Essays: August 2005 Archives

I wouldn’t go as far as to say that Judge Roberts was a “gay rights champion”. I believe that groups that try to put Judge Roberts into a box and define him are looking at him in the wrong way. There is a great danger to placing judges into a box - almost as a way of telling them how they must rule, if we are to confirm them. Is that what we really want? Do we put such little faith into the ruling document of this county, the Constitution? If you have such little faith in the Constitution, you should read it again, or, for the first time if you’ve never read it.

Under the surface a rare firestorm of dissent is brewing within the Republican Party. To squelch the dissent, Republicans are spinning like mad to put to rest the notion, any notion, that John Roberts might be tolerant of Americans who are gay.

The Los Angles Times revealed last week that Supreme Court nominee Roberts once volunteered his time, pro bono, on behalf of gay rights in the case Romer v. Evans. As a partner in the law firm of Hogan & Hartson, Roberts helped prepare lawyers who successfully challenged a Colorado law that specifically exempted gays from state anti-discrimination measures. [...]

Thus, there is some evidence existing now that John Roberts does not harbor prejudice and bigotry against gay men and lesbians, as are the stated policies of the Bush administration and the current incarnation of the Republican Party.

The White House and its allies, shocked by the implications of moderation, set out on a quest that can only be defined in one way: To put to rest any doubt of Roberts tolerance, and prove that John Roberts is a bigot.

It is clear why the Republicans and their allies have begun a campaign to prove that John Roberts is an intolerant man. To a large extent, the conservative movement in this country has been tied to homophobia and bigotry. The “southern strategy” which is still alive, has morphed into an additional “gay bashing” strategy, and any threat to that strategy on the Supreme Court will anger and alienate their base. (source)

All of this is true. I listen to a multitude of news channels - yes, even Sean Hannity, to get a well rounded idea of the “buzz” out there. Let me tell you, Hannity is totally beside himself. Yesterday, he was talking about ways in the future to know for certain that a candidate is very very conservative and, which is more important, will STAY THAT WAY, and not become “more liberal”, over time.

The Republicans are on a dangerous course, and many of them now know this. This little piece of information on Judge Roberts has sent a shock through their conservative base that Judge Roberts might just be, heaven forbid, “tolerant”. What does that say about the Republican Party? That intolerance is now a “family value”?

They have enjoyed a lot of success at a great expense to gay and lesbian Americans. But you know what? We aren’t alone. Veterans have lost a great deal under this Administration. I know many people trying to change to different jobs in hopes of achieving a higher wage in a market that is somewhat stagnant. The list goes on and on, yet it’s falling on deaf ears with this Administration. We are at war, after all. And for a country at war, we are spending a great deal of money on... things - things we need - things we can’t do without. You know, all those things that somehow add up to billions and billions of dollars. Yet, we still see the need to strip away benefits from veterans.

In fact, the war is going so poorly, that even the President is losing support from the Republican base. And that is why no one is openly going out on a bashing party after Judge Roberts. This was their President’s nominee. With everything else going to Hell, how can they criticize the President on this? Not a good place to be in. Whether they like it or not (and they don’t), they are going to have to eat this nomination and let it go even though many of them now see Judge Roberts as a “moderate”.

A colleague of mine asked me yesterday my thoughts on Judge Roberts, given this new bit of information (his involvement in “the gay case”). My personal feelings (and it’s only my feeling), is that Judge Roberts is, on a personal level, not that friendly towards gay people or gay issues. Having said that, what I was really impressed with was his ability to clearly think through the issue and come up with a result that just may not be what he thinks personally. In other words, he was fair.

Isn’t that what we should be after?

Parents of fallen soldiers and war veterans stood with Ald. James Balcer Monday to publicly denounce the actions of an anti-gay, anti-American religious group that holds rallies at soldiers’ funerals.

Standing before the eternal flame in Daley Plaza, Balcer, who represents the 11th Ward, called the actions of members of Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan., hateful.

“We believe these protesters have stooped as low as possible,” he said. “Those who are protecting our nation provide the fundamental right of the 1st Amendment. But to protest at funerals is wrong.” (source)

He’s right, it is wrong and extremely disrespectful to picket and protest at anyone’s funeral. This is the same group that has been protesting at the funerals of gay men for years. It’s the same group who protested at Matthew Shepard’s funeral.

I agree with him, but you know what bothers me? It’s “ok” for them to picket the funerals of gay men, but when it’s a service man’s funeral they stage a protest at, suddenly, that’s not ok? Is that the logic? And, if they really believe that it’s wrong to picket the funeral of anyone, where the hell were they when the Westboro Baptist Church pulled this crap at Matthew’s funeral, along with hundreds of other gay men? Where was their collective voice then?

You’ll excuse me if I just can’t get too excited about this.

“We believe these protesters have stooped as low as possible.” Well, I thought that when they started picketing the funerals of gay men who had died of AIDS, but apparently, Ald. James Balcer, and I would suspect many others like him, didn’t think that was so bad.

Think of it this way. Thirty years ago, gay bashers were getting off with little more than a slap on the wrist. Police raided gay bars with impunity, all because the public didn’t really see anything wrong with the police roughing up some gays. It’s exactly the same thing here, all over again.

People are people - we are all the same. I’m sure it was very hurtful for Judy Shepard to see Fred Phelps outside the church where they were holding her son’s funeral holding a sign that read “Matt In Hell”. Who cared about that?

No one did, except for a few of Matthew’s friends, who put on sheets and dressed up as angels to hide the ugliness of Fred Phelps and his ilk, from those attending Matthew’s funeral. With out-reached arms, they surrounded Fred Phelps and his group, preventing anyone from seeing their hateful signs.

Pure class.

Hillary Clinton isn’t running for president, but her campaign already has started in New Hampshire.

A group, Hillary Now!, this week will run TV ads in Manchester, Concord, Portsmouth, Salem and Nashua, pushing the New York senator for president in 2008. The group has no official ties to Clinton’s office, but its president, Bob Kunst, of Miami Fla., said he is laying the foundation for her possible bid for the presidency.

“Hillary is the strongest Democrat. She’s the most popular woman in the country,” said Kunst, who believes the polarizing senator will attract votes from Republicans who are unhappy with the Bush administration.

“The party simply says, ‘Well, Hillary divisive, Hillary controversial.’ We say that is an asset, not a liability,” Kunst said. “Nobody gets attacked like her, but on the other hand nobody has the support like her.” (source)

I’m going to catch a lot of flack for this because as a gay American, I’m supposed to vote a certain way, but there’s just something about Hillary Clinton that I simply can’t stand (probably the same thing, if I can put my finger on it, that makes me dislike Diane Feinstein). Actually, I can be more specific. I don’t like the fact that she will try to appear to be one thing, then, when it suits her needs (wanting to actually get elected), she will try to move towards the right, to be more, shall we say, mainstream America.

She’s not fooling anyone and we (Democrats, although I’m not sure I’m still a Democrat) are simply deluding ourselves if we think that America is ready to elect a woman to be President. I’m sorry folks, but America has huge problems with bigotry, racism, and sexism. I hate to use the ISM’s thing, because I come off looking like this radical lefty who only cares about radical lefty issues, which isn’t true.

The truth is, we live in a country where it is totally acceptable that women, working in exactly the same jobs as men, collect 60 cents on the dollar for the SAME WORK that men collect! That’s just wrong. Yet, we boast that women have equality. We still haven’t accepted them as equals in the work place and still have this image of many women that their “place” in society is in the home being a “home maker”. There’s nothing wrong with that. But for many families today, who can afford that? When women do the same job as men, they should be paid the same wage.

So do we really think that a woman has a crack at being President? I don’t. Not the way things are now, anymore than I believe a black man or a gay man or a lesbian has a crack at being President - and let’s not even get into where transgendered people stand in this country.

The job of the President in 2005 America is the job of a rich, white, middle-aged man without a lot of past achievement (baggage) in his career. And if he does have baggage (running every company he’s ever run into the ground, just as an example), he’d better damn well have connections (having a father who was a past President, just as an example). That is reality.

If the Democrats have any hope of getting into the White House the next time around, they honestly need to get back into the real world, and pick a white, rich, male to run. John Edwards comes to mind. He’s not bad looking (we do love that, don’t we?), rich, has a sexy southern accent, and can look you right in the eye with a lot of charm, and lie his ass off to your face, making you feel that you are so very special to be in his company. That is the epitome of what we demand of our Presidents today. And hopefully, the candidate can form complete thoughts and share them with us without sounding like a complete moron, although, this is not a prerequisite.

Back to Hillary...

It’s funny that I came upon this “Hillary Now!” article, because a week or so ago, I received a request for money survey from the “Friends of Hillary” which, apparently I’m part of. The first section is “PART I: RANKING THE ISSUES”. This is what the survey said:

1) Please rank the following issues in their order of importance to you by placing a number in each box:
Economy/Jobs
Environment
Social Security/Medicare
Education
Homeland Security
Health Care
Tax Cuts
Reproductive Rights
Separation of Church and State

That was all. I wrote a big note in that section, since she wanted my input, and said, “Where is gay marriage? I’ve been with my partner for 30 years!!! I will not vote for a candidate who will not vote for us. That may mean the Democratic Party will lose my vote. After listening to Al Gore endorse second-class status to gay Americans with ‘civil unions’, I vowed that I would never again give my vote to anyone who doesn’t support our equality.”

If we’d all take a stand like that, perhaps things would change. Oh and by the way, next to the little check boxes where you check how much money you will be sending, I paraphrased what Joan Crawford told her daughter and later told the board of Pepsi Cola (watch Mommie Dearest for details!) when asked for money. I said, “Not a cent, until you come out PUBLICLY and show your support for TOTAL equality for ALL CITIZENS (that means marriage equality as well).”

Status quo is no longer good enough for this American. It shouldn’t be for you either. Think about it.

And if you start getting down about the war in Iraq, just remember the time-honored words from our fearless leader (who still hasn’t sent his daughters to help fight the war in Iraq that he believes in so damn much)...

If that doesn’t get you through your day, I don’t know what will.