Don't Ask Don't Tell Is Dead; It's Beginning to Look Like Obama's Winning

Congratulations are in order for a number of people now that the discriminatory Don't Ask, Don't Tell anti-gay rule was voted down in the U.S. Senate; it cleared the House earlier in the week.

Some thoughts:

Joe Lieberman has become a liberal punching bag (and, on NPR's Wait Wait Don't Tell Me, as a punchline). He's certainly gone out of his way since he lost his primary in the previous election cycle to antagonize pretty much anyone who's not a grinch. But I think it's pretty clear that DADT would still be alive and kicking if it weren't for his dogged leadership on this in the Senate. I was part of a group of gay rights activists who met with Lieberman back in 2004 when he was running for president. I was impressed with him at the time; he really seemed to get it, and that made my eventual disappointment in his bridge-burning behavior all the stronger. But he's done something very, very good with this DADT leadership, and I hope everyone else who's criticized him of late takes note.

Senator Harry Reid, the majority leader in the Senate, looks like he should be a sixth-grade teacher nearing the end of his career, but appearances are deceiving. He's clearly got the political moxie to get DADT repeal and other tough issues through the Senate, so kudos to the Nevada senator, as well.

Soldier Daniel Choi, the gay former member of the Army (before he was discharged under DADT), has been vindicated. The policy was discriminatory, it harmed our national defense, it demeaned the honor and integrity of soldiers who had to lie to serve their country, and it was totally unnecessary – plenty of militaries around the globe don't discriminate against gays.

And, of course, President Barack Obama gets credit. He's also been a punching bag of gay rights proponents for the past year. He's showing that he's got the guts and the thick skin to get his agenda through Congress, even with the occasional compromise. For someone who was supposed to be politically dead after the Republicans routed the House Democrats in the November midterms, Obama's looking pretty damn powerful and successful at the moment: DADT repeal, the tax compromise, the new START treaty (which last I heard was also likely to pass, though GOP troublemakers could still delay it, at considerable cost to our nation's security).

There are other heroes of this day, too, such as my U.S. representative, Nancy Pelosi (perhaps you've heard of her?). But I'll stop there. It's a day in which a number of politicians acquitted themselves well, and that's a great Christmas present to the entire country.

Bishop Eddie Long Falls into Trap o' the Homophobes

So, another virulently homophobic anti-gay crusading religious figure is facing charges of coercing young men (at least one of whom was 17 at the time) into homosexual activity.

Huh, another homophobe might be gay. Didn't see that coming.

Long is another of those folks who believe that homosexuality can be "cured" and he has been a very public campaigner against gay marriage.

You know what? That's not shocking. Because like Sen. Larry Craig, who opposed gay rights and then was caught soliciting sex with a male undercover police officer in an airport bathroom (seriously, closeted Right-wingers, public bathrooms? is there any more disgustingly dirty and smelly place you'd like to express your hidden sexuality?), people like Long don't think of homosexuality as something a person is, it's something a person does. So in their view, anyone can be tempted to the dark side, so to speak, and commit a sin that to them is just like being tempted to evade taxes or murder someone. To them, homosexuality is something that is dirty and shameful and undeserving of respect.

These deluded people are probably honest in their opposition to gay rights even though they are likely gay. And that makes all the more destructive what they are doing to gays and lesbians across the country who are denied the right to marry, denied protection against losing their jobs, denied the right to serve their country in the military, denied in many places the right to adopt, denied equal immigration rights, and much more.



While you're trying to figure out whom to believe in this sleazy saga, note this tidbit from the CNN video:

In 2005, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that a charity Long created to help the poor and spread the Gospel had made him its biggest beneficiary. An examination of the nonprofit's tax returns and other documents revealed that the charity provided him with at least a million dollars in salary over four years, and the use of a $1.4 million home and the $350,000 Bentley. A frequent critic of black preachers (he once said they "major in storefront churches"), Long responded by saying he was a CEO of a global business who deserved his lifestyle.

Yeah. What would Jesus do? He'd keep his hands off the teen boys, and he wouldn't drive a Bentley, bishop.

Family Kidnaps, Beats Gay Brother

This would be a family about which one would want to think twice before letting them know your sexual orientation. The Jerusalem Post reports about a young man who moved from his village to Tel Aviv to escape his family, but the family came after him nonetheless, kidnapping him off the street, taking him out of town, beating him and holding him for 12 hours before the police rescued him and arrested the kidnappers.

The brothers wanted to force him to return to the village and act "normal." If they were acting normal, then the world's better off that the one brother remains gay.

I just hope he doesn't invite them to his wedding.

I'll Bet This Christian Right Dude is Buying the New Vanity Fair

You just can't make up this stuff: Vehemently anti-gay fundamentalist Christian leader George Alan Rekers -- vacations in Europe with a male prostitute. (Warning: Some language NSFW.)

Video of Anti-Semitic Protest by Fred Phelps' Clan

I finally wrangled the video from my Nexus One to YouTube. Video above. It's short, and not great quality, but then again, so is Westboro Baptist Church.

Ugh.

So Now Fred Phelps Is Protesting Jews and Gays

We all know that the "Rev." Fred Phelps and the members of his family-based cult, the Westboro Baptist Church, are a bunch of ultra-conservative anti-gay crackpots. They are the folks who protested the funerals of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq, arguing that the soldiers died because God was punishing America for its homosexuals. They also have held protests at the funerals of gay men, with signs declaring "God hates fags."

So, we knew they hated gays. But now they've been going after Jewish organizations, accusing them of being pro-gay. Today, they're in San Francisco with their little band of airheads, protesting outside such organizations as the Contemporary Jewish Museum (see photo below), Hillel at Stanford, a production of Fiddler on the Roof, and more.

I made a short video of the folks at the CJM protest, and I'll post it later today after I fix some upload problems with YouTube. In the meantime, you can get some background on this strange clan here.

The Phelpsies were very much outnumbered by the counter-protestors outside the museum, just as they tend to be everywhere they go. That's the good news. The really bad news? The Phelps clan was young.

UPDATE: Finally got the video. See it here.