Our Sheepish Leader
It’s wrong to have millions of Americans living as second-class citizens in this nation. And I ask for your support in this election so that together we can bring about real change for all LGBT Americans. I will never compromise on my commitment to equal rights for all LGBT Americans. As your President, I will use the bully pulpit to urge states to treat same-sex couples with full equality in their family and adoption laws. I support the complete repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). Federal law should not discriminate in any way against gay and lesbian couples, which is precisely what DOMA does. Americans are yearning for leadership that can empower us to reach for what we know is possible. I believe that we can achieve the goal of full equality for the millions of LGBT people in this country. To do that, we need leadership that can appeal to the best parts of the human spirit. Join with me, and I will provide that leadership. Together, we will achieve real equality for all Americans, gay and straight alike.
– Barack Obama, Feb 2008
I think we can all now agree that gays made a HUGE MISTAKE in voting for Obama. He has shown no propensity for CHANGE with regard to gay rights. If you look at Hillary Clinton's recent actions, Obama looks like a dick in comparison.
As this administration habitually ducks questions about Don't Ask, Don't Tell, it is very apparent that Obama is content with keeping us gays as second class citizens. I regret voting for Obama. It was a HUGE mistake. Through actions made so far in 2009, Hillary was clearly the better choice to be President.
posted by Brettcajun at Tuesday, May 26, 2009
35 Comments:
My thought is that he was given a "free ride" and not really challenged with questions during the campaign, both before and after nomination. Did anyone ask about DADT? SSM? DOMA? Just because someone has a (D) after their name does not automatically mean that you are on the same sides. Me, I did not vote for him, and I have many friends that want to revoke my "Q Card" for this. They all were convinced that he was the "gay candidate". Me, I was trying to figure out other things about him and never came up with compelling reasons...and I do not like Kool-Aid either.
On the other hand, it is still early in the administration. Things could change.
I'm lost. What were your options? McCain/Palin?
As upset as I am about Obama's silence. Hillary lost the primary fair and square. So what would you do? Not vote? That's seems like a really bad idea too.
So really, there was no choice after the primaries.
It would do us better to hold him to his words. And when he starts asking for donations for charities, and to sacrafice for the economy.
Ask him to keep his word first.
But walking around saying "I told you so" is so unacceptable.
I think there is a lot of disappointment with Obama, not just in the LGBT community, but in the Peace community as well. He's just not changing enough fast enough.
I hate to say this, but there is very little substantive difference at this point between an Obama Presidency and a McCain Presidency. It's very disappointing.
Is this one of many of your "I told you so post", if so I think you really need to do your homework in regards to the flow of information from The White House to the State Department. Every State Department decision is made at the White House and carried out by Hillary Clinton as part of the Obama Admninistration. Hillary Clinton does not work separately or independently of the White House.
What really bothers me about people of your ilk is that you're all about the "OUTRAGE OF THE MOMENT" and how a magic wand has not been swung over every gay issue and made right instantly. I bet you couldn't list 5 gay issues that every gay person agrees.
You've spent the better part of Obama's 4 1/2 months in office dedicating post after post to your physical appearence and your social life. Where was your social commentary on gay issues? Where was your petition and links to gay rights organizations rallying for the hate crime law passage and marriage equality?
Stop spending so much time with your shirt off and smiling for the camera and start being more socially conscience about gay issues on a local, state and national level.
Blaming your errant vote on Obama only makes you look silly in the grand scheme of things. If the Obama Administration took credit for all the progress and hard work that has taken place at the grassroot levels with the passage of marriage equality in Iowa, Connecticut, Maine, Washington DC. and New Hampshire, gay organizations and supporters would be losing their fucking minds. You would be screaming that the credit should go to the people on the street doing the tough work instead of the Obama Administration.
I bet you have not written one email or letter to your representatives in congress about gay issues.
Bitching about dissappointment hasn't gotten the gay community anywhere. If you stop and survey the landscape and see what the gay communities in Iowa did on THEIR OWN, you would have a different perspective. The gay communities in Iowa and other states didn't wait for change or help from national gay organizations or the Obama administration, they stood up on their own and made change themselves!
And you're other choice would be?
Dude, it's been 5 FRIGGIN' MONTHS since he took the oath. I have no problem with the President of the United States taking a little bit of time, to study how TO DO THINGS RIGHT.
One can let the Democan'ts in Congress know they need to understand they won, stop being big pussies every time a Rethuglican opens their ignorant mouth, and quit worrying about the next election.
President Obama is doing his job - the Congress-critters aren't. THAT should be the real target of your ire.
"Very little substantive difference at this point between an Obama Presidency and a McCain Presidency." Give me a break. Who do you think McCain would be appointing to the Supreme Court right now? Thank God we have Obama in the White House.
Please. Did you really expect ANY newly inaugurated president to change the way our society sees/treats the LGBT community in five months? You are quite deluded. This being said from someone who was an ardent Hillary Clinton supporter in the beginning. But I highly doubt that she would have accomplished or said - or certainly accomplished - anything so very different in this amount of time.
And I'll second mikeinbama's post. For all of your indignation and outrage, what have YOU done for the gay rights cause? It's oh so convenitnet to piss and moan about what other people aren't doing for you.
Maybe you have done amazing things to help us all out. But it isn't apparent on your blog. Posing with your shirt off doen't do shit. But if you're fighting the good fight somewhere other than here, keeping it secret, and then whining over and over in this forum - I call bullshit. Unless you're part of the solution, you're part of the problem. Grow up.
What in the FUCK does me having a shirtless pic on my blog every once in a while have to do with this topic?!
Some of you guys need to stop being pussies and demand more of your elected leaders. You are letting them walk all over you. Grow a fucking a spine!
And for what I have done for the gay community...
(1) I have contributed to Hillary Clinton's campaign because she is a champion of gay rights.
(2) I donate a significant amount of money to various aids charities
(3) My blog helps others who are in the closet realize it is "OKAY TO BE GAY". I get emails all the time thanking me for helping others come to terms with their sexuality. Many have stated that they have contemplated suicide, but my blog somehow gives them hope and helps them get through life.
As an Australian I don't get the opportunity to vote for the US president (obviously) but I had pinned my hopes on Obama. I'm a little disappointed that he hasn't done more for gay rights, his example would help to set the tone for the rest of the Western world. I can only hope he's been delayed by the financial restructuring he seems to be doing for the likes of GM and Chrysler (and yes, I'm aware that's not his only task) and that he'll get right back to his initial promises as soon as he can.
I don't think that Obama was a bad choice, in fact he's probably a damn good one, but it'll take a little more time to see the benefit of his work.
Besides all that Brett, don't stop doing what you're doing - You are firm in your beliefs, and as a strong member of the gay community you're probably doing more than a vast majority of people out there. Keep up the good work.
"I donate a significant amount of money to various aids charities" - HILARIOUS! Sorry, but buying Treasure Island Media DVDs does not count.
Look at what you did by stirring the pot up lol. I wouldn't jump off the Obama-wagon just yet. As everybody on here has already pointed out, he's only been in office for 5 months. This should not and can not be indicative of his administration nor his future plans.
Look at the progress he's already made in his first few months of office than what the previous administration has done.
However, the personal attacks about what you do on your own blog is inappropriate and should be checked at the door. Just keep being yourself bro!
Brett: do not let them get to you...hang in there. The militant gay crowd backed BO to the hilt. They have a vested interest. When he looks bad, they look bad. And this thought "....well, wtf...you have nowhere else to go bub, so suck it up and toe the line" ....this is the gay "leaders" mantra.
Brett,
I made my comment because it seems you only post about the "hot topic issues" when a ruling or decision has been made public and others are equally outraged. Where's all this passion at the beginning stages of any gay issue?
So far this year:
7 shirtless photos
0 post about gay marriage equality or hate crime legislation.
1 post remembering gay activist Ryan White.
1 post about the press playing the fear card.
1 post about white house professionalism.
Where is your spine when it comes to holding elected officials accountable? Because for some reason, the post are missing from your blog?
Hell, Mike, it is May 26th. Are you telling me I have only posted SEVEN shirtless pics in 6 months? That is shockingly low. (for me) I bet Kelly Stern has already done 60 shirtless pics so far this year. LOL.
For the record, you do countless more pics of shirtless/half naked guys on your own site. At least my shirtless pics are of me.
And FYI -- my blog posts are mostly about my life and sometimes about topics I feel strongly about. If you check last year, I had a TON of political posts in the run up before the election and some sports related posts for my lesbian readers.
Brett,
You know I love you, so get more shirtless photos of yourself on your blog.....LOL
I am glad to see you enjoy Tucson. I am a desert rat from Yuma az. My Mom and sis lived in Tucson for 25yrs. They are now gone. I have great memories of Arizona, it is a beautiful stste. Hollywwod has been my home for 40yrs, but I will always be a desert rat. Mike, studio city ca
That is so funny- I always pay the price of holy hell for bringing up politics with other gay guys. It's nice to see somebody else jumping into the flames with me. As for Obama, although I was a Hilary supporter during the primaries, I have come to respect him more and more as time goes by. I haven't given up hope on him based on his performance on gay rights over his first four months in office. On day one, he was handed the worst economic crisis seen since the Great Depression, two wars, a failing energy policy, a failing healthcare system , and a bunch of other “death of a thousand needles” problems that have no neat, clean solution, like the closure of Guantanamo. If people are mad at him because of the way the Calif courts came down on gay marriage today, I think that's displaced anger. The gay rights activists per my emails had given up that battle months ago when they started asking for more money to get an initiative on the 2010 ballet to overturn prop 8. I just don't think there's much Obama could have done to affect the outcome of the CA courts, and may well have thought it not a good idea to redirect the attention away from the issues he has had to deal will (economic crisis, wars, etc) to influence the outcome of a state court. I'm watching him closely though, and won't hesitate to make some noise where I can down the road to move our rights forward. p.s. Love the shirtless pictures.
DanH
How about some pantless pics?
I didn't vote for Obama in November, but I would today. However, for you youngsters, when Clinton took office in 1993 he brought up the gay military issue right away.
(And what's up with people telling you what to put on your own blog?)
I want to see more pictures of chickens.
I'm watching the commentators on Fox gnash their teeth about how horrible President Obama's Supreme Court nominee is.
He must be doing SOMETHING right, Brett.
This is my problem with you at times, Brett... instead of a calm, deliberate, thought - filled post about your disappointment with the President you post an whiny, emotional temper tantrum.
Politics is a complicated, nuanced ( at times, ugly ) business. You can't seem to understand nuance ( or patience) Like a child who wants his ice cream cone NOW you stomp your feet and fold your arms and hold your breath.
What would your emotions be today if the commentators on Fox were gleefully masturbating over President McCain's Supreme Court nominee ???
Put more actual THOUGHT into your posts instead of childish tantrum.
While I am disappointed in Obama's lack of action so far on DADT, I remind myself that he's only been in office 4 months, and has had directly in front of him the formidable task of trying to keep our entire economy from collapsing. Let's give him some more time to make good on his promises.
I'm with you Brett, except you at least gave Obama a chance. I've known Obama was fraud since I layed eyes on him. The media is having a love affair with him. This was the first election in 32 years that I didn't vote. The man is dangerous and I will die of thirst before I drink the kool-aid. As for your blog, write whatever the hell you want to... it's YOUR blog. (you can show whatever you want also!)I think It's great. My mornings start out every day with coffee, and your blog!
I voted for Cynthia McKinney, the Green Party candidate, because Obama was as big of a coward on gay issues as all of the other Democrats. (And because he seemed to be too beholden to corporations, something that's also proven true with the trillion-dollar giveaways to the banksters.) He once taught Constitutional law, yet he brazenly sucked up to the Christianists before the election by throwing out this line of anti-separation-of-church-and-state bullshit: "I believe that marriage is a union between a man and a woman. Now, for me as a Christian, it is also a sacred union. God's in the mix." He said he thought his RELIGIOUS beliefs should prevent the recognition of CIVIL marriages between two gay men or two lesbians. Now I'm pretty sure he knows that's not how things are supposed to work in this country, but that's what he said in order to try to get some more wingnuts to vote for him (which didn't happen) even if it meant treating us queers like second-class citizens who aren't worthy of his "sacred" institution. Obama and the other yellow-bellied, sellout Dems will never do the right thing on GLBT rights or the economy or the never-fucking-ending Iraq War or anything else unless we hold their feet to the fire and say, "We're tired of voting for the lesser of two evils, and we refuse to be scapegoated."
1) I'm disappointed that you haven't posted more shirtless pics! Shame, shame, shame on you! Just for that you will have to come to Houston and clean my house in the nude.
2) Dude...it's your blog. Post whatever you want and if people don't want to read it so be it.
3) You know that in the primaries I never hung my Gay Rainbow Pride flag on Obama's wagon. I was a Hillarista. It wasn't a gay thing this election. At least I knew with her she would court us, pay us lip service, and smile at us. I wasn't expecting anything from her to change my gay world so I looked at the other issues and figured she was the better choice.
Brett,
1. I, for one, don't care if you post shirtless pics or not on here; it's not relevant per se, *if* your actions with regard to gay issues back up your words. Otherwise, it's relevant as an indicator of what's really important to you.
Yes, you can post whatever you want on the blog. It's your choice. But having made that choice, you can't then expect people not to evaluate that choice and form an opinion of you based on the persona you display.
2. I'm sure you're upset about the California decision. Please understand that in the system of government we have, the President of the United States has *no* authority, whatsoever, to intervene in the decision-making process of the California Supreme Court. That court is the ultimate authority on what the *state* Constitution of California says and what it means. Incidentally, while I strongly deplore the voters' actions in approving Proposition 8 last fall, I have to (grudgingly) approve the reasoning of the California Supreme Court: nothing elsewhere in that constitution does it say that the people may not do what they did.
3. Like most gay men, you assume that throwing some money at a presidential campaign, tipping the strippers and drag queens at an AIDS benefit, paying for overpriced circuit party tickets, and the like are enough to clear your conscience on gay political involvement. MOST battles the gay community is fighting are being waged on the state and local level; how many times in the last ten or fifteen years have you contacted your state senator or representative on a bill at the legislature here? Have you told any of them that their vote on X or Y or Z will determine whether or not you vote to re-elect him? Do you realize that $100 is immaterial in a presidential campaign, but could actually be a significant contribution in a legislative race?
Right now, at the Louisiana capitol, a bill is barreling through the process which would block the ability of the registrar of vital records to list two same-sex persons who jointly adopt a child as the parents of that child on the birth certificate - all because some dickwad civil servant was offended that two men adopted a baby from Shreveport. The parents already are finding problems getting the baby on one parent's health insurance, they get hassled when traveling; they got a federal judge to order the state to issue the corrected birth certificate, and the state is STILL fighting and trying to block him by passing this state law. Did you even KNOW this was going on? Hell, do you even know who your state senator and representative ARE?
Maybe Clinton would have made a better president, maybe not. She screwed up her campaign, she lost, it's over. Obama is still light years better than McCain on almost any issue of relevance to gay people and (in my opinion) is far better than McCain on most issues, period. On that last point, some may disagree, and that's fair, but not on the gay-specific issues; anyone who thinks McCain would have done anything for gay people specifically (as opposed to TO gay people specifically) is delusional.
The one thing I'll give you a pass on is the voting: frankly, it wouldn't have mattered whether you voted for Obama or not in this state, because McCain was pretty much destined to win big here.
But as for being politically involved? Please. When you've called Jody Amedee and Eddie Labmert and told them your opinion on what they're voting on - and asked them to vote for or against key bills here - THEN you can say you're politically involved. But that's not as much fun as the Halloween Party, is it?
I have personally written both Billy Tauzin when he was our state representative (before he becoming a pharma lobbying whore) and Senator David Vitter. Both time were related to their anti-gay positions.
Billy Tauzin was not a state representative; he was a U.S. representative from the state of Louisiana. David Vitter is a U.S. Senator. You've missed the point: Congress (where Tauzin and Vitter serve(d)) is not where you can expect to have any impact. It's at the state and local level.
There are about 600,000 people in a U.S. representative district; over 4 million in the state. But there are only about 40,000 people in your state House district, of which about half vote and of which perhaps 200 ever contact their representative on an issue. THERE, your voice can and will be heard. THERE, your representative will know he doesn't represent an all-straight, all-fundamentalist, all-conservative district, IF he hears from you.
And as I say, that's where the action is. Congress takes up maybe one gay-related bill every three or four years. Your state legislature deals with half a dozen or more every session. It's not as glamorous as shoving singles and fives into a g-string, granted.
But as a wise man said, you aren't politically active unless the politicians know who you are. You're one faceless letter-writer to a Tauzin or Vitter. You're an identifiable, voting constituent to your state rep. And the fact that you couldn't distinguish between your U.S. representative and your legislative one tells me how involved you are in politics.
Kevin:
DON'T BE A DICK. I know Billy Tauzin served in the U.S. House of Representatives for Louisiana!!! What I meant to write in my comment was a representative for our state in the U.S. House. Sorry I wasn't clear.
snore...zzzzz, snore...zzzz
Kevin M: I Love You! I've finally found someone who thoroughly & completely understands politics.
I don't know... as frustrated as I am, its only been 4 months. And certainly has plenty of huge issues to tend to. But he could at least issue some statements of support.
So Obama is not keeping promises and in many cases reversing his pre-election stance. Some of you are surprised???
Politicians tell you what you need to hear to get elected and then once in office they conform to the machine that is in operation.
Obama could strike down DADT with an executive order, but he wants to hide behind congress and delay or even ignore the issue. Meanwhile, gay and lesbian service members are being removed from the military -
I did not vote for the Obama and I am hoping he does a better job with the rest of his tenure in office. I am still holding out hope that he keeps a few of his promises and feel it is too early to count his presidency out.
Well........at least you're pretty!
Don't forget that it was Hillary's husband, Bill, who actually voted DOMA into law.
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