardson believes homosexuality is a choice, one of the most enduring and potent slurs used against gays. It was a surprising gaffe for Richardson, who rattled off a series of ways in which he has backed gay rights during his career. But the sting of his response to that question lingers and will surely damage his credibility among gay voters, as it should.
Former Sen. John Edwards seemed to think he was running for king rather than president, when responding to a question about the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. Edwards said the president could merely do away with the policy, failing to realize that “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” was passed by Congress, signed by President Clinton and would require congressional action to repeal. Later, Sen. Hillary Clinton, in a clear swipe at Edwards, clarified that Congress would have to get involved in order to repeal the discriminatory policy.
But Clinton wasn’t immune to problems on the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” issue. She repeated her assertion that the policy was merely “transitional” and it was time to do away with it. The problem is, the policy was never sold that way and no one ever believed in 1993 that it would be a temporary thing en route to something more “progressive” (her new favorite word). Clinton supported the policy then and opposes it now. It’s legitimate to change your opinion over time, but it’s not OK to engage in revisionist history while doing it.
Unfortunately, the event suffered from an air of unprofessionalism, prompting legitimate questions of just how seriously gay people take their presidential politics. The presence of Etheridge proved distracting and embarrassing. She openly fawned over candidates, most notably Rep. Dennis Kucinich. She urged him to “keep running until you’re elected.” Later, she asked Richardson about the beetles in Santa Fe. When Clinton took the stage last, Etheridge toughened up, telling her that Bill Clinton threw us under the bus and broke our hearts after seeking gay support in the campaign. I wonder if her environmentalist friend Al Gore fed her a few choice, tough lines for the former first lady.
But overall, Etheridge appeared to be auditioning for the Paula Abdul role on “American Idol,” warmly welcoming the candidates and openly praising them. Her behavior was wildly inappropriate for the occasion and organizers should have left the questioning to journalists. The Oprah-like set, which featured a couch and comfy chairs rather than podiums, lent a feeling of intimacy to the forum, which was a welcome touch. The problem was the set came across on TV as cheap and the crowd shockingly sparse. Next time, keep the celebrities in L.A. and the political forums in Washington.
Solmonese was tough on the candidates, asking pointed questions about marriage, including one to Edwards that nearly had him endorsing full equality. Edwards admitted it was a mistake to use his faith to justify opposition to same-sex marriage and went on to say that civil unions stop short of full equality. But he concluded with the contradictory and inevitable, “I do not support same-sex marriage.” He’s still on his “journey.” And Edwards couldn’t resist a few jabs at Ann Coulter, who has proven a cash cow for his campaign. The remarks were irrelevant and a transparent effort at tossing red meat to the crowd, which dutifully applauded.
Those are some top-of-mind observations. Check the Blade site throughout the week for updated reaction and analysis of all that transpired tonight.
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Just in time for the big gay forum, Barack Obama has released a list of members of his LGBT Leadership Council. The names are as follows:
Stampp Corbin, National LGBT Liaison, Obama for America; Former Human Rights Campaign Board Member; High Tech Entrepreneur
Terje Anderson, VT, Former Executive Director for the National Association of People with AIDS
Tom Barbera, NH, Board Member, Bay State Stonewall Democrats and Vice Chair, SEIU National Lavender Caucus
Paris Barclay, CA, Emmy Award Winning Producer and Director
Michael Bauer, IL, Community Activist
Tommy Bennett, IL, Radio Personality, Tom Joyner Show
Rosalyn Bugg, CA, Community Organizer
Phil Burgess, IL, National Director, Pharmacy Affairs, Walgreens
Ed Butler, NH, State Representative
Beth Bye, CT, Connecticut State Assemblywoman
Thomas Chaderjian, IL, Stonewall Democrats
Gary Cloutier, CA, Councilmember and Vice Mayor, Vallejo
Jon Cooper, NY, Suffolk County Legislature Majority Leader
Craig Covery, MI, Councilman, Ferndale City
Terry Crow, MO, Attorney
Chris Diebel, IA, Business Leader
Karla Drenner, GA, State Representative
Bevan Dufty, CA, San Francisco Board of Supervisors
Rick Garcia, IL, Director, Equality Illinois
Carlos Garza, IA, Chair, Des Moines Pride
Richard Gordon, Supervisor, San Mateo County Board of Supervisors
Nancy Greaney, NH, PFLAG New Hampshire
Greg Harris, IL, State Representative
Wendy Howell, VT, Community Organizer
Chris Hughes, IL, Founder, Facebook; Obama Campaign Director of Online Organizing
Harold Janeway, NH, State Senator, PFLAG Member
Vincent Jones, CA, Executive Director, Center for Health Justice
Nicole LeFavour, ID, State Representative
Ed Lehman, CA, Union Organizer
Robert Lilligren, MN, VP, Minneapolis City Council
Gordene Mackenzie, MA, MA Transgender Political Coalition
Sharon Malhero, IA, Activist
Timothy Patrick McCarthy, MA, Harvard University
Darryl Moore, CA, Berkeley City Council Member
Ed Murray, WA, State Senator
Nancy Nangeroni, MA, MA Transgender Political Coalition
Michael Noll, CA, Vice Mayor, Signal Hill
Renae Ogletree, IL, Community Organizer
Paul Provost, MN, Business Manager
Rebecca Prozan, CA, Chair, Alice B. Toklas Club
Nicole M. Ramirez, CA, City Commissioner, San Diego
Tonyia M. Rawles, CA, Bishop-Elect, Unity Fellowship Church Movement
Donna Red Wing, CO, Activist
Dr. Penny Robbins, IL, Reverend
Gene Robinson, NH, Bishop
Robert Ryken, IL, Attorney
Deborah Shore, IL, Commissioner, Chicago Metropolitan Water Reclamation District
Stephen Smith, CA, Former DNC Member
Eric Tabor, IA, Chief of Staff, Attorney General Tom Miller
Maxim Thorne, NJ, Former Executive Director, Head Start New Jersey
Dr. Leanne Tigert, MA, Minister
Lew Todd, NY, Founding Member, Stonewall Democratic Club, Gay Activists Alliance, National Gay Task Force
Tom Tunney, IL, Chicago Alderman
David Upthegrove, WA, State Representative
Tawnee Walling, NH, Director of Seacoast Outright
Gene Webb, IL, University of Chicago
Richard A. Wilson, IL, Chair, National Lesbian and Gay Law Association
Tobias Barrington Wolff, PA, University of Pennsylvania Law School
Obama also has an "" section of his campaign website.
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The Washington Posts John Kelly kicked off with a surprising sentence.
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I had a chance to see a personal hero of mine last night, and she inspired me like I knew she would. Maya Angelou, the Renaissance Woman — author, playwright, poet, actress, civil rights activist — read aloud her new poem “A Pledge to Rescue Our Youth” at the 15th Annual “A King Celebration Concert” by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra held at the Martin Luther King Jr. Chapel at Morehouse College.
The poem was meaningful, written specifically for young men and women of color, imploring them to “Come up from the gloom of national neglect, you have already been paid for./ Come out of the shadow of irrational prejudice, you owe no racial debt to history.”
To tell the truth, Dr. Angelou could read a set of Mapquest directions and I’d get chill bumps. Her voice itself is so commanding. But the woman uses it for good. And while the night belonged to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his wife, Coretta Scott King, who died a year ago, I knew she also spoke for me, a lesbian.
Dr. Angelou spoke about the “rainbow in the clouds,” a lyric from an African-American slave song. If you put something shiny and beautiful in a dark place, than hope will always be alive, she said.
Well, we all know the rainbow is our symbol, although some fundamental Christians want to “take it back.” So I decided in my mind that, yes, our rainbow symbol and we as queer people must continue to provide hope for others by shining, even during dark moments in our lives and history.
Dr. Angelou is famous for her quotes as well, and many notable ones include speaking on behalf of gays.
“I will not sit in a group of black friends and hear racial pejoratives against whites. I will not hear ‘honky.’ I will not hear ‘Jap.’ I will not hear ‘kike.’ I will not hear ‘greaser.’ I will not hear ‘dago.’ I will not hear it. As soon as I hear it, I say, ‘Excuse me, I have to leave. Sorry. Or if it’s in my home, I say, ‘You have to leave. I can’t have that. That is poison, and I know it is poison, and you’re smearing it on me. I will not have it,” she said in an interview with the .
She went on to say in the interview that people must have the courage to stand up to people who belittle others they perceive as different.
“Sooner or later, you’ll be able to say out loud, ‘Just a minute. I defend that person. I will not have gay bashing, lesbian bashing. Not in my company. I will not do it.’"
When Mrs. King died, the mainstream media hardly mentioned in news articles and obituaries her dedication to gay rights and to ending HIV/AIDS in addition to all the other human rights issues for which she worked. Her fight for human rights were a part of her own legacy as well as keeping the torch alive of her husband’s enduring legacy.
But Dr. Angelou made sure this aspect of her beloved friend’s life was noted. Speaking during Mrs. King’s funeral, standing in anti-gay Bishop Eddie Long’s megachurch where members of the infamous “God Hates Fags” Westboro Baptist Church were camped out front taunting those attending the funeral, Dr. Angelou let it be known Mrs. King cared for us, too.
“Born of flesh and destined to become iron. Born a corn flower and destined to become a steel magnolia. She loved her church fervently. She loved and adored her husband and her children. She cherished her race,” Dr. Angelou said at the funeral.
“She cherished women. She cared for the conditions of human beings, of Native Americans and Latin — Latino and Asian Americans. She cared for gay and straight people.”
As we honor Dr. and Mrs. King this weekend, let’s enjoy the parties and, for some of us, the day off. But let’s also be dedicated to being rainbows in the clouds.
(The concert will be broadcast nationwide Monday, Jan. 15, on NPR stations, including Atlanta affiliates WABE 90.1 FM and WCLK 91.9 FM.)
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It’s that time of the year when we all look ahead with hope and optimism and make our resolutions and pledges for the coming year. Inevitably, we vow to lose weight, get that promotion at the office, be more caring partners, keep up the yard, take out the trash regularly, call our family more often and just all in all be better people.
Herer are share some of my wishes for the gay and lesbian community for 2007. Some of the things on my wish list are personal some are universal and some are light-hearted jabs at this thing we call the gay and lesbian community, that little enclave we’ve come together to create in hopes of making a better world than where most of us came from.
Whatever’s on your wish list, I wish you luck and happiness in working to achieve it this coming year.
I wish gay men and lesbians saw more of the things they have in common rather than the things that separate them.
I wish Hillary would do the right thing and refrain from mounting a presidential campaign.
I wish the Republicans would finally see that their real “base” is not the wacky right wing.
I wish I wasn’t still so enamored with the last man who broke my heart.
I wish men would quit breaking my heart.
I wish all closeted gay politicians, including Fla. Gov. Charlie Crist, would come out.
I wish there were half the gay bars and twice the gay book reading clubs.
I wish there wasn’t so much attitude in the gay community.
I wish gay men would hook up before 3 a.m.
I wish gay men would talk about something other than what body part they worked out at the gym today and what happened to the price of their real estate this month.
I wish the real estate market would rebound.
I wish I didn’t know by heart the measurement of every one of my body parts.
I wish I had bigger arms.
And a bigger chest.
I wish we still didn’t feel the need to bury ourselves in gay ghettos.
I wish my neighborhood would turn gay.
I wish we weren’t occupying a foreign country.
I wish the media would tell us how many Iraqi civilians are dying in Iraq as frequently as they tell us how many American soldiers die there.
I wish no one were dying in Iraq.
I wish that we won’t leave Iraq too early and let the situation deteriorate into a civil war.
I wish gay guys would stop wearing their collars turned up. It didn’t look good the first time around back in the ’80s.
I wish gay society wasn’t so youth-obsessed.
I wish I was about 10 years younger.
I wish gay men valued the size of each other’s hearts and intellects as much as we value the size of each other’s penises.
I wish the right guy would call me “Daddy.”
I wish guys wouldn’t start conversations online with the word, “stats?”
I wish I spent less time online.
I wish the men I wanted to have sex with were the same ones I wanted to date.
I wish I got asked out on dates.
I wish we’d find the cure for AIDS.
I wish gay men would stop barebacking and putting ourselves at risk.
I wish gay and lesbian relationships weren’t treated as second class. I wish we had the simple right to get married.
I wish gay and lesbian people understood why we need to continue our fight for marriage, even if it makes us unpopular with some voters.
I wish I had somebody to marry.
I wish you all the best in 2007.
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recently wrote a on women’s wages compared to men’s. A lot of you probably remember the buttons from the late 70s and early 80s that said "$0.69" — the amount, at the time, that women earned for every dollar earned by a man in the same job.
Since then, we made progress. Slow, small progress, but progress, until sometime in the mid-1990s, when we hit $0.75.
However, according to Estrich, more recent trends are cause for concern:
According to U.S. Labor Department data, women with college degrees who are between 36 and 45 earned 74.7 cents on the dollar last year, down a penny from 10 years ago.
Women with high school educations are still making 75% of what their male peers make, which is obviously less than what most of us with college degrees earn, but the whole picture is ugly.
The fact that we’re losing ground really took me by surprise. I assumed that, since the 1970s and the "$0.69" buttons, we’d been slowly creeping towards equality. I didn’t think we were there yet, but I would have guessed that we were in the high 80s, not less than 75 percent.
What I really find distressing and hard to think about in all of this, though, is the implications for lesbian families. Are we going to be able to afford things like college tuition etc at the same rate as straight families? How could we?
Let’s do some simple math with two hypothetical couples: Mr. and Mrs. Straight each college educated. To keep the math simple, Mr. Straight makes $100,000 per year. He and Mrs Straight met in college, with the same major and similar grades. She earns Estrich’s average of 74.7 percent of what he earns, or $74,700, for a combined household income of $174,700. (I never said we were feeling sorry for the couples in this example.)
The second couple — Mrs. and Mrs. Lesbos — actually went to college with the Straights. They all hung out and studied together. Mrs. and Mrs. Lesbos each earn $74,700, for a combined household income of $149,400, which turns out to be only 85.5 percent of the Lesbos’ household income. (Still a nice income, but is the lesbian really worth 14.5 percent less than the heterosexual couple?)
Over time, this problem gets worse. If the Straights were to save that money every year for 10 years, even if they only earned 4 percent interest on it (a very conservative figure), at the end of the 10 years they would have $353,354 more than their lesbian friends. In 20 years at 5 percent interest, the heterosexual couple is up almost a million dollars: $945,525.
That’s a lot of tutors, summer camps, college education, special coaches or classes, unpaid internships funded by parents, etc.
Over the course of a 40 year career, using the for the stock market between 1892 - 1997, 7 percent, Mrs. and Mrs. Lesbos will have $5,783,175 less than the Straights.
I know that they wouldn’t all be earning the same salary over all that time, but trying to figure out the math on that is more than I’m up to right now. And the easy math still makes the point. I suspect that the real world version would actually be more dramatic because Mr. Straight’s numbers would keep getting further apart from his wife’s and Mrs. and Mrs. Lesbos’.
Estrich makes two general suggestions for addressing the pay gap:
But there are two obvious answers to this — other than passive acceptance, that is. One is to look hard at the pay scales, and recognize that part of the reason certain specialties make less is not because they’re easier or less important, or even require less training, but because there are more women doing them. Another is to recruit more women to the high-paying ones.
On a societal level, sure. But easier said than done. On a "but what about my family" level — kinda empty.
What do you think we should do?
Liza Barry-Kessler’s blog can be found at www.lizawashere.com.
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