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	<title>Comments on: Obama defends Warren choice</title>
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	<item>
		<title>By: Lynn</title>
		<link>http://www.365gay.com/video/obama-defends-warren-choice/comment-page-4/#comment-39185</link>
		<dc:creator>Lynn</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Thu, 15 Jan 2009 02:09:12 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.365gay.com/?p=4649#comment-39185</guid>
		<description>Civil rights are not a &quot;certain social issue,&quot; and Rick Warren&#039;s actions and views are so far beyond &quot;disagreement&quot; that it beggars the imagination that Obama would so callously and glibly use so mild a term for intolerant acts. Obama is showing how &quot;tone deaf&quot; he is to gay lives. And what a moral relativist he really is. Up next: Letting war crimes go unpunished because we need to &quot;move forward.&quot; What a huge disappointment this man is.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Civil rights are not a &#8220;certain social issue,&#8221; and Rick Warren&#8217;s actions and views are so far beyond &#8220;disagreement&#8221; that it beggars the imagination that Obama would so callously and glibly use so mild a term for intolerant acts. Obama is showing how &#8220;tone deaf&#8221; he is to gay lives. And what a moral relativist he really is. Up next: Letting war crimes go unpunished because we need to &#8220;move forward.&#8221; What a huge disappointment this man is.</p>
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	</item>
	<item>
		<title>By: FRANK COLANTUONO</title>
		<link>http://www.365gay.com/video/obama-defends-warren-choice/comment-page-4/#comment-38137</link>
		<dc:creator>FRANK COLANTUONO</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Wed, 07 Jan 2009 15:24:30 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.365gay.com/?p=4649#comment-38137</guid>
		<description>In theory, Obama&#039;s reasoning sounds correct, but what if a speaker had strong beliefs and support for the KKK, would he welcome that person as well? It is one thing to have contrasting opinions and views, but it is another to be a hate spewing bigot! I am all for coming together as a nation, but to allow someone to advocate hate and violence towards another group of people seems wrong and is a typical political move. I worked on Obama&#039;s campaign and was proud when he got elected, but I am now having second thoughts and I am very disappointed! A person like Warren spreads hate and sends a message that it is OK to discriminate and harm others because they are different! Wake up America, the Religious Right are dangerous to more than just Gays!</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>In theory, Obama&#8217;s reasoning sounds correct, but what if a speaker had strong beliefs and support for the KKK, would he welcome that person as well? It is one thing to have contrasting opinions and views, but it is another to be a hate spewing bigot! I am all for coming together as a nation, but to allow someone to advocate hate and violence towards another group of people seems wrong and is a typical political move. I worked on Obama&#8217;s campaign and was proud when he got elected, but I am now having second thoughts and I am very disappointed! A person like Warren spreads hate and sends a message that it is OK to discriminate and harm others because they are different! Wake up America, the Religious Right are dangerous to more than just Gays!</p>
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	<item>
		<title>By: Curtis Balls</title>
		<link>http://www.365gay.com/video/obama-defends-warren-choice/comment-page-4/#comment-38008</link>
		<dc:creator>Curtis Balls</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 06 Jan 2009 19:54:51 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.365gay.com/?p=4649#comment-38008</guid>
		<description>Like most everyone else, I&#039;m disappointed and dismayed by Obama&#039;s choice of Warren to lead the prayer parade. It&#039;s insulting to millions of gay and lesbian Americans.  On the other hand, Obama is not a bigot. He&#039;s a politician.  His decision to promote Warren is a political calculation.  Here&#039;s the reasoning:  Obama wants to mine the voter rich mine of evangelical Christians, 24 million strong in the good ole U.S.S.A.  He wants to win them over.  So he wants to be nice to their preachers.  He figures, where else are the gays and lesbians going to go politically?  Like they&#039;re going to run to the Republicans?  Yeah, gays and lesbians will be pissed off about this, but I&#039;d rather piss off part of my base with nowhere else to go for the sake of finding another 10 million voters who do have somewhere else to go.  It&#039;s a cold assed, Machivellian political calculation that would make Karl Rove proud.  It&#039;s the same kind of political calculation that Clinton made when he stepped in the race pool with his comment about why Obama won the South Carolina primary.  Clinton is not a racist.  He&#039;s a politician who knows how to play racial politics, which is not the same thing as being a racist.  He&#039;s also a Southerner.  Obama played racial politics too (it&#039;s America for god&#039;s sake), even more cleverly than Clinton did.  That&#039;s why he won.

We&#039;ll see if Obama makes up to the gay and lesbian community by how he actually governs when it comes to gay issues.  I&#039;ve always been willing to give him a chance despite how low down I think his choice of Warren is.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Like most everyone else, I&#8217;m disappointed and dismayed by Obama&#8217;s choice of Warren to lead the prayer parade. It&#8217;s insulting to millions of gay and lesbian Americans.  On the other hand, Obama is not a bigot. He&#8217;s a politician.  His decision to promote Warren is a political calculation.  Here&#8217;s the reasoning:  Obama wants to mine the voter rich mine of evangelical Christians, 24 million strong in the good ole U.S.S.A.  He wants to win them over.  So he wants to be nice to their preachers.  He figures, where else are the gays and lesbians going to go politically?  Like they&#8217;re going to run to the Republicans?  Yeah, gays and lesbians will be pissed off about this, but I&#8217;d rather piss off part of my base with nowhere else to go for the sake of finding another 10 million voters who do have somewhere else to go.  It&#8217;s a cold assed, Machivellian political calculation that would make Karl Rove proud.  It&#8217;s the same kind of political calculation that Clinton made when he stepped in the race pool with his comment about why Obama won the South Carolina primary.  Clinton is not a racist.  He&#8217;s a politician who knows how to play racial politics, which is not the same thing as being a racist.  He&#8217;s also a Southerner.  Obama played racial politics too (it&#8217;s America for god&#8217;s sake), even more cleverly than Clinton did.  That&#8217;s why he won.</p>
<p>We&#8217;ll see if Obama makes up to the gay and lesbian community by how he actually governs when it comes to gay issues.  I&#8217;ve always been willing to give him a chance despite how low down I think his choice of Warren is.</p>
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	<item>
		<title>By: Bud Evans</title>
		<link>http://www.365gay.com/video/obama-defends-warren-choice/comment-page-4/#comment-37949</link>
		<dc:creator>Bud Evans</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 06 Jan 2009 12:31:10 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.365gay.com/?p=4649#comment-37949</guid>
		<description>It is specious to draw a moral comparison between, Rev. Warren, an arch-homophobe with his bigoted agenda of stripping tens of millions of GLBTs of their civil rights in contrast to Obama&#039;s former pastor at the gay-inclusive United Church of Christ. The Rev. Wright’s fiery rhetoric was, undoubtedly, exaggerated in his condemnation of the moral indolence of all White Americans during the early civil rights struggles of Blacks. That may have been offensive to some people who just happened to be of the same pigmentation of those in power who actually did perpetuate racism. 

Rev. Jeremiah Wright was wrong in using this broad brush of denunciation. Consequently, he should have been called on the carpet for it because the civil rights of Black people would never had been possible in this country without the support of millions of decent White people who abhor injustice. Neither would it have been achievable without the help of those politicians and “activists“ federal judges who actually believed in the U.S. Bill of Rights. 

Rev. Wright’s over-the-top call for “God Damn America” seemed an angry rebuke for the injustices suffered by so many in this so-called “Land of the Free“.
I personally believe that he was a bit too intemperate in his choice of words. He may, instead, have said: “God Damn the Current Twisted Version of America Created by Bigots (like Rev. Warren); political cowards (like Obama); as well as corporate thieves (most Republicans) and war mongers (such as Bush).  If he had said that, he would have been spot-on.

Nevertheless, before all of the Obama-sycophants forget -- our new Bigot-in-Chief’s latest top pastor (Rev. Warren) compared our loving relationships to incest and pedophilia and to bestiality. It was Obama’s own idiotic choice to open his administration with a “prayer” for better times ahead using a notorious homophobic bigot because a racist or an anti-Semite could never be acceptable, but a gay-hater is just another point-of-view.

If that is a sign of things to come in the next four years, then we just replaced a brainless tyrant with a heartless fool in the White House.  

Good times! 
Yep, Good Times Ahead for All!! 

 …PARTY ON!!!!

~ Bud Evans - Jan 2008

http://rainfish2000.blogspot.com</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>It is specious to draw a moral comparison between, Rev. Warren, an arch-homophobe with his bigoted agenda of stripping tens of millions of GLBTs of their civil rights in contrast to Obama&#8217;s former pastor at the gay-inclusive United Church of Christ. The Rev. Wright’s fiery rhetoric was, undoubtedly, exaggerated in his condemnation of the moral indolence of all White Americans during the early civil rights struggles of Blacks. That may have been offensive to some people who just happened to be of the same pigmentation of those in power who actually did perpetuate racism. </p>
<p>Rev. Jeremiah Wright was wrong in using this broad brush of denunciation. Consequently, he should have been called on the carpet for it because the civil rights of Black people would never had been possible in this country without the support of millions of decent White people who abhor injustice. Neither would it have been achievable without the help of those politicians and “activists“ federal judges who actually believed in the U.S. Bill of Rights. </p>
<p>Rev. Wright’s over-the-top call for “God Damn America” seemed an angry rebuke for the injustices suffered by so many in this so-called “Land of the Free“.<br />
I personally believe that he was a bit too intemperate in his choice of words. He may, instead, have said: “God Damn the Current Twisted Version of America Created by Bigots (like Rev. Warren); political cowards (like Obama); as well as corporate thieves (most Republicans) and war mongers (such as Bush).  If he had said that, he would have been spot-on.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, before all of the Obama-sycophants forget &#8212; our new Bigot-in-Chief’s latest top pastor (Rev. Warren) compared our loving relationships to incest and pedophilia and to bestiality. It was Obama’s own idiotic choice to open his administration with a “prayer” for better times ahead using a notorious homophobic bigot because a racist or an anti-Semite could never be acceptable, but a gay-hater is just another point-of-view.</p>
<p>If that is a sign of things to come in the next four years, then we just replaced a brainless tyrant with a heartless fool in the White House.  </p>
<p>Good times!<br />
Yep, Good Times Ahead for All!! </p>
<p> …PARTY ON!!!!</p>
<p>~ Bud Evans &#8211; Jan 2008</p>
<p><a href="http://rainfish2000.blogspot.com" rel="nofollow">http://rainfish2000.blogspot.com</a></p>
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	<item>
		<title>By: JJS</title>
		<link>http://www.365gay.com/video/obama-defends-warren-choice/comment-page-4/#comment-37825</link>
		<dc:creator>JJS</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 05 Jan 2009 15:59:40 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.365gay.com/?p=4649#comment-37825</guid>
		<description>Let&#039;s sdd if I have this right. When the Hannity types had fits because Obama was associating with a pastor they didn&#039;t like, mostly because of things he said, gay activists had their own fits and said Obama&#039;s religious choices were none of their business. I personally sent e-mail to Hannity objecting to his guilt by association comments. Now, gay activists are having fits because Obama is associating with a pastor they don&#039;t approve of. Does the word hypocrite ring a bell?</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Let&#8217;s sdd if I have this right. When the Hannity types had fits because Obama was associating with a pastor they didn&#8217;t like, mostly because of things he said, gay activists had their own fits and said Obama&#8217;s religious choices were none of their business. I personally sent e-mail to Hannity objecting to his guilt by association comments. Now, gay activists are having fits because Obama is associating with a pastor they don&#8217;t approve of. Does the word hypocrite ring a bell?</p>
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	<item>
		<title>By: TigerTzu</title>
		<link>http://www.365gay.com/video/obama-defends-warren-choice/comment-page-4/#comment-37818</link>
		<dc:creator>TigerTzu</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 05 Jan 2009 14:42:53 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.365gay.com/?p=4649#comment-37818</guid>
		<description>To Daniel Vondra:

It is chickenshit, mealy-mouthed, ass-kissing cowardly faggots like you that hold back the progression of civil rights for the gay community.  People like you are just as much an enemy to the gay community as are people like Warren.  Crawl back under the porch little doggie and let people with real courage and conviction take care of business.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>To Daniel Vondra:</p>
<p>It is chickenshit, mealy-mouthed, ass-kissing cowardly faggots like you that hold back the progression of civil rights for the gay community.  People like you are just as much an enemy to the gay community as are people like Warren.  Crawl back under the porch little doggie and let people with real courage and conviction take care of business.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
	</item>
	<item>
		<title>By: Bud Evans</title>
		<link>http://www.365gay.com/video/obama-defends-warren-choice/comment-page-4/#comment-37815</link>
		<dc:creator>Bud Evans</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 05 Jan 2009 13:42:44 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.365gay.com/?p=4649#comment-37815</guid>
		<description>Truth is our Courage; Love is our Strength -- We Shall Prevail... 

Well, it’s over for now. The 2008 Presidential Election is history. A benign bigot won who expected our unconditional support but who, in turn, would not even speak up for our right to be treated as equals and to protect the ones we love. By Obama’s incessant, and unethical, repetition of: “I believe marriage is between a Man and Woman” mantra he gave permission for voters in his own party of “Hope” and “Equality for All” to vote Yes for Obama and Yes for Proposition 8 in California. 

YES WE CAN! …Indeed. 

Thanks for your support, Obama. I guess we got what we deserved for being so naïve. We are politically expendable. Nothing is going to change that fact any time soon either. Fear drove most of us to support a candidate who does not support us. He does not view us as equals -- no matter what his finely tailored speeches profess to his immense tapestry comprising millions of disciples loosely stitched together by White guilt, Black disenfranchisement, Blue-Collar displacement and Gay desperation. 

Yet how committed is Obama to some of his congregation? Imagine the mixed message Obama sent to the people of California -- especially in the minority community. After all, how many of them must have asked this to themselves, as they went to vote: “Well, Obama is against homosexuals getting married -- so why should we be for it. Obama is a fair and reasonable man, so it must be wrong. Like he said, in so many words, it’s not right for queers to get married. They can go sit at another table. The Marriage Table is reserved for “god’s chosen people” -- for heterosexuals only.” Or so says our great, fair-minded, emancipator of the downtrodden. 

Yes, thanks for nothing, Obama. One word, just one word, just a simple: “Vote NO on Proposition 8” might have made the difference in many people’s minds - especially in the uneducated minority community where too many, unfortunately, relish the thought of the role of a formerly oppressed minority being reversed so that they can take out their angst by kicking another minority in the teeth. 

Tragically, far too many in racial minority communities believe that the road to status quo membership in society is to find another minority to take their place at the bottom of the social heap. And the religious excuses they use are lame rationalization for their minority targeted, anti-social, bigoted, vile behavior. It is the same conduct attributed to how White Trash treated Blacks in the 1960s in the South. To paraphrase Shakespeare: The play is the same, only the actors have changed roles. 

Barrack Obama made reference to us in the GLBT community during his acceptance speech Nov. 3, 2008, where we were sandwiched somewhere between Blacks and Whites and Disabled People. I listened to his soaring rhetoric with sadness -- erudite and inspiring, but still filled with empty, meaningless words that I doubt will ever find application. 

Blacks, Latinos and other minorities don’t need him to fight for their civil rights anymore. The only minority left in the United States against whom it is legal to discriminate is the GLBT community. Like a good lawyer, Obama is both comprehensive and evasive in his message of “inclusion” involving us -- which usually ends with an segregationist scheme. Where is the unqualified outrage that Robert Kennedy showed when he spoke out against racism before his own tragic life was ended by an assassin’s bullet? Where is the uncompromising convictions of a Lyndon Johnson who knew the Democratic party would lose the South if he pushed for the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act? But Johnson pushed for its passage anyway. 

Blacks could just have been ignored before the riots of the 60s. They were not that essential in the political scheme of things on Capital Hill. But, at their own political risks, many White politicians put their political careers on the line to stand up for what was right. No minority in this country would ever achieve equality without a fair judiciary and without the political leadership that sets the wheels of justice in motion. 

For those who say that only the courts shall be the final arbitrators of our fate, I say you are wrong. When Brown vs. The Topeka Board of Education was decided, the Eisenhower Republican administration was already on board to end segregation in America. When Loving vs. Virginia was decided, the political climate in Washington (after the 1964 Civil Rights Act) was already in favor of quietly removing the last racial barriers dividing the races in America. And even though the majority of Americans still were against interracial marriage, after the Supreme Court Ruling in 1967, there was no political upheaval over it. 

So who now in American politics is our champion? Who now would risk any of their political capital for us? All we are told is to be quiet and to let things happen gradually behind the scenes. Our leaders in the GLBT community tells us to be patient. But “baby-steps” is quickly becoming the new definition for bullsh*t. Radical changes rarely happen in slow motion. Demands for equality are never heard if they are whispered. 

Our own history should inform us. Where would the GLBT rights movement have been without Stonewall to get the ball rolling. Also contributory, the GLBT organization called ACT-UP was considered by many mainstream Gays as being too “militant” but they brought public awareness to the HIV/AIDS crisis in the 1980s in ways that the mainstream, Gay unfriendly, media would never willingly do. ACT-UP’s public acts of civil disobedience made people see the epidemic in ways that quiet talk behind closed doors could never accomplish. 

We need a pro-active organization like that now to publicly demand our rights. Scream, shout, lie down in the streets and tie up traffic. Chain yourselves by the hundreds, all over the country, to the doors of Marriage License Bureaus if that’s what it takes to show we are serious. How can we expect other people to understand that Rights are not a gift to be bestowed or taken away by any benign or hostile majority. Equal Rights, just like every other American’s Rights, belong to us too at birth and cannot be taken away. 

Now ask yourself this about our newly elected President, Ask yourself: if some other minority was the object of a hateful proposition that would have denied them equal citizenship, would Barrack Obama have been so silent on it? I think not. But see how easily he makes the transition from lofty platitudes and his glorious rhetoric of “inclusion” and “equality” to jumping aboard the hate-wagon rolling over our bodies and the bodies of those we love -- that is, if that wagon just happens to be moving in the direction he wants to go. 

And please don’t dredge up that tired old chestnut of “well, if he openly supported our rights, he wouldn’t win”. The fact of the matter is that Obama didn’t have to lock himself into the indefensible position of opposing our equality while supporting an apartheid system of laws created just for our management. He did not have to ride the wave of bigotry to election. 

When asked about marriage equality, he could have simply said that the question should be left up to the states (a position I don’t agree with any more than interracial marriage should be allowed to just remain a state issue), never-the-less, he could have just left it at that. But no, he had to be over-emphatic in his denunciation of same-sex marriage equality at every opportunity. What kind of “friend” to our community is that? 

Obama took tens of millions of dollars from us for his campaign and tens of millions of votes from us to further his ambitions and then he turns his back on us to let the wolves come together to rip us to shreds -- many of whom were his strongest supporters, in his own race, who joined with the very same people they despised in the Republican party. All the while, Obama turned a blind eye to this blood-fest. Is that the kind of Messianic leader the GLBT community has been waiting for? If I where a religious person, I’d say it sounds more like the coming of the anti-Christ. 

I did not vote for Obama. My Gay neighbor, at first, said that he would never vote for Obama either. But then, for whatever reason, he jumped on board the bandwagon. I suppose the high school football lure of being on the winning side is like an irresistible narcotic enticement too much for some people with weaker convictions to resist. It didn’t matter much though, because we both live in the Reddest of Red States --- Kansas. So, a symbolic protest vote against Obama would not have altered the election one bit. 

I may have even held my nose and voted for Obama if I lived in a Swing State because the thought of a malignant bigot being elected over a benign bigot would be too great a risk even for me to imagine. It is so tragic that we only have such unhealthy choices to make. It is really time we start looking for a viable third party, at least in Congress to start -- the Presidency later. 

If Joe Lieberman could control the agenda with just his one vote in the Senate, a third party of around ten percent of the members of Congress could give maximum representation to a minority such as ours. A third party would be a powerbroker and could caucus with either party for control of Congress and in setting political agenda on a quid pro quo basis. Coalitions could be formed and “orphan” legislation (that is legislation which no party wants to go out on the limb for alone) could be passed. 

We owe nothing to the Democratic Party because they have (witness DOMA and DADT) given us nothing but betrayal or indifference in return. I really wanted to like Obama, but I don’t believe he has the courage to stick his neck out for us like President Johnson did for Black folk. I’d be pleasantly surprised if I am wrong. But I will not hold my breath until then.

(C) Bud Evans, 2008
 http://rainfish2000.blogspot.com</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Truth is our Courage; Love is our Strength &#8212; We Shall Prevail&#8230; </p>
<p>Well, it’s over for now. The 2008 Presidential Election is history. A benign bigot won who expected our unconditional support but who, in turn, would not even speak up for our right to be treated as equals and to protect the ones we love. By Obama’s incessant, and unethical, repetition of: “I believe marriage is between a Man and Woman” mantra he gave permission for voters in his own party of “Hope” and “Equality for All” to vote Yes for Obama and Yes for Proposition 8 in California. </p>
<p>YES WE CAN! …Indeed. </p>
<p>Thanks for your support, Obama. I guess we got what we deserved for being so naïve. We are politically expendable. Nothing is going to change that fact any time soon either. Fear drove most of us to support a candidate who does not support us. He does not view us as equals &#8212; no matter what his finely tailored speeches profess to his immense tapestry comprising millions of disciples loosely stitched together by White guilt, Black disenfranchisement, Blue-Collar displacement and Gay desperation. </p>
<p>Yet how committed is Obama to some of his congregation? Imagine the mixed message Obama sent to the people of California &#8212; especially in the minority community. After all, how many of them must have asked this to themselves, as they went to vote: “Well, Obama is against homosexuals getting married &#8212; so why should we be for it. Obama is a fair and reasonable man, so it must be wrong. Like he said, in so many words, it’s not right for queers to get married. They can go sit at another table. The Marriage Table is reserved for “god’s chosen people” &#8212; for heterosexuals only.” Or so says our great, fair-minded, emancipator of the downtrodden. </p>
<p>Yes, thanks for nothing, Obama. One word, just one word, just a simple: “Vote NO on Proposition 8” might have made the difference in many people’s minds &#8211; especially in the uneducated minority community where too many, unfortunately, relish the thought of the role of a formerly oppressed minority being reversed so that they can take out their angst by kicking another minority in the teeth. </p>
<p>Tragically, far too many in racial minority communities believe that the road to status quo membership in society is to find another minority to take their place at the bottom of the social heap. And the religious excuses they use are lame rationalization for their minority targeted, anti-social, bigoted, vile behavior. It is the same conduct attributed to how White Trash treated Blacks in the 1960s in the South. To paraphrase Shakespeare: The play is the same, only the actors have changed roles. </p>
<p>Barrack Obama made reference to us in the GLBT community during his acceptance speech Nov. 3, 2008, where we were sandwiched somewhere between Blacks and Whites and Disabled People. I listened to his soaring rhetoric with sadness &#8212; erudite and inspiring, but still filled with empty, meaningless words that I doubt will ever find application. </p>
<p>Blacks, Latinos and other minorities don’t need him to fight for their civil rights anymore. The only minority left in the United States against whom it is legal to discriminate is the GLBT community. Like a good lawyer, Obama is both comprehensive and evasive in his message of “inclusion” involving us &#8212; which usually ends with an segregationist scheme. Where is the unqualified outrage that Robert Kennedy showed when he spoke out against racism before his own tragic life was ended by an assassin’s bullet? Where is the uncompromising convictions of a Lyndon Johnson who knew the Democratic party would lose the South if he pushed for the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act? But Johnson pushed for its passage anyway. </p>
<p>Blacks could just have been ignored before the riots of the 60s. They were not that essential in the political scheme of things on Capital Hill. But, at their own political risks, many White politicians put their political careers on the line to stand up for what was right. No minority in this country would ever achieve equality without a fair judiciary and without the political leadership that sets the wheels of justice in motion. </p>
<p>For those who say that only the courts shall be the final arbitrators of our fate, I say you are wrong. When Brown vs. The Topeka Board of Education was decided, the Eisenhower Republican administration was already on board to end segregation in America. When Loving vs. Virginia was decided, the political climate in Washington (after the 1964 Civil Rights Act) was already in favor of quietly removing the last racial barriers dividing the races in America. And even though the majority of Americans still were against interracial marriage, after the Supreme Court Ruling in 1967, there was no political upheaval over it. </p>
<p>So who now in American politics is our champion? Who now would risk any of their political capital for us? All we are told is to be quiet and to let things happen gradually behind the scenes. Our leaders in the GLBT community tells us to be patient. But “baby-steps” is quickly becoming the new definition for bullsh*t. Radical changes rarely happen in slow motion. Demands for equality are never heard if they are whispered. </p>
<p>Our own history should inform us. Where would the GLBT rights movement have been without Stonewall to get the ball rolling. Also contributory, the GLBT organization called ACT-UP was considered by many mainstream Gays as being too “militant” but they brought public awareness to the HIV/AIDS crisis in the 1980s in ways that the mainstream, Gay unfriendly, media would never willingly do. ACT-UP’s public acts of civil disobedience made people see the epidemic in ways that quiet talk behind closed doors could never accomplish. </p>
<p>We need a pro-active organization like that now to publicly demand our rights. Scream, shout, lie down in the streets and tie up traffic. Chain yourselves by the hundreds, all over the country, to the doors of Marriage License Bureaus if that’s what it takes to show we are serious. How can we expect other people to understand that Rights are not a gift to be bestowed or taken away by any benign or hostile majority. Equal Rights, just like every other American’s Rights, belong to us too at birth and cannot be taken away. </p>
<p>Now ask yourself this about our newly elected President, Ask yourself: if some other minority was the object of a hateful proposition that would have denied them equal citizenship, would Barrack Obama have been so silent on it? I think not. But see how easily he makes the transition from lofty platitudes and his glorious rhetoric of “inclusion” and “equality” to jumping aboard the hate-wagon rolling over our bodies and the bodies of those we love &#8212; that is, if that wagon just happens to be moving in the direction he wants to go. </p>
<p>And please don’t dredge up that tired old chestnut of “well, if he openly supported our rights, he wouldn’t win”. The fact of the matter is that Obama didn’t have to lock himself into the indefensible position of opposing our equality while supporting an apartheid system of laws created just for our management. He did not have to ride the wave of bigotry to election. </p>
<p>When asked about marriage equality, he could have simply said that the question should be left up to the states (a position I don’t agree with any more than interracial marriage should be allowed to just remain a state issue), never-the-less, he could have just left it at that. But no, he had to be over-emphatic in his denunciation of same-sex marriage equality at every opportunity. What kind of “friend” to our community is that? </p>
<p>Obama took tens of millions of dollars from us for his campaign and tens of millions of votes from us to further his ambitions and then he turns his back on us to let the wolves come together to rip us to shreds &#8212; many of whom were his strongest supporters, in his own race, who joined with the very same people they despised in the Republican party. All the while, Obama turned a blind eye to this blood-fest. Is that the kind of Messianic leader the GLBT community has been waiting for? If I where a religious person, I’d say it sounds more like the coming of the anti-Christ. </p>
<p>I did not vote for Obama. My Gay neighbor, at first, said that he would never vote for Obama either. But then, for whatever reason, he jumped on board the bandwagon. I suppose the high school football lure of being on the winning side is like an irresistible narcotic enticement too much for some people with weaker convictions to resist. It didn’t matter much though, because we both live in the Reddest of Red States &#8212; Kansas. So, a symbolic protest vote against Obama would not have altered the election one bit. </p>
<p>I may have even held my nose and voted for Obama if I lived in a Swing State because the thought of a malignant bigot being elected over a benign bigot would be too great a risk even for me to imagine. It is so tragic that we only have such unhealthy choices to make. It is really time we start looking for a viable third party, at least in Congress to start &#8212; the Presidency later. </p>
<p>If Joe Lieberman could control the agenda with just his one vote in the Senate, a third party of around ten percent of the members of Congress could give maximum representation to a minority such as ours. A third party would be a powerbroker and could caucus with either party for control of Congress and in setting political agenda on a quid pro quo basis. Coalitions could be formed and “orphan” legislation (that is legislation which no party wants to go out on the limb for alone) could be passed. </p>
<p>We owe nothing to the Democratic Party because they have (witness DOMA and DADT) given us nothing but betrayal or indifference in return. I really wanted to like Obama, but I don’t believe he has the courage to stick his neck out for us like President Johnson did for Black folk. I’d be pleasantly surprised if I am wrong. But I will not hold my breath until then.</p>
<p>(C) Bud Evans, 2008<br />
 <a href="http://rainfish2000.blogspot.com" rel="nofollow">http://rainfish2000.blogspot.com</a></p>
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		<title>By: Greer</title>
		<link>http://www.365gay.com/video/obama-defends-warren-choice/comment-page-4/#comment-37799</link>
		<dc:creator>Greer</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Sun, 04 Jan 2009 23:34:01 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.365gay.com/?p=4649#comment-37799</guid>
		<description>When did I say it wasn&#039;t a priority? It simply won&#039;t be at the very top of the list. I know this may be hard to understand, but there ARE other things going on in the US that needs urgent attention besides gay rights and the President&#039;s goal should always be first and foremost helping the American people as a whole. This means that the fight will fall back to us, like it always has, so in effect, we at most are no worse off than we&#039;ve ever been on that front.It&#039;s funny how he&#039;s somehow thrown us under the bus simply by allowing someone whose opinion is volatile towards us to be allowed to say a prayer at his inauguration.  Is Warren a bigot? Yes. Does that have anything to do with his prayer? Won&#039;t know till we&#039;ve heard it, but odds are we won&#039;t even hear the word &quot;queer&quot; come out of his mouth. Unless Warren&#039;s going to be up there bashing us to death at every opportunity, he should be able to speak there if Obama wants it without having to deal with flack for daring to be associated with people who aren&#039;t all gay-loving liberals. Save your indignation for when the man actually does something genuinely offensive. Also, The man never said he was a savior. That&#039;s an image pushed on him, ironically by the bitter Right that was angry Democrats finally had a charismatic candidate while there current one was a dud. He isn&#039;t even president yet. Wait till he does something that actually affects policy before you start finding reasons to get upset.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>When did I say it wasn&#8217;t a priority? It simply won&#8217;t be at the very top of the list. I know this may be hard to understand, but there ARE other things going on in the US that needs urgent attention besides gay rights and the President&#8217;s goal should always be first and foremost helping the American people as a whole. This means that the fight will fall back to us, like it always has, so in effect, we at most are no worse off than we&#8217;ve ever been on that front.It&#8217;s funny how he&#8217;s somehow thrown us under the bus simply by allowing someone whose opinion is volatile towards us to be allowed to say a prayer at his inauguration.  Is Warren a bigot? Yes. Does that have anything to do with his prayer? Won&#8217;t know till we&#8217;ve heard it, but odds are we won&#8217;t even hear the word &#8220;queer&#8221; come out of his mouth. Unless Warren&#8217;s going to be up there bashing us to death at every opportunity, he should be able to speak there if Obama wants it without having to deal with flack for daring to be associated with people who aren&#8217;t all gay-loving liberals. Save your indignation for when the man actually does something genuinely offensive. Also, The man never said he was a savior. That&#8217;s an image pushed on him, ironically by the bitter Right that was angry Democrats finally had a charismatic candidate while there current one was a dud. He isn&#8217;t even president yet. Wait till he does something that actually affects policy before you start finding reasons to get upset.</p>
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		<title>By: Trace</title>
		<link>http://www.365gay.com/video/obama-defends-warren-choice/comment-page-4/#comment-37798</link>
		<dc:creator>Trace</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Sun, 04 Jan 2009 23:08:59 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.365gay.com/?p=4649#comment-37798</guid>
		<description>In-equality and discrimination is not important enough to address and not a high priority.

Ahhh, so this is how the Obama-appologists are going to handle this Presidency.  

Saint Obama really does have some pull over people, don&#039;t he?</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>In-equality and discrimination is not important enough to address and not a high priority.</p>
<p>Ahhh, so this is how the Obama-appologists are going to handle this Presidency.  </p>
<p>Saint Obama really does have some pull over people, don&#8217;t he?</p>
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		<title>By: Greer</title>
		<link>http://www.365gay.com/video/obama-defends-warren-choice/comment-page-4/#comment-37797</link>
		<dc:creator>Greer</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Sun, 04 Jan 2009 22:39:56 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.365gay.com/?p=4649#comment-37797</guid>
		<description>While the choice offends me to soem extent, Obama cannot be another George Bush, meaning that he can&#039;t just pander to his party, doing whatever it takes to keep us happy. If he&#039;d picked a liberal pastor, he&#039;d be getting flack from the right for being partisan. The president is in a situation where he cannot please everyone, yet still has to look out for everyone. As far as pastors are concerned, he could have picked far worse and it&#039;s not as if this pick somehow makes the entire ceremony an anti-gay rally or something. I think people are too quick to condemn here. We have for more years ahead of us. Yes, we took a harsh blow this past election, but remember that Obama has a war, an international issue going on in Gaza, and an economic crisis, plus 300 million or so people to deal with. Gay rights simply isn&#039;t going to be a high priority on his &quot;to-do list&quot; and quite frankly I can understand why. We need to stabilize our country fiscally before we can worry about social and civil issues.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>While the choice offends me to soem extent, Obama cannot be another George Bush, meaning that he can&#8217;t just pander to his party, doing whatever it takes to keep us happy. If he&#8217;d picked a liberal pastor, he&#8217;d be getting flack from the right for being partisan. The president is in a situation where he cannot please everyone, yet still has to look out for everyone. As far as pastors are concerned, he could have picked far worse and it&#8217;s not as if this pick somehow makes the entire ceremony an anti-gay rally or something. I think people are too quick to condemn here. We have for more years ahead of us. Yes, we took a harsh blow this past election, but remember that Obama has a war, an international issue going on in Gaza, and an economic crisis, plus 300 million or so people to deal with. Gay rights simply isn&#8217;t going to be a high priority on his &#8220;to-do list&#8221; and quite frankly I can understand why. We need to stabilize our country fiscally before we can worry about social and civil issues.</p>
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