The Republic of T.

One breakout session at the Take Back the American Dream conference in Washington, DC, October 3-4, addresses an issue that has major implications for the progressive agenda in 2012 and beyond: "Voter Suppression and the 2012 Election: The Civil Rights Movement to Take Back the Right to Vote." In dozens of states, Republicans are aiming to restrict or take away the voting rights of core constituencies of the Democratic party.

When the tea party shouts their desire to take "their country" back, make no mistake the first thing they want to take back is the right to vote. They don’t just want to take it back. They want to transform it, again.

(more…)

A while back, I wrote a blog post about the price of forcing people to be stay in the closet.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. The combination of homophobia and the closet produces a lot of twisted people, including some who internalize the belief in their own inferiority and unworthiness…

This video, made possible by the end of "Don’t Ask Don’t Tell," is great example of the other side of that equation.

(more…)

An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.

~ Martin Luther King Jr.

I wrote earlier today that from his mountaintop Martin Luther King Jr. saw the "promised land" he envisioned. He saw the mountains we would have to cross together, and the mountains we would have to climb together in order to reach it. He saw a future in which all are judged by the content of their character. He saw a future in which "all labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance," and laborers are afforded their dignity. He saw a future in which "we rise above the narrow confines of our individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity."

Dr. King saw that future and told us we would get there, though it would have to be without him. He believed we have it in us to get there. With 1,000 We Are One events taking place worldwide, it looks like we are beginning to believe it ourselves.

(more…)

I think Ezra got it about right, re: NPR’s decision to fire Juan Williams, following his “Muslim=Terrorist” remarks on Fox News. It may have been that NPR was looking for a reason to fire Williams, and he gave it to them. They, however, acted too drastically and too quickly. As Ezra said, if NPR wanted to fire Williams the best option would be to simply wait out his contract and quietly declined to renew. Maybe people would have questioned whether it was his remarks to O’Reilly that put him over the top, but NPR could have simply declined to comment. (Heck, they wouldn’t even have to tell Williams himself.)

And, no, I don’t buy Williams claim that NPR’s decision is a “chilling assault on free speech.” I say the same thing to Williams I said to Dr. Laura.

(more…)

I know there are differences on same-sex marriage, but surely we can agree that our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters deserve to visit the person they love in the hospital and to live lives free of discrimination.

Barack Obama, August 8, 2008 – Denver, Colorado

There are, I have been reminded throughout the marriage equality debate, limits to what what president can do. A president can’t simply make marriage equality a reality by edict. Nor can a president ban or prohibit marriage equality by declaration. Of course, I’ve never argued that a president could or should be able to do either.

But, there are and have always been things that a president could do, if so inclined, that would move the issue forward in a way that could make a real difference in the lives of many Americans, and open the minds of many more — by stroke of the pen or use of the “bully pulpit” that comes with the office. I have just been waiting for a president who could.

And finally, one did. That’s the only way I can think of to describe Obama’s move to stop hospitals from denying visitation to same-sex partners.

(more…)

We entered a truly surreal political realm during the presidential election, when it fell to Peggy Noonan to serve as a voice of reason among conservatives. That job has since transferred to Dan Quayle, with Tom Coburn stepping into the role of “Reasonable Republican.”

And in the latest development, Virginia — after electing Rob McDonnel governor and Ken Cucinelli state attorney general — has been serving up doses of reality to conservatives. The evidence is McDonnell’s high profile “mulligans” or “do-overs,” before he’s even had the time to wear a decent grove in the governors’ seat.

(more…)

I plan on getting back to the series I started last week, but I couldn’t wait to share this parody PSA starring Will Ferrell and others.

(more…)

It was quiet this morning, when I sat down to read the news, after seeing the rest of my family out the door. It was quiet this morning when I read about the passing of Senator Ted Kennedy.

(more…)

One of the major lasting effects of hate crimes is the fear that they spread through the community at which they’re directed. In many ways, that’s the intended outcome: to make people afraid to do that which they have every right to do and every right to expect to be safe in doing.

There’s a ripple that spreads through a community that’s just experienced a hate crime. For one, people see themselves in the victim, and see their everyday actions reflected in the story of the victim’s activities just prior to being attacked. We say to ourselves “I walk down that street just about every night, on my way home,” or “I love that bar! I go there two or three times a week.” And, seeing how vulnerable the victim was in the same circumstances, we change our routine. We take walk a different route home. We decide not to go to that particular bar tonight.

(more…)

I’ve always been a fan of long engagements. Even before I met the hubby, I had a strict rule that I imposed on myself while dating: No matter how much I liked the guy, how great he was, etc., we had to be dating for at least a year before there could be any talk of even thinking about moving in together. I guess I’d see too many friends end up “married by the second date,” only then to learn the things they didn’t have time to learn about their sweethearts before signing a lease or mortgage together.

Messy, complicated break-ups then followed, bookended by periods of depression, anger, frustration, etc. I figured I preferred being a lonely bachelor to having to extricate myself from something I wouldn’t have gotten into in the first place if I’d taken the time to check it out. I applied that rule in the two years of dating before I met my husband, and it probably saved me getting involved with guys that I wasn’t all that compatible with. So, when I met him, I was unattached, not on the “rebound,” and ready.

The way I see it, the more time you have to be sure of what you’re getting into before the better off you’ll be after you commit. I thought of that when I saw this story about California gay groups postponing a challenge to Prop 8.

(more…)

I was going to add this to a daily digest post. But I don’t know that many people read those, and I don’t want people to miss this

School will soon start again, and countless LGBT youth will return to classrooms all over the country. Some will return to schools where they find support and protection from harassment — where administrators and teachers work together to ensure a safe learning environment to all students.

Some won’t.
(more…)

Henry Louis Gates and I are very different people. He is a Harvard Professor. The closest I got to the Ivy League was a weekend visit to Yale. He is a successful author. I am a blogger whose aspirations may outstrip his abilities. He is world renowned. I am, well, not. He is, most definitely, far more knowledgeable about a great many things than I am. Of that I’m sure.

However, we have two things in common. We are both black men. As such, though he’s a college professor and I’m long out of college, we are both perpetually enrolled in the same course.

It’s called Black Man – 101.

(more…)

For … well … nothing.  On the one hand, it’s great to hear that Bill Clinton backs same-sex marriage.

After speaking at the Campus Progress National Conference in Washington, DC, on July 8, the former president was asked if he supported same-sex marriage. Clinton, in a departure from past statements, replied in the affirmative.

Clinton opposed same-sex marriage during his presidency, and in 1996, he signed the Defense of Marriage Act, which limited federal recognition of marriage to one man and one woman. In May of this year, Clinton told a crowd at Toronto’s Convention Centre that his position on same-sex marriage was “evolving.”

Apparently, Clinton’s thinking has now further evolved. Asked if he would commit his support for same-sex marriage, Clinton responded, “I’m basically in support.”

… Asked if he personally supported same-sex marriage, Clinton replied, “Yeah.” “I personally support people doing what they want to do,” Clinton said. “I think it’s wrong for someone to stop someone else from doing that [same-sex marriage].”

On the other hand…

(more…)

I don’t know if you’re watching the Sotomayor confirmation hearings, but we have them on in the office. I’d just finished listening to judge Sotomayor being grilled about the "wise Latina" quote, when I read probably the best summation of the whole circus, by Eugene Robinson.

The only real suspense in the confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor is whether the Republican Party will persist in tying its fortunes to an anachronistic claim of white male exceptionalism and privilege.

Republicans’ outrage, both real and feigned, at Sotomayor’s musings about how her identity as a "wise Latina" might affect her judicial decisions is based on a flawed assumption: that whiteness and maleness are not themselves facets of a distinct identity. Being white and male is seen instead as a neutral condition, the natural order of things. Any "identity" — black, brown, female, gay, whatever — has to be judged against this supposedly "objective" standard.

Thus it is irrelevant if Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. talks about the impact of his background as the son of Italian immigrants on his rulings — as he did at his confirmation hearings — but unforgivable for Sotomayor to mention that her Puerto Rican family history might be relevant to her work. Thus it is possible for Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) to say with a straight face that heritage and experience can have no bearing on a judge’s work, as he posited in his opening remarks yesterday, apparently believing that the white male justices he has voted to confirm were somehow devoid of heritage and bereft of experience.

Of course that’s the standard by which the rest of us are measured. That’s why Obama’s "empathy" remark gave conservatives the vapors. (I’ll have more on that later.) At the time I remember saying that it seemed like only when a person of color was up for such a position were they required to set aside the background and experience, and swear that neither would in any way inform their rulings, policies, etc.

But, about Jefferson Beauregard Sessions. Have you met him yet? You should.

(more…)

I don’t have time to write this up in the kind of detail I would like, and I’m sure somebody somewhere has probably covered all the bases. (For what it’s worth, I did my bit here. The Washington Blade has local coverage about the opposition, and new D.C. “resident” Henry Jackson’s dishonest attempt to claim D.C. residency in order to stop the law from taking effect, and ) But this item from the Washington City Paper is good news.

If you’re a same-sex couple married legally in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Iowa, California (in the months it was permitted), or in other countries, congratulations: The District of Columbia now considers you to be married, too.

At this minute, a 30-day congressional review period has expired, and you’re now free to enjoy all the rights and responsibilities of civil marriage in the District. (That includes divorce, incidentally.)

…Now look for the real fight to begin—over performing same-sex marriages in the District. At-Large Councilmember David Catania is all but certain to introduce a bill permitting that in the fall; opponents are likely to pursue a ballot initiative, which will end up being adjudicated by the D.C. Court of Appeals.

(more…)

Friends will let you down
Friends won’t be around
When you need them most
Where are your friends?

Friends are hard to find
Friends, yours and mine
Im talking ’bout your friends

Jody Watley ~ “Friends”

No, not me. I’m not sure I could defend the Obama administration’s defense of the Defense of Marriage Act , even if I wanted to. However, Chris Crain — a blogger whose writing and thinking I respect even when I disagree — does so.

But he does so in a way that leaves me with more questions than answers.

(more…)

Lately, I’ve become interested in timelines, and their usefulness in helping to create a kind of narrative. So, when I saw the AP list of abortion-related violence, after Dr. Tiller’s murder, I thought it would make a good timeline.

But then it seemed to be missing something.

(more…)

I’ve been working on a post about the murder of Dr. George Tiller for most of the week, and since it isn’t a four-paragraphs-a-link-and-a-blockquote kind of post, it’s taken that long. Then in the middle of it, the shooting at the Holocaust Museum here in D.C. happens. And my thoughts turn to the connections between the two. At least, as I see them.

I’ll finish up that post, including the Holocaust shooting, on Monday. But in the meantime, while researching stuff for that post, I came across this CNN article about hate groups being "riled up" these days, and something in it sounded familiar.

President Obama’s election has been a huge issue with white supremacist groups, in part because he represents in their minds a demographic shift in which the white majority in the United States is becoming slimmer, Levin added.

"Interracial marriage and interracial children are the worst thing in their world, so [the demographic shift] is a big deal for them," Levin said.

Popular opinion surveys indicate the United States is less racist than it was 20 years ago, and social change in this and other areas, including issues relating to gender and sexual orientation, have "radically changed what our culture looks like in a short period of time," Blazak said.

"If you’re not on board with the social change, then you’re increasingly alienated," Blazak said. "A lot of the hate movement is about slowing history down or turning it back."

Well, yeah. I have unwritten blog post in my brain about the economy and the changing demographics of the country, and how they played out before the election and will continue to play out during the Obama administration. It will probably stay unwritten, because I’m sure somebody else has written it already.

But the above reminded me of something I wrote after the VA Tech shooting.

I’ve joked, on occasion, that the great complaint of the last 20 years or so of American politics boils down to the reality that being white, male, and heterosexual (throw in Christian or Protestant here, too, if you like) just doesn’t come with as many privileges it used to. If I were to make a sweeping generalization, I’d say that a good bit of conservative politics these days, boiled down to gravy, adds up to not much more than that.

And this.

Think about where we are now and how far from the birth of this country, when its promises were reserved for a narrow portion of its population. Yet, its principles provided the basis for ever progressive movement that had as its goal the extension of those promises to the full spectrum of the population.

And yes, they were progressive movements. By the very nature of their work, they could hardly be otherwise.

pro-gres-sive
/prəˈgrɛsɪv/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [pruh-gres-iv] Show IPA Pronunciation
–adjective
1.     favoring or advocating progress, change, improvement, or reform, as opposed to wishing to maintain things as they are, esp. in political matters

From the abolitionists movement, to the labor movement, to the suffragists movement, to the civil rights movement, to the feminist movement, to the LGBT movement; every progressive movement that has advocated for change “as opposed to wishing to maintain things as they are.”

They were and are driven by individuals lending their strength and their hearts to bending the arc of the universe towards justice, because they are comprised of people for whom the status quo is the opposite of justice and people for whom injustice — even though visited upon others, and even though it afforded them some privileges — is intolerable.

And in each case they were opposed by people for whom the status quo and its injustices were and had to be the natural order. People who were (and yes, I love to pick on this quote) standing athwart history yelling “Stop!”

They were yelling “Stop!” as every progressive movement above marched forward, pushing the envelope of change and expanding the the qualifications for full citizenship in this country and full membership in the human family. They were yelling “Stop!” as every one of those movements marched passed them towards freedom, enfranchisement, and equality.

They are still yelling. And we are passing them by, on our way to the same destinations. We may not all  have reached all of them yet, but we’re closer than we were, and some of them are already in sight.

They’re still yelling "Stop!" alright. And sometimes "Stop, or I’ll shoot!" Even that’s not new. They’ve done it before. Von Brunn was yelling "Stop!" George Tiller’s murderer was yelling "Stop!" Jim Adkisson was yelling "Stop!"

They will keep yelling "Stop!" because we are are passing them by. They will keep yelling "Stop!", but we can’t stop and they (apparently) can’t come with us. What they can’t "Stop!" through legitimate means, they will attempt to "Stop!" through terror and fear.

They always have. But they’ve always failed in the long run, because … well, look at where we are now compared to where we were on gender equality, racial equality, and LGBT equality before.

And they’re still with us, yelling "Stop!"

So, do they come with us whether they want to or not? Or do they self-destruct?

In other words, if we don’t "Stop!", do we take them with us or do they self-destruct and take us with them?

Again, look at where we are. If they’re still yelling "Stop!", that means we’ve made progress. We haven’t stopped and they haven’t stopped us. But they’re still yelling "Stop!"

And they’ll yell louder as we get close to our destination.

With all due respect to Cleve Jones — who, in fact, is due a lot of respect for his years of activism — we do not need another LGBT march on Washington.

An activist who worked alongside slain gay rights leader Harvey Milk announced plans Sunday for a march on Washington this fall to demand that Congress establish equality and marriage rights for the lesbian, gay and transgender community.

Cleve Jones, whose character in last year’s award-winning movie Milk was played by Emile Hirsch, said the march planned for Oct. 11 will coincide with National Coming Out Day and launch a new chapter in the gay rights movement. He made the announcement during a rally at the annual Utah Pride Festival.

In an interview Friday, Jones said a confluence of events — a new president, the success of Milk which earned Sean Penn an Oscar, and Proposition 8 — makes this the right time to intensify the fight for equality.

“All of this working together has opened this new chapter,” Jones said. “I intend to make the most of it.”

As usual, I’m late to this story. I read it late last night, but at this point in my life, writing/blogging is near the bottom of my list. It comes after everything and everyone else. So by the time I get around to blogging a story like this one, it’s already been beat to death and much of what I’m going to say has been said already.

Nonetheless, I’ll say now what I said last night. We don’t need another march on Washington. Not now. Maybe when we have a victory to celebrate, but not when we have so much work to do.

(more…)

iv

You know my friends, there comes a time when people get tired of being trampled by the iron feet of oppression … If we are wrong, the Supreme Court of this nation is wrong. If we are wrong, the Constitution of the United States is wrong. And if we are wrong, God Almighty is wrong. If we are wrong, Jesus of Nazareth was merely a utopian dreamer that never came down to Earth. If we are wrong, justice is a lie, love has no meaning.

~ Martin Luther King Jr.

Obama and other Democrats have not said as much to LGBT activists. In fact, their actions could be interpreted to say “Please, don’t make me do it now.” As my own exchange with Pelosi suggests, Democrats seem to be taking the “rising tide” approach. Fixing the economy can help same-sex households in the same way it can hep the rest of the country. Universal health care — if it includes the kind of public plan Obama ran on — helps same-sex couples and their families by divorcing health insurance from both employment status and marital status.

Health care reform could certainly remove obstacles to health insurance for gay couples.

(more…)